The identity of Syllepte incomptalis Hübner (Lepidoptera: Crambidae: Spilomelinae) with synonymies, new combinations and new species

ABSTRACT The identity of Syllepte incomptalis Hübner, 1823 is elucidated. Pantographa Lederer, 1863, syn. n., and Micromartinia Amsel, 1957, syn. n., are junior synonyms of Syllepte Hübner, 1823, including 15 species: S. incomptalis Hübner, 1823 (=P. idmonalis Druce, 1895, syn. n.); S. acoetesalis (Walker, 1859), comb. n.; dialis Schaus, 1912 (=S. strigicincta Hampson, 1912, syn. n.); S. expansalis (Lederer, 1863), comb. n.; S. gorgonalis (Druce, 1895), comb. n.; S. limata (Grote & Robinson, 1867), comb. n.; S. scripturalis (Guenée, 1854), comb. n.; S. suffusalis (Druce, 1895), comb. n.; S. fraternalis Becker, sp. n., from Mexico; S. confusalis Becker, sp. n. from Brazil, and S. sororalis Becker, sp. n., from Brazil. Neomabra Dognin, 1905, stat. rev., is revalidated, including two species: N. nitidalis Dognin, 1905, comb. rev. and N. serratilinealis (Lederer, 1863), comb. n. Bocchoropsis Amsel, 1956, syn. n. is a junior synonym of Haritalodes Warren, 1890, including two species: H. derogata (Fabricius, 1775) and H. pharaxalis (Druce, 1895), comb. n. (=S. prorogata Hampson, 1912, syn. n.; =B. plenilinealis Dyar, 1917, syn. n.). Psara imbroglialis (Dyar, 1914), comb. n. [from Syllepte]. Illustrations of adults and genitalia are provided to enable the identification of the species treated here.


Introduction
Syllepte incomptalis Hübner, 1823, described from material from Surinam, has remained as a mystery since its description, as shown by the absence of specimens, identified as such, in all major collections Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom (NHMUK), USNM (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA), Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, USA CMNH).It has been also regarded as an unrecognized species by all major treatments of Pyraloidea (Guenée, 1854;Walker, 1859;Lederer, 1863;Druce, 1895Druce, , 1899;;Hampson, 1899aHampson, , 1899b;;Klima, 1939;Munroe, 1995).Despite this, Syllepte (or its subsequent spelling Sylepta Hübner, [1825]), has been widely used by several authors who described and/or treated dozens of species associated with it from all geographic regions of the world.Currently the genus includes seven generic synonyms and over 200 valid species-names (Nuss et al., 2021), 35 of them for the New World fauna (Munroe, 1995).It is very likely that the type material of S. incomptalis, the type-species, is either lost or destroyed, as Lederer (1863), who worked extensively with the Vienna Museum, does not mention neither the genus nor the species.Munroe (1958) stated that some old material belonging to Epicorsia Hübner, also a pyraloid, had been found in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria,, (NHMW), that could include types.Therefore, type material belonging to Syllepte might eventually be found in this museum.In any case the original figure is good enough to allow recognition.Most of the authors who worked with neotropical pyraloids had at their disposal abundant material from Surinam and from French Guiana, but they did not report any specimen that could be associated with the figures of S. incomptalis.One exception is a specimen from Maracay, Venezuela, treated by Amsel (1956Amsel ( -1957: 128) : 128) as Pantographa cybelealis Druce,which genitalia (pl. 22,fig. 4) match those of the species that is here understood as S. incomptalis.In the USNM there are specimens from Costa Rica.These records indicate that, despite rare, the distribution of this species extends south to Northern South America.The known collecting localities are dry, semi desertic habitats.A series of specimens in the author's collection, from several localities in Mexico, revealed that the species was described again and is wrongly associated with other species of Neotropical Spilomelinae.
The purpose of this work is to clarify both the taxonomic placement of Syllepte incomptalis and the resulting synonymy and combinations for the species occurring in the Neotropical region.The information presented here will also allow authors who work on the pyraloid fauna of other regions to evaluate the taxonomic situation of the taxa currently associated with Syllepte, occurring in the regions they study.

Material and methods
This work is based on the material (171 specimens; 28 genitalia slides, in the Vitor O. Becker collection, Serra Bonita Reserve, Camacan, Bahia, Brazil, (VOB), the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (MNRJ), the NHMUK, and the USNM, as well as on the pertinent bibliography.The types of the new species are provisionally deposited in VOB, and will be transferred, together with the collection, to a Brazilian institution in the future.Genitalia were prepared following the methods described by Robinson (1976).Terms for morphological characters follow Hodges (1971) and Kristensen (2003).

Results and discussion
Examination of material and the original illustrations made it possible to establish the identity of Syllepte incomptalis Hübner, resulting in several synonymies and new combinations for the taxa belonging to the Neotropical region.As S. incomptalis is congeneric with Pionea scripturalis Guenée, 1854, the type-species of Pantographa Lederer, 1863, the species listed under Pantographa by Munroe (1995: 59), except for two of them: P. serratilinealis (Lederer, 1863), and P. prorogata (Hampson, 1912), have to be transferred to other genera, and most of the species Munroe (1995: 60) listed under Syllepte are presumed not congeneric with S. incomptalis and should be removed from this genus, which is not in the scope of this work.For this reason, they are maintained for the time being in Syllepte, as misplaced species, as Munroe (1995: 60) had already listed them.Considering that the species from the Palaearctic and Indo-Australian regions are also not congeneric with S. incomptalis they should be assigned to other genera.Shaffer et al. (1996: 196) listed ten synonyms under Syllepte, seven of them from the Palaearctic and Oriental regions.Two of these were revalidated: Patania Moore, 1888 (=Pleuroptya Meyrick, 1890) (Rose, 1989: 39), and Pramadea Moore, 1888 (Kirti andGill, 2004, 2007).To avoid leaving them unassociated with any genus they are provisionally kept in Syllepte, as misplaced species.Certainly, a revision of the species from those regions will revalidate some of these remaining synonyms, with proposition of new ones.According to Mally et al. (2019: 171, 172) Micromartinia Amsel, 1956 andPantographa Lederer, 1863, here synonymized under Syllepte Hübner, belong to the Agroterini, as well as Bocchoropsis Amsel, 1956, here synonymized under Haritalodes Meyrick, 1890.These authors did not assign Neomabra Dognin, 1905, reinstated here as a good genus, to any of the tribes they recognized.The characters of genitalia, and especially the row of spines across the 8 th sternite (figs.5i-k), indicates that they do not belong in the Agroterini.These characters should be better evaluated to establish its proper association, what is not in the scope of this work.=Micromartinia Amsel, 1957, Ent. Venez.10 (3-4): [2], replacement name.Syn.n.
Diagnosis: Medium to large (Figs.1-2a-m): FW length 14-20 mm (32-45 mm wingspan).Labial palpi short, curved up to mid frons.Antenna short ciliated in males, filiform in females.Forewing (FW) apex angled or falcate, pale yellow, area distad of median line to termen, from dorsum to M 1 , often fuscous; orbicular and reniform spots well marked; a dotted line distad of the postmedial band, half the way between this and termen.Hind wing (HW) often dusted with fuscous scales; orbicular spot present, often followed distad by a conspicuous whitish reniform dot; four dotted, partially interrupted, nearly parallel lines from near base to before termen.
Host plants: Known only for two species of the genus, all plants belong in the Malvaceae.Syllepte limata, popularly known in the USA as the Basswood (Tilia americana) leafroller moth was also reared on Ochroma pyramidale in Puerto Rico (Martorell, [1976]: 182).Syllepte confusalis was reared by the author from leafroller caterpillars feeding on Callianthe rufinervia (A.ST.-Hil.) in Brazil.
Distribution: New World, from Quebec, along eastern North America, to the Caribbean (S. limata), and all of them from Mexico to southern Brazil, where at least some of them are present.In VOB there is a series of 12 specimens of S. incomptalis (Fig. 1d) collected at the dry, semi-desertic areas of Mexico (Sonora, Colima, Puebla, Chiapas), and in the USNM a few from Mexico, and one from Costa Rica (as P. idmonalis Druce).
of Haritalodes pharaxalis (Druce, 1895), comb.n.It is very likely that his decision was based on the characters of genitalia.To confirm this, the genitalia of all species (Figs.3-4) were examined.As S. mnemusalis (Walker) (Figs.3q-r), the type species of Micromartinia Amsel, syn.n., resembles S. gorgonalis (Druce, 1895) (Fig. 1n), specimens of these were also dissected and the genitalia (Figs.3q-r) confirm their close relationship, making Micromartinia another junior synonym.The genitalia of some of the species listed by Munroe under Syllepte with a pattern that resembles that of species formerly listed under Pantographa, were also dissected, but none seems to be congeneric with S. incomptalis.Two specimens that look very similar to specimens of S. incomptalis, collected together with specimens of this species,  Considering that the main purpose of this work is to establish the identity of S. incomptalis, not a revision of the genus, the resulting new combinations and synonymies are only summarized below (see Nomenclatural summary), and illustrations of the adults and genitalia are presented to allow their identification.
Distribution: Pantropical: from Africa, across Asia into Australia (H. derogata), and from southern Mexico, throughout Central America, to southern Brazil (H.pharaxalis); absent in the Antilles.
Host plants: The caterpillars of H. pharaxalis, that causes damage to the leaves and young fruits of cacao (Theobroma cacao, Malvaceae) in the American tropics, is known in the pest literature by its junior synonym: Sylepta [and/or Syllepte] prorogata Hampson (Zhang, 1994: 461).Interesting to note that the larvae of Haritalodes derogata (Fabricius, 1775), the type-species of Haritalodes, which adults (Fig. 2n) look almost identical to S. pharaxalis, are pests of cotton, also a Malvaceae (Robinson et al., 1994: 192).
Haritalodes derogata (often under the generic names Syllepte, Notarcha or Haritala) has been considered to be a cotton pest widespread throughout the Old World tropics (CABI, 1979).Taxonomic treatments by Leraut (2005) and by Yamanaka (2008) show that Haritalodes derogata is actually a species complex.Not all the names still listed as synonyms of H. derogata have been resolved through examination of the genitalia of the type specimens.For example, Botys multilinealis Guenée, 1854, the actual type of Haritalodes, is still listed as a synonym of H. derogata (Yamanaka, 2008) and may prove to be a valid species.S. aechmisalis (Walker, 1859) (Figs. 2q, 4s-t) has the uncus split into two branches, spined at tip, it is retained in Syllepte, as one of the misplaced species.
The generic name Notarcha Meyrick, 1884 (or its unnecessary replacement name Haritala Moore, 1886), has frequently been used for Haritalodes derogata in the literature, but the definition of Notarcha was clarified by Shaffer and Munroe (1989: 248;2007: 31).

Unplaced species
The species listed below were included by Munroe (1995: 60, 61) as misplaced species.They were either dissected [marked] but their genitalia show that they are not congeneric with S. incomptalis or belong to species whose material was not available [unmarked].
Remarks.A series of specimens from Mexico (Fig.2j), which match the type has the male genitalia (Figs.5a-b), similar to those of several species currently included in Psara.