Cosmosoma centralis and Cosmosoma ada species resemblance.

Cosmosoma centralis and Cosmosoma ada species resemblance identified on Inaturalist site is notorious. There are 27 identifications as Cosmosoma centralis and 12 as Cosmosoma ada in sympathric distribution in Brazil. However, brazilian Arctiinae diversity studies shows only Cosmosoma centralis occuring in this area (Ferro, 2007; Ferro & Teston 2009; Nascimento et. al., 2016).

Some hypothesis have been raised for this problem:

• Some observations of Cosmosoma centralis was misidentified as Cosmosoma ada in Brazil;
• Cosmosoma centralis and Cosmosoma ada are synonyms;
• Cosmosoma ada occur in Brazil and was not found or correct identified on previous biodiversity studies.

Walker described the new species Glaucopis centralis in 1854 for Rio de Janeiro locality, making a text description: https://archive.org/details/listofspecimens13brit/page/171/mode/1up. Herrich-Schäffer renamed the species in 1858 writing "Von den zahlreichen, mit Gattungsnamen belegten Gruppen Walkers glaube ich wegen ihrer Haltlosigkeit keine Notiz nehmen zu dürfen." It's an hard translation without context and the Google Translate tool translated has follow: "I believe because of the numerous groups of Walker with generic names not to be allowed to take any notice of their instability." This frase followed a list of Glaucopis species that included "ada", credit to herself, fig. 297 (a plate at same book) and reference to Walker species "centralis": https://archive.org/details/sammlungneuerode01herr/page/72/mode/2up. In 1898, Hampson transferred Glaucopis centralis to the genus Cosmosoma: https://archive.org/details/catalogueoflepid01brituoft/page/243/mode/1up?view=theater.

I concluded that Herrich-Schäffer renamed Glaucopis centralis as Glaucopis ada because of instability of Walker's generic names. This argument are not valid at modern taxonomy and, therefore, the name Cosmosoma centralis are valid and Cosmosoma ada is a synonym junior.

Bibliography:

Ferro, Viviane Gianluppi. Diversidade de mariposas Arctiidae (Lepidoptera) do cerrado. 2007. Tese (doutorado) - Curso de ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 2007.

Ferro & Teston, 2009. Composição de espécies de Arctiidae (Lepidoptera) no sul do Brasil: relação entre tipos de vegetação e entre a configuração espacial do hábitat. Revista Brasileira de entomologia 53 (2): 278-286.

Nascimento, Milena de Souza; Ferro, Viviane Gianluppi; Monteiro, Ricardo Ferreira. 2016. Arctiinae (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biota Neotropica. 16 (2): e20150112.

Posted on 24 de fevereiro de 2023, 06:33 PM by regisrafael