Three new species of the Neotropical genus Hapigia Guenée from Brazil (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae, Heterocampinae)

Abstract Three new species of Hapigia Guenée, 1854, from Brazil and Ecuador, are described: H. postpallida Becker sp. nov., H. violacea Becker, sp. nov. and H. violetta Becker, sp. nov.


INTRODUCTION
Hapigia Guenée, 1852 includes 28 species, distributed from Mexico to Brazil, with one species in Cuba (Becker 2014: 9). Miller et al. (1997) discussed the relationship of Hapigia, and placed it in their new tribe Hapigiini. In the author's collection there are specimens representing 26 species, 22 collected in Brazil. Three of these species are undescribed, so they are being described here.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This review is based on examination of the type material deposited in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. (USNM), the Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom (NHMUK) and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh (CMNH) and on 295 specimens, 41 genitalia slides (g. s.) in the author's collection (VOB). The holotypes of the new species are provisionally deposited in VOB, and will be transferred, together with the collection, to a Brazilian institution in the future. Some paratypes will be deposited in the USNM. Genitalia were prepared following the methods described by Robinson (1976). Terms for morphological characters follow Hodges (1971). Abbreviations FW = Forewing; g. s. = genitalia slide; HW = Hind wing.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Examination of the material in the author's collection revealed that three species, from Brazil, are new and are described as follows.  1A) FW violaceus-red; pale fuscous blotch at base, before basal band, from below cell to dorsum; pair of reddish-ochreous round blotches between basal and antemedial bands, one in, the other below cell; a diffuse snowy area on tornus, from before postmedial band to termen; basal, antemedial, and postmedial bands white: antemedial dentate between veins; postmedial with scales on veins more contrasting, looking a dotted line, edged dark brown distally, slightly curved from distal third of costa to M3, then straight to dorsum before tornus; two silvery dots: one, reniform, at end of cell, the other as two crescent marks, followed by white scales, on costa, before apex; subterminal line formed by diffuse, white dots; brown ventrally, with a mark in the cell, an area below, and a band along margin, pale fuscous. HW dorsally dark fuscous, veins contrastingly darker; pale fuscous ventrally. Abdomen dark fuscous dorsally, reddish-brown ventrally, pale towards tip. Female (Fig. 1B) darker and with FW broader than in male; costal silvery dot smaller than the other two.

Hapigia violacea
Male genitalia (Fig. 3A): Uncus short, curved ventrad, compressed laterally; socius slightly shorter than uncus. Valva broad basally, 4× longer than wide, narrowing gradually towards pointed apex. Vinculum with a wide, shallow indentation basally. Phallus (Fig. 3B, C), straight, 4× longer than thick; vesica with pack of deciduous, modified spines.  , same  locality as holotype, II-2007, VII, VIII-2008, III, IV, VI-2009,  IX -2011- , 01-15-X-2020  Remarks: This and the following species belong to a group of closely similar species, the H. curvilinea species-group. They can be readily distinguished from each other by the silver dots at the end of FW cell. In H. curvilinea Schaus, 1904 (Fig. 1E), there are three large dots disposed in an arch. In H. violacea (Figs. 1A,B) there are two small dots closely connected, usually forming a single dot, in some specimens there is a third, minute dot above them. In H. violetta (Figs. 1C, D) the three dots are nearly the same size, disposed in an oblique, straight line. There are also differences in their genitalia, as explained under each species. In H. violacea (Fig. 3A) the valva is the most acute of them. As the phallus of Hapigia species bear deciduous, thorny spines, the vesica was not everted (Fig. 3C) to prevent them being scattered around. These spines are transferred to the female bursa copulatrix during copulation, so missing in males which had mated before collecting (Fig. 3B), and found inside the bursa copulatrix of females. before basal band, from below cell to dorsum; pair of reddish-ochreous round blotches between basal and antemedial bands, one in, the other below cell; a triangular, diffuse slightly pale area on tornus, with basal angle from lower end of cell, extending to termen above tornus; basal, antemedial, and postmedial bands whitish, edged dark brown outside: antemedial dentate between veins; postmedial with scales on veins more contrasting, forming a dotted line, slightly curved from distal third of costa to M3, then straight to dorsum before tornus; three silvery dots of near same size, disposed on an oblique straight line at distal end of cell; subterminal line formed by diffuse, white dots; brown ventrally, with a mark in the cell, an area below, and a band along margin, pale fuscous. HW dorsally dark fuscous, veins contrastingly darker; pale fuscous ventrally. Abdomen dark fuscous dorsally, reddish-brown ventrally, except pale towards tip. Female (Fig. 1D) darker and with FW broader than in male.
Female genitalia (Fig. 4H): Very similar to those of H. postpallida (see below), but antrum much shorter than wide.
Material studied (2♂♂, 1♀ 3  Remarks: Similar to H. curvilinea (Fig. 1E) and H. violacea (Figs. 1A, B), but easily distinguished by the silver dots on FW, as explained under. In H. violetta the three dots are nearly the same size and disposed as an oblique, straight line. The valva (Fig. 3E) is broather than that of H. violacea (Fig. 3A), but narrower than that of H. curvilinea (Fig. 3I). Description: Male FW length 23-25 mm (50-56 mm wingspan), female 28 mm (62 mm wingspan). Head and thorax dark brown. Second and 3 rd segments of labial palpus mixed with white scales at tip. Thorax dorsally with pair of blotches with white scales in the middle; reddish-brown ventrally; legs with white scales on articulations. Male ( Fig. 2A) FW dorsally reddish-brown, shaded dark-brown; basal, antemedial and postmedial bands dark-brown, with scattered white scales: basal and antemedial indented between veins, postmedial evenly curved from distal third of costa to Cu2, then perpendicular to dorsum before tornus; three round silvery dots, with red and white scales in the middle, at end of cell, disposed in an arch: costal one smaller; pair of silvery dots, followed by white scales distally, before apex, between costa and R3; whitish patch from base to basal band, below cell to dorsum; pale fuscous ventrally. HW whitish, veins dark fuscous towards margin. Abdomen fuscous dorsally, red brown ventrally, pale fuscous at tip. Female (Fig. 2B), darker than male, with HW fuscous.
Female genitalia (Figs. 4I, J): As long as abdomen. Apophysis very thin, posterioris twice as long as anterioris. Ostium bursae as wide as lamella antevaginalis, margin evenly round; antrum sclerotized, wider than long, narrowing gradually towards ductus bursae; ductus bursae twice as long as bursa diameter, broader than antrum, twisted basally, then thin, slightly sclerotized towards bursa; corpus bursae globular, wrinkled longitudinally; pair of signa, each one a pair of elongate bar.  Schaus, 1904 (Figs. 2C, D) and H. curvilinea Schaus (Fig. 1E). The former has HW wholly whitish-cream, and FW has four silver dots at distal end of cell, forming a large, irregular triangle. The second has HW pale yellow, with veins fuscous towards margins, as in H. postpallida but the silver dots at end of FW cell are disposed in an arch. In H. postpallida the three dots are form an oblique straight line, and the valva is narrow, not as wide as in the other two (Figs. 3I, 4A). The FW of H. plateada varies from dark reddish-brown (Fig. 2C), to ochre yellow (Fig. 2D). The reddish color form was described as H. plateada, the ochre yellow form as H. dorema Schaus, 1921(synonymized by Becker, 2014.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:
Author declare there are no conflicts of interest. FUNDING INFORMATION: This project did not use any external financial support.