Josia
James S. Miller and Andrew V. Z. BrowerThis tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
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close boxIntroduction
The genus Josia was formerly included a heterogeneous assemblage of 67 superficially similar species, but has been circumscribed to include a monophyletic group of only 21 species by Miller (2009). The remaining species have been removed to Lyces, Ephialtias, Proutiella, and other related genera. Josia spp. occur from Mexico to Uruguay, and may be the most common dioptines. Life histories of ten species are known, and all feed on Passiflora, except for the megeara clade, whose larvae feed on Turnera.
Characteristics
Josia spp. almost all have wings with characteristic radial orange bands on a black background, and orange stripes on the abdominal pleura. The abdominal venter is usually white or cream-colored. There are structural features of the wing venation, labial palpi and genitalia that distinguish Josia from related genera, as well. Venation of J. mononeura and J. ligula are illustrated below.
Josia mononeura (left) and Josia ligula (right). © 2009 James S. Miller
Species groups in Josia may be distinguished as follows:
- the ligula group exhibits diverse wing patterns, but all possess a unique process on the midpoint of the costa of the male valvae
- the ligata group all possess yellow-orange scales on the basal half of the forewing costal margin
- the aurifusa group all exhibit an orange anal margin of the hindwing
- the megeara group exhibits a distal transverse orange band and basal radial stripe on the forewings, forming two separate pattern elements
References
Miller, JS. 2009. Generic revision of the Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 321, 1-971 + 48 plates.
About This Page
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to James S. Miller at and Andrew V. Z. Brower at
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Page: Tree of Life Josia Authored by . James S. Miller and Andrew V. Z. Brower. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.
- First online 04 December 2009
- Content changed 04 December 2009
Citing this page:
Miller, James S. and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2009. Josia http://tolweb.org/Josia/138591/2009.12.04 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
. Version 04 December 2009 (under construction).