Samea cf. ecclesialis - Assembly Moth / Stained-Glass Moth (Guenée, 1854)

Lepidoptera: Obtectomera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae: Spilomelinae: Spilomelini

Date: 7th of April, 2018 at 06:51:24pm.

Samea is a genus of moths in the order Lepidoptera, subdivision Obtectomera, superfamily Pyraloidea, family Crambidae, subfamily Spilomelinae and tribe Spilomelini.

At first I believed this was going to be a tough identification, and later, I confirmed it. I already knew of the existence of two very similar genera: Samea and Sameodes. I put pictures of various specimens of Sameodes and Samea side by side and carefully compared and examined patterns, markings and the overall physionomy of the abdomen, wings, antennae, thorax and head. Even with so many coincidences between the two genera, I could track some differences between both, one of which was the medial brownish line crossing the hindwings near the third abdominal segment that looked much more like those in Samea than those in Sameodes.

There is plenty of confusion as to the correct identity of these moths. For such an extense genus, when you search in Google, almost all identifications of the Samea lead to Samea ecclesialis and after a quick search I could note that many of those identifications can be wrong. On the 12th of November, 2015, a moth picture was submitted to BugGuide, sponsored by Iowa State University Department of Entomology, where the species was described as Samea ecclesialis and stated that it could be differentiated from Samea multiplicalis by the black sections of the wing fringes. On the same day, another contributor said that males possess abdominal tufts on the fifth abdominal segment. Both of these informations match with my specimen. Males can be distinguished from females by the presence of the tuft on the fifth abdominal segment, the thickness of the medial line on the hindwings (thicker in females), the presence of two rows of white spots near the outer margin in the females' hindwings and the size of the white markings on the forewings; males possess less extensive brown areas between patches, these being larger than the females'. Take a look at this female Samea ecclesialis picture: https://bugguide.net/images/cache/CLX/ZVL/CLXZVLMZPLPRDZQRZH2RSH6RZH4RVLIZHHXZRHERTLSZSHXZALIZTLIZ0H2R0H8RDLERZH6R3Z0ROZLZNLJLULMRUL.jpg

Based on the picture above, take a look at the numbers and this text quoted right from BugGuide to differentiate a S. ecclesialis from a S. multiplicalis:

"1. Samea ecclesialis always has a dark "spike" in the FW fringe that creates a darkened arrow-like shape at the FW tornus.

2. This is topped by a pale section of fringe (going toward the apex)...

3. ...Followed by a conspicuous darkened area of the fringe midway along the margin.

4. Now the pale spot in the median area can be a little more difficult, but generally in S. ecclesialis, the pale spot is evenly divided by the vertical black line, whereas in S. multiplicalis, the black line is more to the distal side, dividing the pale median spot unevenly with the large portion basally, and the smaller portion distally.

...The fringe pattern and pale median spot are the only two characteristics that have thus far been 100% supported by DNA identified specimens." (https://bugguide.net/node/view/710682)

To reinforce, the forewings of S. multiplicalis possess an evenly-spaced checkered fringe, while the S. ecclesialis' forewings' fringe is blurred in the middle. The windows of the forewings of S. ecclesialis are roughly arrayed in three bands. In the median band, the window nearer the anterior margin of the wing is roughly square and the posterior window is divided in three sections.

Now, take a look at these images of S. multiplicalis and compare to the picture with the numbers that I provided before:

1 - https://bugguide.net/node/view/689733
2 - https://bugguide.net/node/view/448552
3 - https://bugguide.net/node/view/357561

If you look carefully at my specimen, you can clearly see that the medial line drawn across the hindwings near the third abdominal segment is a little wiped out, possibly due to wear, further reinforcing the possibility of this being a Samea sp. instead of a Sameodes sp. after looking at the picture in this link and comparing: http://www.susanleachsnyder.com/GopherTortoisePreserve/InsectOrderLepidoptera.html#Assemb

However, looking at the lack of exceptional pictures for Samea calonalis, Samea obliteralis, Samea similalis and Samea sylvialis, all confirmed for Brazil, combined with my uncertainty on the distribution of the other members of the genus, I'll leave the species as a potential - but not guaranteed - identification. Samea multiplicalis can also be found in Brazil, but this is not one. According to BugGuide, Samea ecclesialis is synonymized with S. castellalis (Guenée, 1854), S. luccusalis (Walker, 1859) and S. disertalis (Walker, [1866]) with a phylogenetic sequence "#154050" and Hodges Number "5150".

The specimen in my picture is a male. Take a look at the male-female comparison for a better understanding: http://www.mbarnes.force9.co.uk/jamaicamoths/images9/samecc.htm

The wingspan of this individual was of approximately 18mm. The wingspan of females is of approximately 20mm.

The male genitalia has one fibula on each valva, and the uncus is apically divided into two setose pads. The dorsal margin of the valva is obtusely angulate. The signum of the female genitalia (which the S. multiplicalis lacks) is a pair of toothed sclerites arrayed transversely in the corpus bursae. This shape is shared only with S. druchachalis.

The eggs are flattened and scale-like, laid singly or in small groups. The last instar larvae have a length of approximately 18-20mm. You can check the description of the larva here: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/MOTHS/stained-glass_moth.htm

This is a picture of the pupa: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/MOTHS/Stained-glass11.jpg

The larvae of Samea ecclesialis are known to feed on Richardia brasiliensis. The egg-adult process takes about one month. The larvae spin a white silken shelter among leaves for pupation.

All sources are in the text.