Sphecosoma stratiotes ( Dyar, 1914 ), 2025

Laguerre, Michel, 2025, New species of Arctiinae east of the Canal Zone, Panama (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini), Faunitaxys 13 (12), pp. 1-17 : 12

The case of Sphecosoma stratiotes ( Dyar, 1914) comb. nov.

Dyar described Pheia stratiotes in 1914 on a single specimen from Trinidad River, Canal Zone, Panama which displays yellow vertex and basal forewings spots and in 1920 Schaus described Sphecosoma roseipuncta from a specimen from Cayuga, Guatemala with orange vertex and basal forewings spots. In his description he said "very much like stratiotes." I have sequenced two specimens: one ♀ with yellow spots from Guatemala and one ♂ with orange spots from Western Ecuador and they align at less than0.5 %, so roseipuncta is merely a synonym of stratiotes ( Fig. 25). A second specimen from Western Ecuador with orange spots confirms the identity of the sequences.Nevertheless in BOLD the two align close to Sphecosoma from French Guiana and not at all with Pheia species. Therefore I shallfollow Schaus and choose Sphecosoma for the genusand we will have Sphecosoma stratiotes ( Dyar, 1914) comb. nov. = Sphecosoma roseipuncta Schaus, 1920 syn. nov.

Material examined

- 1 ♂, PANAMA, Panama, Los Altos de Cerro Azul , 24-X-2021, 700 m, 9.2030° N 79.4150° W, L. & J. Harrison leg., FWL = 10 mm .

- 1 ♀, GUATEMALA, Izabal, Finca Firmeza , 18-V-2007, 680 m, 15°22.894' N 88°43.039' W, M. Laguerre leg., sequenced Process ID ARCTC851-11 , BOLD ID MILA 1313 (yellow printed label). In MLC .

- 1 ♂, ECUADOR, Esmeraldas, 8.7 km NW Lita , 25-X-2021, 707 m, V. Doroschkin leg., sequenced Process ID MIAPD1779-22 , BOLD ID Bc-Her5944 . In VDC .

- 1 ♂, ECUADOR, Esmeraldas, Canandé Reserve , 30-X-2021, 314 m, 0.526675° N 79.20475° W, G. Brehm leg., sequenced ProcessID NUTRI4225-22 , BOLD ID EcEs-0140 . In PMJ .