2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 122 



a type that is without abdomen and is recorded in the Hterature only 

 by its original description, which consists of three and one-half lines. 



In this paper the genus is redefined, the two species redescribed and 

 illustrated, and comparative remarks made on both the generic and 

 specific levels. 



The author wishes to acknowledge with thanks the cooperation and 

 aid of the following persons who have allowed him to study the types 

 and specimens in their charge: Mr. P. E. S. Whalley and Mr. Alan 

 Watson of the British Museum (Natural History); Dr. J. G. 

 Franclemont of Cornell University; Dr. Klaus Sattler, Zoologische 

 Sammlung des Bayerischen Staates, Munich; and Dr. Fritz Kasy of 

 the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna. 



The author also wishes to acknowledge the assistance of IVIrs. 

 Sandra Duckworth in all phases of the study. The map and line 

 drawings were done by Mr. Andre Pizzini and the photographs by 

 Mr. Jack Scott. 



This study was aided in part by the National Science Foundation 

 on Grant GB-1 800. 



History 



The genus Loxotoma was proposed by Zeller (1854, p. 383) to ac- 

 commodate a single Neotropical species, elegans. Busck (1909, p. 213) 

 in his remarks concerning a new species, Stenoma loxotoma, stated: 

 "This species would, on account of the striking wing form and the 

 peculiarly thickened front tarsi, fall in Zeller's genus Loxotoma, which 

 I, however, am unable to consider a good genus." Busck failed, 

 however, to transfer L. elegans to Stenoma, and Loxotoma continued to 

 exist in the literature as a monobasic genus. Walsingham (1913, 

 p. 158) formally placed Loxotoma in synonymy with Stenoma without 

 comment, probably an indication that he was following Busck's 

 earlier opinion. Meyrick (1915, p. 382), apparently not in agreement 

 with Busck's comments on the validity of Loxotoma, removed it from 

 synonymy and added another species, rhodanthes, which he described 

 from British Guiana. One year later, Meyrick (1916, p. 509) stated 

 that he had erred m describing rhodanthes and that further study re- 

 vealed the specimen to be an extreme form of elegans, thus requiring 

 that it be placed in synonymy. In a list of species of Microlepidoptera 

 collected in Brazil by Dr. H. Zerny, Me3a-ick (1930, p. 237) recorded 

 L. elegans from Taperinha and mentioned that it was also known from 

 Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana, and Peru. Two years later, Meyrick 

 (1932, p. 288) very briefly described another species, L. seminigrescens, 

 from a single female specimen collected in Petr6polis, Brazil, by J. G. 

 Foetterle. Busck (1934, p. 18), apparently having reversed his earlier 



