THE CACTUS-FEEDING PHYCITINAE — HEINRICH 355 



Antenna of male pubescent, of female shortly pubescent. Labial 

 palpus of male ascending (upcurved), of female porrect. Hind wing 

 with veins 7 and 8 shortly anastomosed beyond cell ; 3 and 5 shortly 

 stalked. Eighth abdominal segment of male simple. 



Male genitalia with apical process of gnathos partially fused, the 

 prongs separated only for a short distance; harpe with apex evenly 

 rounded ; vinculum short ; anellus with base of plate narrowly sclero- 

 tized, arms moderately long and rather slender, slightly twisted, very 

 finely serrate on outer edges toward apices ; aedeagus stout, moderately 

 long. 



Female genitalia with signum developed as a series of more or less 

 fused plates; bursa copulatrix weakly and very finely scobinate; 

 ductus seminalis from bursa at junction of ductus bursae and bursa 

 copulatrix. 



Larva bright orange or red, with rows of large black spots resem- 

 bling broken cross bands ; two setae in group VII on abdominal seg- 

 ments 7 and 8. 



The larvae feed gregariously in the joints of Platypwntia^ Cylin- 

 dropuntia^ Trichocereus, Echinopsis, and Denmoza. 



Eggs laid in long chains. 



Remarks. — The genus as here defined is distinguished from other 

 cactus-feeding phycitids by the following combination of characters : 

 Antennae of both sexes pubescent ; labial palpi upcurved in the male, 

 porrect in the female; veins 7 and 8 of hind wing shortly anasto- 

 mosed ; veins 3 and 5 shortly stalked ; apical process of gnathos par- 

 tially fused ; eighth abdominal segment of male simple ; larvae bright 

 orange or red, with rows of large black spots resembling broken 

 cross bands, gregarious in habit. 



Four (possibly five) species are recognized as belonging to the 

 genus. Its natural distribution is apparently limited to South Amer- 

 ica, south of the Equator; but at least one of its species {cactoi^m) 

 has been introduced and become established in Australia. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CACTOBLASTIS 



MALES 



1. Hind wings white 2 



Hind wings brown 5. bucynis Dyar 



2. Hind wings semihyaline 3 



Hind wings dull white 4. mundelli, new species 



3. Fore wing with a row of 7 distinct black dots along termen. 



1. cactorum (Berg) 

 Fore wing without such terminal dots or with 3 or 4 very faintly 

 indicated 3. doddi, new species 



