PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued iMf^lVA- Sl^^l ^y ff" 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol.84 Washington: 1937 No. 3019 



MOTHS OF THE GENUS RUPELA (PYRALIDIDAE : 

 SCHOENOBIINAE) 



By Carl Heinrich 



Bureau of Entomologij and Plant Quarantine, United States Department of 



Agriculture 



This paper is based upon specimens of pyralidid moths in the 

 United States National Museum, the British Museum, the American 

 iSIuseum of Natural History, and the Cornell University collection. 

 I am indebted to these institutions for the loan of specimens, to 

 Dr. W. T. M. Forbes for the specimens collected by him in the 

 Giiianas, to Dr. H. E. Box for the gift of reared specimens from 

 British Guiana and St. Lucia, and especially to W. H. T. Tams for 

 giving me the correct application of the Walker and Zeller jiames. 

 He made preparations of the genitalia of the Walker and Zeller 

 types in the British Museum, compared them with drawings and 

 slides that we submitted, and sent me photographs of the type 

 slides and helpful notes on the types. I am obliged to him also 

 for the loan of the British Museum material. 



Studies of the genitalia in this genus brouglit surprising results. 

 What we thought were but two or three white species proved to be 

 at least 18 species, sharply defined on characters of the male and 

 female genitalia, but so alike in color and so variable in size and 

 in Avhat ordinarily are specific differences in venation that they 

 could not be separated by external characters. Needless to say, the 

 specimens in the various collections were badly mixed, and no reli- 

 131080—37 1 2^5 



