56 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 256 



Streaks; the hindwings are white lightly suffused with brown; the 

 wing expanse is approximately one inch. 



TUCUMANIA Dyar 



This South American genus contains two described and a third 

 undescribed species. The host plants are all low-growing, with the 

 exception of 0. salmiana, an erect narrow-jointed form. Normally the 

 larger shrub types of prickly pear are not attacked. In Argentina, 

 larvae of T. tapiacola Dyar have been found occasionally in very young 

 plants of the semitree pear 0. quimilo. In Australia this insect now 

 breeds successfully in the shrub pear 0. inermis, while under cage con- 

 ditions it has been reared in the semidecumbent, slender-jointed 

 Cereus Harrisia martinii. * Larvae of this type were found in H. martinii 

 and H. bonplandii* in Paraguay in 1957, 



The two described species are T. tapiacola Dyar and T. porrecta 

 Dyar. A third species is represented by a single female reared in 

 October 1932 at Tapia, Province of Tucuman, Argentina, from 0. 

 canina, a low-growing, narrow-jointed plant closely related to 0. 

 aurantiaca. According to Heinrich, this specimen represents an unde- 

 scribed form; it certainly differs from T. tapiacola which is prevalent 

 in the neighborhood of Tapia. 



Tucumania larvae have been recorded on two other occasions from 

 localities outside the known range of distribution of the above species. 

 At Asuncion, Paraguay, in June 1936, very small to full-grown larvae 

 were rather numerous in 0. stenarthra^ a rather narrow-jo in ted, decum- 

 bent plant; adults were not reared. Possibly these larvae represented 

 T. tapiacola or T. porrecta. 



In March 1942, two dark-reddish larvae were obtained in 0. russellii, 

 a small-jointed clump, or mound-forming, Tephrocactus, at Villa 

 Vicencio, altitude 5,500 feet. Province of Mendoza, Argentina. Many 

 cocoons containing emerged pupae were present within the segments, 

 which had been hollowed out by the larvae. The color of the larvae, 

 the pupation within the plant, and the nature of the attack indicated 

 the relationship to Tucumania and the species may have been T. 

 tapiacola. 



Tucumania tapiacola Dyar 



Discovered in the Provinces of Santiago del Estero and Tucuman, 

 Argentina, in early 1925, this species received considerable attention 

 during the years 1932 to 1936. It was introduced to Australia for the 



*Some authorities place these species in Eriocereus. 



