BAGWORM MOTHS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 145 



5. Oiketicus westwoodii Berg 



Figures 63, 121, 122 



Oeceiicus [sic] westwoodii Berg, Anales Soc. Cient. Argent., vol. 13, p. 217, 1882. 



Oiketicus westiooodi[^\c\ Berg. — Kirby, Cat. Lep. Heter., vol. 1, p. 500, 1892. — 

 Dalla Torre and Strand, Lep. Cat., pars 34, p. 195, 1929. — Gaede in Seitz, 

 Macrolep. World, vol. 6, p. 1184, 1936.— Koehler, Rev. Soc. Ent. Argent., 

 vol. 3, pp. 351, 352, fig. 3, 1931.— Koehler, Physis, vol. 17, pp. 468, 471, 

 fig. 4, 1939. 



Case. — (Figs. 121, 122.) Length 55-90 mm.; greatest diameter 

 10-15 mm. Walls of case very thin, flexible; variously ornamented 

 with small leaf fragments, sometimes with sparse scattering of tiny 

 twigs. Larval bags frequently completely l)are of vegetation and re- 

 semble somewhat those of 0. geyeri, but differ radically from 0. geyeri 

 in structure of case wall. 



The following is quoted from Koehler (1939): 



Crisdlida henthra: Cremdster may poco inclinado; sin gancho anal y con finas 

 Ifneas radiales; surco anal en forma de Y invertida; en su bifurcaci6n inferior, 

 estii limitada por una Imea curva con rugosidades; lateralmente del surco fina- 

 mente rayado ; las verrugas anales alargadas, poco elevadas y de superficie rugosa, 

 su exterior algo rayado; la placa genital esta. dividida en dos mitades por una li'nea 

 que baja de la apertura gential, se extiende hasta el borde de la circunvalacion 

 anal, donde se bifurca, formando dos brazos laterales que forman casi una linea 

 recta, hasta que se unen con el surco marginal, dorsal, sobre el antepenultimo 

 segmento una rugosa verruga transversal, alargada. Superficie total lisa. 



Macho; Poseemos dos ejemplares masculinos sumamente mutilados que no 

 permiten una descripci6n exacta, pero no dejaremos pasar la oportunidad para 

 decir que su parecido es muy grande con el adulto O. geyeri, diferenciAndose por 

 su color rojizo algo anaranjado, muy brillante; estd cubierta con escamas mas 

 densamente que la especie de comparaci6n. Fatas, palpos, abdomen, todo del 

 mismo color. 



Recorded hosts. — "Fabaceae: Pvptadenia communis Benth., Pip- 

 tadenia cebil Griseb., Prosopis sp." (Berg, 1882). 



Discussion. — The above description of the case is not the original, 

 but it has been summarized from available material which agrees 

 with the original diagnosis and which is believed to be identical with 

 typical 0. westwoodii. In addition to case dissimilarities, Berg 

 separated 0. westwoodii from 0. kirbyi {=platensisl) on the basis 

 of the larva. He stated the larva was very similar to that of 0. kirbyi, 

 but that it could be distinguished easily from that of the latter by the 

 presence of white dots on the dorsum of segments 4-6, features that 

 are hardly noticeable in 0. kirbyi. 



In time, after much more collecting and rearing has been done, 

 0. westwoodii and 0. horni may be shown to be conspecific since their 

 larval cases seem to represent nothing more than two extremes of 

 structural variation. 



