AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE SUBFAMILY PHYCITINAB 



289 



This species has been intercepted a number of times 

 at our quarantine ports in banana trash. The larva is 

 apparently a feeder on dry vegetable refuse. The moth 

 is easUy identified by its male genitalia and (in fresh 

 specimens) by the broken powdery transverse lines and 

 wine color of its forewings. 



176. Vagobanta, new genus 



Type op genus: Cryptoblabes divergens Butler. 



Characters of Verina except: Antenna of male simple; 

 eighth abdominal segment of male simple; forewing with 

 vein 2 shortly separated from, approximate to, or con- 

 nate with 3 (more separated in females than in males) ; 

 hind wing with veins 3 and 5 shortly stalked ; cell long 

 (one-half or a trifle over one-half the length of wing) ; 

 discocellular vein decidedly curved. 



Contains one tropical American species. 



597. Vagobanta divergens (Butler), new combination 

 FiGUEES 604, 1100 



Cryplohlabea divergens Butler, Trans. Ent. Soc. London, p. 60, 



1883. 

 Moodna divergens (Butler) Hampson, in Ragonot, Monograph, 



pt. 2, p. 269, 1901. 



Forewing powder gray, the basal area distinctly paler; 

 in fresh specimens an obscure shading of reddish scales 

 on middle of lower fold; antemedial line distinct, de- 

 cidedly oblique, white, bordered outwardly by a black- 

 ish band, nearly straight but in some specimens with a 

 notch at lower fold; subterminal line obscure, sinuate, 

 very faintly bordered by dark line on inner side. Hind 

 wing translucent, white, with a pale brown line along 

 termen and the veins slightly darkened. Alar expanse, 

 21-25 mm. 



Male genitalia with arms of U-shaped apical projec- 

 tion of gnathos very short and widely spaced. Ele- 

 ments of divided transtilla long and stout. Harpe with 

 digitate projection from about middle of costa; outer 

 margin of cucuUus rounded and turned up slightly at 

 apex. Anellus V-shaped, with stout base. Aedeagus 

 stout. Vinculum stout, but slightly tapering; terminal 

 end broadly and abruptly angulate, reinforced by a 

 sclerotized, pocketlike fold. 



Female genitalia with bursa copulatrix large, finely 

 and sparsely scobinate; signum weak; ductus bursae 

 sclerotized for half its length, the sclerotized portion 

 flattened and bent. 



Type locality: Coquimbo, Chile (type in BM). 



Food plant: Puya alpestris. 



Distribution: Chile: Angol, Coquimbo. 



A reared series of eight specimens from Angol, Chile, 

 is in the National Collection, received from D. S. 

 Bullock but undated. 



177. Moodnella, new genus 



Type op genus: Moodnella favla, new species. 



Tongue well developed. Antenna with slight sinus 

 in shaft of male near base. Labial palpus oblique, 

 slender, reaching a trifle above vertex, third segment 



300329 — Be 20 



shorter than second. Maxillary palpus filiform, rather 

 long (as long as third segment of labial palpus and about 

 twice the length of the maxiUary palpi of the other 

 genera in the Moodna-Vitula group). Wing venation 

 as in Vitvla. Forewing with strong costal fold enclosing 

 scale tuft. Hind wing with cell one- third the length of 

 wing; discocellular vein curved. Eighth abdominal 

 segment of male simple. 



Male genitalia as in Vitula. 



Female genitalia with ductus bursae very weakly 

 sclerotized for a very short distance from genital open- 

 ing. 



Differs from Vitula in having a sinus in the shaft of 

 male antenna, no tufts on eighth abdominal segment of 

 the male; from Moodna in its complete transtilla, simple 

 harpe, simple eighth abdominal segment, approximate 

 condition of veins 3 and 5 of hind wing; from Verina 

 in its complete transtilla, small hooked, apical process 

 of gnathos, simple harpe, simple eighth abdominal seg- 

 ment, longer cell and more distinctly curved discocellu- 

 lar vein of hind wing; and from all three of these genera 

 by its longer maxillary palpi. 



Contains one tropical American species. 



598. Moodnella paula, new species 

 FioTTBEs 608, 1096 



Forewing gray suffused with rufous and shaded with 

 blackish, the blackish shade extending in a narrow band 

 along costa and diffused irregularly in the median area; 

 antemedial white line far out on wing, at or a trifle 

 beyond middle, distinct on lower half, fading out 

 towards costa, bordered outwardly by an irregularly 

 diffused black band; subterminal line narrow, parallel 

 with termen, nearly straight, slightly oblique from costa 

 to vein 6, shortly out-angled just below, thence straight 

 to inner margin, white, bordered inwardly by a narrow 

 blackish band; the area between the transverse lines 

 greatly restricted. Hind wings white to smoky fuscous; 

 the veins faintly darkened and a dark line along termen. 

 Head and thorax reddish ocherous with a scattered 

 dusting of blackish scales. Alar expanse, 14-15 mm. 



Male genitalia with uncus narrowly rounded at apex; 

 vinculum long, stout, scarcely tapering, terminal margin 

 broad but very shghtly convex (nearly straight). 



Type locality: Guatemala City, Guatemala (type 

 in USNM, 61390). 



Food plant: Unknown. 



Described from male type and one male paratype 

 from the type locality collected by C. N. Ainslie, Mar. 

 1932; one female paratype from Santa Catarina, Brazil, 

 collected by Fritz Hoffmann, July 9, 1935; one female 

 paratype from Tigre, Argentina, Aug. 1939, from the 

 collection of Fernando Bourquin; and one female para- 

 type from Viyosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, E. J. Hamble- 

 ton, collector, "12-1-34," from the Cornell CoUection. 



A pretty httle species easily recognized by its reddish 

 fuscous color, the narrow interspace between the trans- 

 verse lines of forewing and the distinct whiteness of 

 these lines on their lower halves. 



