Amerila bauri

Amerila bauri (Möschler)

Description
Male. Fw length 27-30 mm; fw pale ochre from the base to the discal region, pale brown towards the apex, with a large, sharply bordered, central transparent area postdiscally; fw veins partly lined with darker scales, also along the outer margin of the transparent area; hw pale brownish ochre, weakly scaled. Head, thorax and outer sides of femora and tibiae pale ochre; inner sides of femora, tibiae, and tarsi red; tegulae with a single black spot basally. Abdomen dorsally pinkish red, ventrally pale ochre, without obvious androconial organs.
Female. As male.

Male genitalia

view on leftside of vinculum and valva, lateral view	inner side of right valva	tegumen/uncus, dorsal view	aedeagus with vesica everted

Uncus small, broad triangular, and distally pointed. Valvae large, oval-shaped, and distally rounded, outer surface with long, extrusible, hirsute, tube-like coremata; inner sclerotized process short, strongly bent near its base, further distally curved and apically pointed, along the outer side finely serrated. Vesica distally with two large, straight, parallel cornuti of unequal length fused at their base, and several very small spines on a short papillate projection.

Distribution
Southeastern Africa; from southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe to Natal

Comments
This species was synonymized by Kirby (1892: 195) with A. madagascariensis. Hampson (1901: 504) first synonymized it with A. astreus (Drury), a species from India, but later he accepted bauri as a distinct species (Hampson, 1920: 526). A. bauri is similar to A. madagascariensis (which is restricted to Madagascar), but constant external and genitalic differences suggest ranking the two taxa as different species despite their allopatric distribution.

Material
Amerila bauri Möschler, 1884: 289. Lectotype female (here designated): Caffraria, Baziya, Br. 74. / Type, Verh.z.b.Ges.Wien, 1883 p.289.t.xii.f.2 / Coll. Möschl. / Origin. / Coll. Staudinger / Zool.Mus.Berlin / Arctiidae female, Genitalia Slide, VU no. 10.11/ Rh.bauri Möschl. / Lectotypus, Amerila bauri Möschler, 1884, designated by Häuser & Boppré [MNHU; abdomen dissected]. Type locality: SOUTH AFRICA: Baziya.
Additional material examined. MOZAMBIQUE: Delagoa Bai [= Baía de Lourenço Marques], 1894 (1 female, MNHU). ZIMBABWE: Gimson, 1908 (1 male, 1 female, BMNH, 1 female, MRAC). SOUTH AFRICA: Transvaal: Magoebos Klooft, 28.ii.1980 (1 male, MB); Natal: vii.1888 (1 female, BMNH), 1896 (1 female, MNHU), Pt.Natal (1 female, MNHU), Pietermaritzburg (2 ¢¢, BMNH), Maritzburg (2 females, BMNH), Durban, v.1901 (1 female, BMNH), 12.ix.1906 (1 male, BMNH), 6.v.1959 (1 female, NMKE), Zululand, Eshowe, 3.x.1949 (1 female, NMKE); Cape Province: Namaqualand, Cochiane (1 male, BMNH), Graham's Town (1 male, 1 female, BMNH).