Amerila castanea (Hamposon)
Description
Male. Fw length 24 mm; fw dark brown, the central area weakly scaled and largely transparent; fw veins finely lined with brown scales, somewhat broader along the discal vein; hw weakly scaled, dark brown near the anterior and outer margin, centrally transparent, along the inner margin pale ochre. Head and thorax dorsally dark brown; tegulae with a single black spot basally; outer sides of legs dark brown, inner sides of femora, tibiae, and tarsi pinkish red. Abdomen dorsally reddish pink, without obvious androconial organs.
Female. Unknown.

castanea m 94-0023.JPG (8064 Byte)
Male genitaliacastanea b.gif (7022 Byte)
castanea a.gif (2884 Byte) castanea c.gif (2206 Byte) castanea d.gif (5081 Byte)
view on leftside of vinculum and valva, lateral view inner side of right valva tegumen/uncus, dorsal view aedeagus with vesica everted
Uncus short, with a roundish, setose flap, distally not pointed. Valvae large, triangular and distally tapering, outer surface with extrusible, long, hirsute, tube-like coremata. Inner sclerotized process large and smooth, strongly bent at its base, distally curved and extending beyond the ventral margin of the valva. Vesica distally with two strong, parallel, straight cornuti of unequal length fused at their base.
Distribution
Nigeria; only known from the type locality.
Comments
This species is only based on the ¢ holotype, but the distinctly shaped valvae of the ¢ genitalia leave little doubt about its species status. Externally, however, it is similar to A. fennia, A. puella, A. roseomarginata, and A. vidua. In A. castanea, the fw ground colour is paler brown than in A. fennia, and A. puella (except the ssp. invidua), the central transparent area is more sharply bordered than in A. vidua, and the hw lacks the pinkish red tint present in A. fennia and A. roseomarginata.
Material
Rhodogastria castanea Hampson, 1911: 412. Holotype male (examined): Old Calabar, S.D.Crompton, 1901-165. Rhodogastria castanea type male Hmpsn. / Type / Arctiidae genitalia slide No. 4386 [BMNH; abdomen dissected]. Type locality: NIGERIA: Old Calabar.