Evidence of presence of Theages hoffmani in Argentina.
Theages hoffmani is a beautiful moth described first by Travassos in 1962. A recent master dissertation reviewed the genus Theages (Araujo, 2018). It was provided a description, key and picture of holotype of Thaeges hoffmani in dissertation. Also, a geographic distribution was provided and this species was found in the brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. This species can be diferentiated from anothers species in this genus by presence of a predominant ocher color on forewing and no orange dots in head.
I used dissertation information to prospect arctiinae observations on Inaturalist searching for Theages species. The search was conducted in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
I could not found any Theages hoffmani in Brazil but surprisingly I could found two pictures in Martín Garcia island in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. This two pictures was taken by diferent observers 3 years apart each observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6346999 ; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/72935916.
It's remarkable how it was found twice in an island of just 184 ha and nowhere else. It's also remarkable that it's far away from the known occurrence area and it's first evidence of the presence of this species in Argentina. Finally, it's the first known photographs of living specimens of Theages hoffmani.
Bibliography:
Araujo, Elias da Costa . Taxonomia e análise cladística de Theages Walker, 1855 (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini, Ctenuchina). 2018. Dissertação (mestrado) - Curso de Sistemática, Taxonomia Animal e Biodiversidade. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2018.
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Theages hoffmani is a species of butterfly that was first described by Travassos in 1962. Araujo's later master's thesis in 2018 provided a detailed description, identification key, and image of the holotype of Theages hoffmani. The dissertation also indicated the geographical distribution of this species, noting its discovery in the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. The species is described to be distinguishable from other species of the genus Theages by the presence of a predominant buff color on the forewing and the absence of orange dots on the head.
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