Macaria abydata Guenée comb. rev.

Macaria abydata Guenée, 1857, Hist. nat. Insectes, Spec. gen. Lep. 10: 80.

Macaria lataria Walker, 1861 , List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus. 22: 740, syn. n.

Macaria santaremaria Walker, 1861, Ibid. 23: 917, syn. n.

Macaria adrasata Snellen, 1874, Tijdschr. Ent. 17: 70, syn. n.

Semiothisa ochrata Warren, 1900, Novit. zool. 7: 206, syn. n.

Chiasmia vagabunda Inoue, 1986, Tinea, 12: 66.

Diagnosis

The species resembles a large, paler Godonela mutabilis Warren but has the hindwing postmedial punctate and the thin, dark marginal line of both wings broken; in mutabilis they are all continuous. The male genitalia are diagnostic.

Taxonomic Notes

D.C. Ferguson (in litt.) has suggested that the taxa trientata Herrich-Schäffer and punctolineata Packard may also be synonymous.

Geographical Range

The native range of abydata is from N. Argentina to the Caribbean and southern U.S.A. Its introduction and spread in the Pacific over the past two decades has been dramatic, with much in common with the spread of the Leucaena psyllid, Heteropsylla cubana Crawford, including having Leucaena latisiliqua (= glauca, leucocephala) as a host-plant (Muddiman, Hodkinson & Hollis, 1992). Its spread can be summarised as follows (Proc. Hawaii ent. Soc. (1972-86) 21: 137, 148, 155, 305; 23: 127, 135; Inoue, loc. cit. and in litt.; material in Bishop Museum; material collected by the author (Sulawesi) or sent to him; material in USNM), with corresponding first records for the psyllid (Muddiman et al., 1992) in parentheses:

Genitalia: