Hypercompe alpha (Oberthür, 1881)

Oberthür, C. (1881). Lépidoptères d'Amérique. Études d'Entomologie 6:
p. 108, pl. XIV, fig. 2. Described as Ecpantheria alpha. Translated from the
French original.

Alpha, Oberthür (pl. XIV, fig. 2).
Mexico.

Hampson, G. F. (1901). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British
Museum, vol. 3, Arctiadae (Arctianae) and Agaristidae: p. 377, no. 1920 (as
Ecpantheria alpha).

1920. Ecpantheria alpha.

Ecpantheria alpha, Oberth. Et. Ent. vi. p. 108, pl. xiv. f. 2 (1881); Kirby,
Cat. Het. p. 215.
Ecpantheria orbiculata, Druce, Biol. Centr.-Am., Het. ii. p. 376 (nec
Oberth.).

♂. Head and thorax white; palpi above, frons, and antennae black; tegulae,
patagia, and thorax with black-edged irregular annuli, two blue spots on
metathorax; fore femora above, tibiae at base and extremity, and tarsi
blue-black; abdomen blue-black, the hair on base of dorsum black-brown,
dorsal and lateral series of orange spots, the extremity and ventral surface
white, with sublateral and ventral series of black spots. Fore wing white,
with subbasal, antemedial, medial, postmedial, and subterminal series of
black-edged annulate spots, the first two angled on median nervure, the last
two bent outwards at vein 5, the last with the spot above vein 5 elongate;
the spots on costa sometimes filled in with black; a black lunule beyond
discocellulars; a small terminal series of black spots. Hind wing semihyaline
white; a black-brown fascia on inner area and tornal lobe, which is well
developed; a discoidal point and a subterminal point above vein 4, an oblique
streak above and below vein 2; four spots on termen towards apex; underside
with ante- and postmedial spots on costa.

Ab. 1. Thorax with the ocellate spots reduced on tegulae to points; abdomen
with dorsal orange lines on 3rd and 5th segments instead of the series of
spots.

♀. Abdomen with the extremity black; fore wing with the spots larger, two
spots beyond lower angle of cell; hind wing with the cell and area below and
just beyond lower angle fuscous black; a subterminal series of spots with
whitish centres, except on costal area.

Hab. Mexico, Jalapa (Trujillo), 2 ♂, 1 ♀, Godman-Salvin Coll. Exp., ♂ 62,
♀ 88 millim.

Seitz, A. (1920). Ecpantheria. In: Seitz, A. (ed.), The Macrolepidoptera of
the World, vol. 6, The American Bombyces and Sphinges: p. 318, pl. 40 i.
(German edition: Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 6: 318.)

E. alpha Oberth. (= orbiculata Drc. nec Oberth.) (40 i). This species
greatly resembles the typical abdominalis, exhibiting the costal rings of the
♂ forewing also filled up blackish, and the long inner-marginal diffuse spot
of the hindwing, but the abdomen is blackish-blue, very little spotted
yellow, the rings of the forewings being somewhat differently arranged, and
particularly the tooth of the hindwing much longer. Mexico.

The species abdominalis, with which Seitz compares alpha, is described by him
on the same page (p. 318, pl. 40 i) as follows:

E. abdominalis Wkr. (= proxima Oberth.) (40 i). The abdomen being banded
blue and yellow strongly recalls decora, the thoracic marking being similar,
too. But the hindwing has a much shorter, obtuser anal tooth of the ♂, and
not only in the tooth itself a black shade, but the latter extends as a long
diffuse patch to the base of the wing, and the distorted ring-spots at the
costa and margin of the forewing are not hollow, but filled up with blackish;
from Brazil. — detectiva Oberth. (40 i) has in the ♂ forewing only very
fine, small marginal dots, but an almost quite blue abdomen with but faint
traces of yellow spots. — detecta Oberth. from Pará has likewise only
marginal dots on the forewings and entirely white hindwings, but the costal
rings of the male forewings are not filled up with dark, much rather those
in the basal part and disc. — In aramis Oberth. (40 i), being probably the ♀
to it, all the rings of the forewings are filled up with a bright
greyish-brown, and also the hindwings are abundantly spotted sooty-brown.
Likewise described from Brazil (Minas-Geraes). — annexa Oberth. has a yellow
abdomen with dark bluish-black bands, like the typical form, but all the
rings of the forewings are filled up with white, and the hindwing has,
beside a diffuse spot before the proximal margin, blackish spots along the
anal half of the margin. — kinkelini Burm. (41 a) finally, denominated
according to the Francfort paleontologist Kinkelin and considered to be a
distinct species by Oberthür and Hampson, differs but slightly from aramis;
it has also the markings of the forewing filled up with grey, but the
prothorax and the basal part of the forewing is sometimes slightly tinged
rosy. All the forms of abdominalis originate from Brazil; kinkelini
presumably also occurs in North Argentina, but scarcely in Buenos Ayres
itself, as Oberthür states.