Amerila niveivitrea  (Bartel )
niveivitrea m 94-0028.GIF (7438 Byte) niveivitrea f 94-0032.GIF (7780 Byte)
male female
Description
Male. Fw length 26-29 mm; wings, head, thorax, and base of abdomen white; wings weakly scaled, partly transparent, veins of fw dark; fw costa with a long areole from base up to one third of the wing, broad at base and gradually tapering distally. Antennae brown, red at the base; tegulae with a conspicuous black spot anteriorly and another, usually faint spot posteriorly; legs red, lateral sides of mid and hind femora white. Abdomen dorsally red, ventrally white; medially at intersegmental membrane between sternites III and IV an extrusible brush with long, hair-like scales inside a pocket.
Female. As in male, except for the abdominal androconial organ and without an areole in fw costa; abdominal sternite VI sharply pointed at the posterior end laterally at both sides.
Male genitalia
niveivitrea a.GIF (3503 Byte) niveivitrea b.GIF (7385 Byte) niveivitrea c.GIF (1808 Byte) niveivitrea d.GIF (6277 Byte)
view on leftside of vinculum and valva, lateral view inner side of right valva tegumen/uncus, dorsal view aedeagus with vesica everted
Male genitalia (Plates). Uncus short, broad triangular, and distally with a short pointed tip. Valvae large, almost square-shaped, outer surface with long extrusible, hirsute, tube-like coremata; inner sclerotized process large and smooth, curved, strongly bent towards the pointed tip. Vesica distally with a single large, curved, apically pointed cornutus strongly bent at its base.
Female genitalia. Bursa copulatrix with several signa, distally with a small, papilla-like appendix bursae.
Distribution
West, Central, and East Africa; from southern Mali and Côte d'Ivoire to Cameroon and Angola; in Zaire, Uganda, and in eastern Africa from southern Ethiopia to Tanzania.
Comments
This species had been synonymized by Hampson (1920: 515) with A. bubo, but subsequent authors accepted it as a separate species (Gaede, 1926; Goodger & Watson, 1995). Muller (1980: 88) called it Rhodogastria cinyra in his unpublished thesis.
Material
Rhodogastria niveivitrea Bartel, 1903: 208. Lectotype male (here designated): N.-Kamerun, Rangwe 1000 m, v.99, G.Conrad S. / Rhodogastria niveivitrea Bartel; 41150 / Genital-Präparat Nr. 91-38 Chr. Häuser / Lectotypus, Rhodogastria niveivitrea Bartel, 1903, designated by Häuser & Boppré [MNHU; abdomen dissected]. Type locality: CAMEROON: Rangwe, 1000 m.
 Additional material examined. MALI: Banamba, 15.vii.1972 (1 female, ITZA). BURKINA FASO: Bobo, 9.viii.1975 (1 male, ZSSM). Côte d'Ivoire: Badenou S Mbingué, 9.50 N, 5.50 W, 10.-12.xi.1983 (1 male, 1 female, RS), 30.xi.1983 (1 female, RS); Séguébé SE Sirasso, 9.11 N, 6.03 W, 11.xi.1983 (4 males, 1 female, RS), 21.-29.xi.1983 (2 males, 2 females, RS); Marahue-Ranch bei Mankono, 330-400 m, 8.22 N, 6.23 W, 15.xi.-15.xii.1981, (4 males, 1 female, RS), xii.1983 (1 male, RS), 28.v.1986 (1 male, 1 female, RS), 21.vi.1986 (1 male, RS); 15 km E Bouaflé, Pakodji near Degbézéré, 14.xi.1983 (1 female, ITZA), 1.xii.1983 (1 female, ITZA), 6.ii.1984 (1 male, ITZA). GHANA: Ashanti: Kwadoso, 26.+29.iv.1995 (2 males, MB), 29.v.1995 (1 female, MB); Eastern: Abetifi, 24.-31.viii.1993 (1 male, 2 females, LK); Kete-Krachi, 1924 (1 female, BMNH); Anfoega, 1956 (1 female, AMES), 1.iv.1959 (1 male, AMES). TOGO: near Lama-Kara, road to Bafilo, 9°30'30''N, 1°12'30''E, 11.+20.xi.1987 (2 females, GA). BENIN: Lama Forest nr. Bohicon, 9.-17.xii.1992 (2 males, 5 females, MB). NIGERIA: Oyo: Ibadan, i.-vi.1954 (2 females, ZMUC); Federal Capital Territory: Abuja, ix.1981 (1 male, 1 female, ZFMK); Kaduna: Kaduna, 9.vii.1970 (1 female, ZSSM), 28.vii.1971 (1 female, ZSSM), 26.x.1971 (1 female, ZSSM). CAMEROON: Sud-Ouest: Buea, 1000-1200 m, 1.-10.xi.1910 (1 female, MNHU); Victoria, 1892 (1 male, 1 female, MNHU); Nord: Adamaoua, ca. 20 km S Minim, 6.49 N, 12.52 E, 1200 m, 14.iii.-6.iv.1979 (1 female, BGSS). ZAIRE: Shaba: Elisabethville [= Lubumbashi], 12.+14.xi.1958 (2 females, ZSSM); (MRAC). UGANDA: Masindi: Budongo Forest, Souso, vii.-viii.1995 (2 males, SMNS). ETHIOPIA: Jlubabor: Gore, 2000 m, 8.-27.xii.1959 (2 males, 1 female, SMNS); Kefa: Jimma, 1770 m, 5.-29.i.1960 (3 males, 3 females, SMNS), 6.-11.v.1967 (1 male, ZMUC). KENYA: Kakamega: Kakamega Forest, 4.-5.vii.1980 (3 males, 2 females, MB), iv.1988 (5 males, 2 females, MB). TANZANIA: Kigoma: Tubira Forest, 1100 m, 29.iv.1989 (1 female, BJ). ANGOLA: Cuanza Norte: 30 km N Ouiculungo, Canzele, 18.x.1957 (1 male, ZSSM); Cuanza Sul: 30 km von Calulo, Quitondo, 2.ix.1957 (1 male, ZSSM).