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Scea Walker 1854

James S. Miller and Andrew V. Z. Brower
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taxon links [up-->]Scea angustimargo [up-->]Scea circumscripta [up-->]Scea superba [up-->]Scea cleonica [up-->]Scea auriflamma [up-->]Scea bryki [up-->]Scea grandis [up-->]Scea necyria [up-->]Scea bellona [up-->]Scea torrida [up-->]Scea erasa [up-->]Scea dimidiata [up-->]Scea discinota [up-->]Scea steinbachi [up-->]Scea semifulva [up-->]Scea servula [up-->]Scea gigantea [up-->]Scea curvilimes [up-->]Scea subcyanea [down<--]Josiini Interpreting the tree
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Containing group: Josiini

Introduction

The genus Scea is mainly endemic to the eastern and western slopes of the Andes, with a few species extending into the lowlands as far as southeastern Brazil and Argentina. Most exhibit characteristic black wings with orange basal patches, but some species formerly included in the genus Cyanotricha are mainly iridescent bluish black with red dashes, and other species now removed to different genera (Notascea, Lyces) share the orange and black color pattern, probably as a result of Müllerian mimicry (the pattern is also shared by various pericopine and lithosiine arctiids).

Characteristics

Most species in the genus can be recognized by the striking yellow-orange basal regions of the forewings, many with black scaling on the veins. However, there are very similar species in other dioptine genera (Notascea), as well as mimics in Geometridae and Arctiidae. The wing venation of Scea auriflamma is shown below.

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Scea auriflamma. © 2009 James S. Miller

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

The partially-resolved hypothesis of relationships shown above is distilled from the species accounts in Miller (2009).

Other Names for Scea Walker 1854

References

Miller, JS. 2009. Generic revision of the Dioptinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea: Notodontidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 321, 1-971 + 48 plates.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Scea auriflamma
Location Brazil: Bahia, Serra Bonita
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By James S. Miller
Life Cycle Stage adult
View dorsal-lateral
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 2009 Andrei Sourakov
About This Page



Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to James S. Miller at and Andrew V. Z. Brower at

Page: Tree of Life Scea Walker 1854. Authored by James S. Miller and Andrew V. Z. Brower. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Miller, James S. and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2010. Scea Walker 1854. Version 10 January 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Scea/138592/2010.01.10 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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