Hyalurga vinosa

Distribution: Mexico to Brazil; Jamaica; Dominican republic; Puerto Rico; lesser Antilles.
Type locality: Antigua.
Synonyms: Phalaena horologica (?) Goeze 1799; Nectua horologica Goeze 1781; Lauron (Dioptis?) ergolis Walker 1854; Lauron domingonis Butler 1876; Hyalurga diastilba Hering 1925; Dioptis (Hyalurga?) rica Hubner (incorrect synonymy?)
Source of record: I.O.J. collection.
Method of identification: illustrated in black and white by Todd (1982) figs. 9-15.
Notes: Todd (1982) suggests that this may not be one species throughout its range - it certainly seems immensely variable and the name H. diastilba has been applied (correctly?) to some Jamaican specimens, which may be a separate species or subspecies, which have a much reduced pattern of yellow on the wings and only a thin white apical forewing bar (as illustrated by Seitz, plate 65, fig. f4, see next species). More work is needed on this species or species complex. The caterpillar is described in Forbes (1930) and the larval foodplant is given by Todd as Heliotropium indicum L., H. angiospermum Murray and Tournefortia hirsutissima L. The specimen I illustrate here is from the Cayman Islands - the image was kindly supplied by Joanne Mercille of Grand Cayman.

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