MOTHS OF THE SCOPULEPES GROUP — TODD 509 



Many of the specimens from the Antilles have the ground color 

 entirely of some shade of yellow. There is no evidence at present, 

 however, to indicate whether these pale specimens represent another 

 seasonal form. If so, they probably should be named, but for the 

 present I prefer to refer to them as "the pale form." Seitz 6 applied 

 the name "pyraloides" to two figures of the pale form on plate 94, 

 row e of volume 7, Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde [1940-46 ?]. 

 H. pyraloides Hiibner should apply only to the typical form of 

 sco pule pes. 



In addition to the characters indicated in the key, males of scopulepes 

 may be recognized by the characteristic male genitalia (fig. G). 



Length of forewing: Male 11 to 16 mm.; female 12 to 16 mm. 



Type: The present location of the type of scopulepes is unknown. 

 It has probably been lost. Ha worth described the species from a single 

 specimen, obviously a male, in the collection of W. E. Leach via the 

 Portland Museum. As the material from both the Haworth and 

 Leach collections is now in the British Museum (Natural History), 

 the type of this species should be in that institution, but Fletcher has 

 been unable to locate it in that collection. 



Type locality: Haworth listed the type as occurring in England, 

 "Habitat in Anglia rarissime." But he obviously believed that it was 

 not a native species because he states in the description: "Antennae, 

 pedesque desunt in exemplario D. Leach; at in peregrino (forte ex 

 Americae Georgia) pedes postici praesingulares, subtus hirsutissimi 

 et exacte scopulaeformes" (Antennae and legs absent in the example 

 of Mr. Leach; but in the exotic (probably from Georgia of America) 

 the very remarkable posterior legs very hairy underneath and pre- 

 cisely scopuliform). Franclemont (1951, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, 

 vol. 53, No. 2, p. 66) discusses other American species of moths that 

 were described by Haworth and recorded as English species. 



Synoxymical notes: Hemcroplanis pyralis Hiibner, 1818: Type 

 locality "Georgien in Florida." The excellent illustrations (figs. 127— 

 128) leave no doubt as to the proper application of this name. Barnes 

 and McDunnough (1918) were the first to place the name in the 

 synonymy of scopulepes and I concur in that placement. The present 

 location of the type of pyralis is unknown. It may be in the Natur- 

 historisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. 



Ilemeroplanis pyraloides Hiibner, 1823: Hiibner proposed this name 

 as a substitute for pyralis without explanation. The type is therefore 

 ipso facto the type of pyralis. 



Scopelopus inops Stephens, 1829: Proposed as a replacement name 

 for scopulaepes without explanation. The type is ipso facto the type 

 of scopulepes. 



6 See footnote 4, p. 507. 



