556 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. in 



A. mortipennellus is related to those acrolophids having elongate 

 labial palpi, setose eyes, laminate antennae, bifid uncus, and paired 

 gnathos. It may be easily distinguished from all other members of 

 the genus by its uncus, the furcae of which have their bases very 

 broadly separated and developed ventrad into a pair of prominent 

 plates. The apical portions of these furcae, easily observable in 

 undissected specimens, are also very distinctive. The genital char- 

 acters of morti'pennellus are consistent throughout my fairly large 

 series and they serve well in separating this species from aU others 

 treated here. The color pattern and general habitus of this rather 

 frail moth also distinguish it from its congeners. 



Darlington in a letter (1946) reports on the type specimen of this 

 species at the Academy of Natural Sciences: " mortipennella Grote. 

 Type cf , much rubbed but in recognizable condition; all wings and 

 abdomen present." It has also been inferred to be at Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts (see following discussion on status of A. guadripunc- 

 tellus). There seems to be little doubt as to the identity of Grote 's 

 mortipennellus. The original description agrees very closely with my 

 series of specimens representing this species. In addition, most 

 workers agree upon the concept of mortipennellus, since practically all 

 of the many specimens I have seen determined by others as this 

 species have proved to be both alike and representative of this moth. 

 At the U.S. National Museum there are several slide preparations, 

 labeled ^^mortipennellus Grote," containing c?" genitalia. These also 

 agree with my concept of the species in question. 



Beutenmiiller's manuscript name, A. guadripundellus, first ap- 

 peared in print in 1891 in Smith's checldist, where it was listed as a 

 valid species. Dyar (1900) referred to the name in Smith's list as 

 " guadripunctellu^, Beut. (ined.)," indicating it was ineditus, i.e., "not 

 made known, unpublished." In addition, Dyar validated guadri- 

 punctellus by properly placing it as a synonym of the older species, 

 mortipennellus (Grote), which in turn he transferred to the genus, 

 Hypoclopus. Thus, the synonym emerged as Hypodopus guadripunc- 

 tellus Dyar. At the end of his discussion of mortipennellus, Dyar 

 listed the following distributional data: "Texas (coll. Beutenmiiller, 

 type of guadripundellus)] Texas, Sept. 20 (Belfrage); Central Missouri, 

 Aug. 12 and 15 (coU. C. V. Riley); Kansas (Crevecoeur) ; Georgia 

 (coll. Beutenmiiller); Texas (coll. Beutenmiiller, labeled 'compared 

 with type of A. mortipenella at Cambridge, Mass.')." Since there 

 was no published description for guadripundellus, it is apparent that 

 Dyar had BeutenmiiUer's manuscript type specimen (chirotype) 

 available for study. 



