CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE 117 



THAMNOSPHECIA GELIFORMIS (Walker) 



Aegeria geliformis Walker. List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the 



collection of the British Museum, pt. 8, p. 46, 1856. — Hy. Edwards, Papilio, vol. 



1, pp. 208, 244, pi. 4, fig. 7, 1881.— Druce, Biologia Centrali-Americana, 



Lepidoptera, vol. 1, p. 32, pi. 5, figs. 12, 17, 1883. 

 Trochilium geliformis MoRRis, Synopsis of the described Lepidoptera of North 



America, p. 333, 1862. 

 Sesia geliformis Boisduval, Histoire naturelle des insectes : Species general des 



lepidopteres heteroceres, vol. 1, p. 441, 1874. — Beutenmuller, Mem. Amer. Mus. 



Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 6, p. 309, 1901. 

 Fyrrhotaenia geliformis Hy. Edwards, Papilio, vol. 3, p. 157, 1883. — Beutenmuller, 



Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 8, p. 145, 1896. 

 Sciapteron geliformis Hampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, vol. 16, p. 349, 1895. 

 Synanthedon geliformis McDunnough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada 



and the United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8752, 1939. 



Male. — Antennae, palpi, head, and thorax wholly black with a greenish 

 or bluish metalHc luster. Abdomen with first segment above blue-black, 

 red beneath ; all other segments red above and beneath ; anal tuft fan- 

 shaped, red, broadly edged with black. Legs shiny blue-black, tibial spurs 

 tawny. Forewing opaque, blue-black above and beneath. Hindwing 

 transparent, broadly margined with dull black ; cilia dull black. Genitalia, 

 sacculus ridge strongly spined in a straight line. 



Female. — Slightly larger, anal tuft inverted, rounded, all red or red 

 edged with black. Otherwise like the male. 



Expanse: Male 15 to 16 mm., female 16 to 20 mm. 



Distribution. — Florida and Gulf coast regions. West Indies, Mexico. 



Type. — Male. In the British Museum of Natural History. 



Remarks. — Druce (Biologia Centrali-Americana, vol. 1, p. 32, pi. 5, 

 color fig. 12 [male] and fig. 17 [female], 1883) corrects the illustration 

 by Hy. Edwards as having the forewings too opaque in contrast to his 

 examples from Jalapa, Mexico, which show distinct transparent areas 

 before and behind the discal mark. This is not true of a long series of 

 specimens from Florida, which have the forewings wholly opaque; in 

 fact, even denser than illustrated by Hy. Edwards. A specimen in the 

 United States National Museum from Orizaba, Mexico, conforms exactly 

 with Florida examples. Hence, the figures by Druce must apply to a race, 

 if not a different species. 



The male type in the British Museum, said to be in very poor condition, 

 is labeled U. S. A. (E. Doubleday) and is most likely a Florida specimen. 

 T. geliformis is a species of tropical and subtropical origin, ranging from 

 Mexico through the West Indies into Florida, reaching the northern sec- 

 tions of the State. So strikingly different in coloration, it is surprising 

 to find that structurally it is closely related to the preceding species, 

 scitula, with which also it agrees in habits and a propensity to attack 

 various kinds of unrelated food plants. As a bark borer on pecan it is 

 establishing itself increasingly in central and southern Florida. Dog- 



