CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE -j^g^ 



PARANTHRENE FENESTRATA Barnes and Lindsey 



Plate 28, Figui^ 166 



Paranthrene fenestratus Barnes and Lindsey, Brooklyn Ent. Soc. Bull., vol. 17, 

 p. 122, 1922. — McDuNNOUGH, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and 

 the United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8805, 1939. 



Female. — Antennae, labial palpi, head, thorax, abdomen, and legs black. 

 Apical portion of antenna orange. Forewing opaque, orange; costa to 

 end of cell, base, radial and cubital stems, and inner margin to cell black ; 

 apical margin very narrowly black, fringes gray-brown. Hindwing 

 orange, with transparent areas between veins 4, 3, and 2 to cell; between 

 veins 2 and Ic, Ic to lb, and lb to la clear to base. 



Male. — Not known. 



Expanse : Female 40 to 45 mm. 



Distribution. — Arizona. 



Type. — Female. In the United States National Museum. 



Remarks. — This species is represented by three known females, two 

 in the United States Museum and one in the California Academy of 

 Sciences, collected in Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Ariz., June 

 8-15 and June 27, 1916 (V. Owen). The male is not yet known, and 

 nothing is known of the food plant and habits. Presumably the species 

 is Mexican, ranging across the border into Arizona. 



VITACEA, new genus 



Genotype, Aegeria polistiformis Harris. 



This genus forms a natural group closely allied to Paranthrene, hav- 

 ing the same venational, palpal, and genitalic characters, differing only 

 as follows: Hindwing with vein Ic heavily scaled; male abdomen with 

 four long anal appendages not found in Paranthrene ; genitalia without 

 the downward spine at apex of aedeagus, characteristic of Paranthrene. 

 Biologically the two groups dififer in that the larva of Vitacca constructs 

 a cocoon before pupation, attached to the burrow or separate in the ad- 

 joining soil, whereas in species of Paranthrene, as now defined, the 

 larvae transform to pupae in their galleries without making cocoons. 



The Japanese species Sciapteron regale Butler belongs to this genus, 

 and there are doubtless other Old World species to be added when 

 better known. The larvae of the Japanese species, commonly called 

 "gun work of grape," are in demand for feeding insectivorous cage 

 birds. The larvae are common and can be extracted from root sections 

 in numbers as needed for feeding. A lot of such root cuttings was 

 brought to the United States but were fortunately confiscated by custom 

 inspectors and referred to the State Commissioner of Horticulture at 

 Sacramento, Calif. Moths reared from this material were identified as 

 Sciapteron regale in the U. S. Bureau of Entomology. If established 

 in California this insect might become a menace to grape culture there. 



