32 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 25 6 



and valley of the Rio Frio, northeast of Uvalde, although it has not 

 been recorded from the open country between and south of Uvalde 

 and San Antonio, where one of its food plants Opuntia lindheimeri is 

 so common. The host plants include the bush prickly pears 0. lind- 

 heimeri and 0. inermis and low-growing plants such as 0. mackensenii, 

 0. tortispina and relations. The winter generation yields adults from 

 late April to early June, while moths of the summer generation 

 appear from late August to October. In breeding work in Australia, 

 the egg average per female from many examples usually varied be- 

 tween 40 and 75; but in one instance 424 females deposited an average 

 of 103 eggs each. In Texas, an average of 75 eggs per female was 

 obtained from 3,180 females, and on another occasion a number 

 of females laid an average number of 86 eggs. The greatest number of 

 eggs secured from one individual has been 133, and the largest 

 number of eggs counted in a stick has been 91. 



Parasites. — In Texas, three species of parasites, viz., the tachinid 

 Phorocera texana, the ichneumon Temelucha sinuatus, and the chalcid 

 Brachymeria (Pseudobrachjmeria) pedalis attack the pupae of Melitara 

 and other cactus phycitids. In Florida, two other enemies of M. 

 prodenialis are the tachinid Lespesia sp. and the braconid Apanteles 

 etiellae. 



Melitara dentata (Grote) 



Heinrich (1956) has included M. doddalis Dyar as a synonym of this 

 species. However, as the two were regarded as distinct forms during 

 the Board's investigations, and as there appeared to be certain differ- 

 ences between the more northern dentata and the more southern 

 doddalis, they will be treated separately. 



The typical M. dentata moths of Colorado tend to be larger, with 

 the forewings more uniformly grey and less suffused with darker 

 markings than those of doddalis. The full-grown larvae of the former 

 insect are a more intense clear blue and are the most beautiful of 

 the genus; they seem to crawl freely at pupation time and do not 

 spin cocoons in clusters at the base of the plants, as is the habit of 

 doddalis and prodenialis. The cocoons of dentata are stouter and more 

 compactly woven than those of the other three forms. 



M. dentata is distributed at elevations of from 2,500 to 7,000 feet 

 from the Panhandle of Texas, northward through western Kansas, 

 Colorado, western Nebraska, and Wyoming to the border of Montana, 

 thence southward through Idaho and Utah to the plateau of northern 

 Arizona, and to Mexico. It has been recorded also from British 

 Columbia, Canada. Throughout its range it is prevalent and often 



