REVISION OF MOTHS OF PRODOXINAE 5 



a synoptic list of tlie genera and species of yucca motlis. Also of 

 interest in this reference is the host information supplied by McKelvey. 



A brief biological review of the common yucca moth, Tegeticula 

 yuccasella, was presented by Rau m 1945. This reference summarized 

 Rau's observations and general experiments with this insect over a 

 period of several years. Also mcluded is an annotated list of insects 

 which were encomitered in association with T. yuccasella within the 

 flowers of Yucca filamentosa. 



The most recent reference treating yucca moths is that by Powell 

 and Mackie (1966). Because that paper appeared while the present 

 one was in press, it was not possible to incorporate the findings of these 

 authors into this study. Essentially theu- work involved a biological 

 study of the moths associated with Yucca whipplei. This included not 

 only the Prodoxmae but also a few members of the Blastobasidae, 

 Gelechiidae, and Phycitidae; the yucca moths, however, comprise 

 the major part of then* paper. 



No attempt will be made to summarize all aspects of Powell's and 

 Mackie's mteresting study, although it should be noted that there 

 exist two divergences of taxonomic opinion in their treatment as 

 compared to my own. Whereas I have synonymizcd Tegeticula 

 maculata apicella (Dyar) as no more than a color variate of T. m. 

 maculata (Riley) and recognize only two subspecies in this complex, 

 Powell and Mackie consider Dyar's subspecies to represent a coast 

 range form, geographically separated from T. m. maculata. According 

 to their records the typical form of the species occurs in Tulare and 

 Kern Counties, California, south to Caliente in the foothills north of 

 the Tehachapi Mountains. T. m. apicella is reported from San Luis 

 Obispo County, southward through the mountams of Ventura County 

 and on both sides of the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, 

 California. Similar to my treatment in the present paper, these au- 

 thors recognize T. m. extranea (Hy. Edwards) as an allopatric sub- 

 species ranging through cismontane Riverside and San Diego Counties, 

 California. 



In their presentation of Prodoxus marginatus Riley, Powell and 

 Mackie include P. pulverulenius as a geographical subspecies, thus 

 differing from previous opmions that these two biological entities 

 represented separate species. As suggested in the present paper, P. 

 m. marginatus is the more northern of the two moths and is reported 

 by Powell and Mackie from Tulare, Kern, and San Luis Obispo 

 Counties southward into the transverse ranges, on the desert side of 

 the San Gabriel Mountams and in Cajon Valley, and m cismontane 

 southern California in the Santa Monica Mountains. According to 

 theu- records, the southern subspecies, P. m. pulverulenius ranges 



