AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE SUBFAMILY PHYCITINAE 



109 



along upper edge of cell as far as discocellular vein, 

 whence it loops backward along the lower vein of cell 

 and thence along outer edge of the white line to inner 

 margin; subterminal line, parallel with termen, sinuate, 

 white, bordered inwardly by a black line and outwardly 

 by a narrow dark shade, both borders enlarged at 

 costa into contrasted black spots; discal dots not dis- 

 tinguishable; along termen a row of more or less con- 

 fluent black dots. Hind wings varying from smoky 

 white to pale brownish, the veins faintly darkened. 

 Alar expanse, 19-28 mm. 



Male genitalia with uncas broadly elongate, the side 

 margins parallel. Apical process of gnathos without 

 pendant lobes. Transtilla present, incomplete. Harpe 

 with cucuUus moderately broad; apex of sclerotized 

 costa produced into a long point at upper (outer) angle; 

 no erect clasper. Eighth abdominal segment of male 

 without tufts. 



Female genitalia with terminal sclerotized portion of 

 ductus bursae gradually broadened to genital opening, 

 its terminal margin deeply concaved. Eighth-segment 

 collar broadly sclerotized, ventrally fused. 



Type localities: California {walsinghami, in Paris 

 Mus.); Stockton, Utah (monodon, in USNM). 



Food plant: Prunus virginiana melanocarpa. 



Distribution: California, Cloverdale (June), Deer 

 Park Spring (Lake Tahoe) , Plumas Coimty (July, Aug.) ; 

 Utah, Bellevue (May), Eureka (June, July), Provo 

 (July), Stockton (July); Washington, Kamiack Butte 

 (May). 



Dyar's type of monodon is a small female whose 

 genitalia (fig. 792) show minor differences from typical 

 California specimens, but a series from Utah shows all 

 intergradations between the extremes displayed in the 

 figures. The food plant record is from a series reared 

 by J. F. G. Clarke in 1934 at Kamiack Butte, Wash., 

 which I then identified as mirabella Dyar. Their 

 abdomens are distinctly gray and then* hind wings (es- 

 pecially those of the females) are brownish. In exam- 

 ples of typical walsinghami from the coastal region of 

 California (Cloverdale) the hind wings are whitish and 

 the abdomens gray or grayish ocheroUs. 



225. Ambesa walsinghami mirabella Dyar, new status 

 Figures 313, 793 



Ambesa mirabella Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 10, 

 p. 59, 1908. — Essig, Insects of western North America, p. 

 709, 1926.— McDunnough, Check list, No. 6155, 1930. 



Not distinguishable from typical walsinghami in color 

 or maculation of forewing. The hind wing of a dis- 

 tinctly ocherous tint and the abdomen ocherous over 

 the entire upper sm-face. Alar expanse, 25-28 mm. 



The male genitalia show only a trifling difference 

 from those of tj^pical walsinghami in forking of apex of 

 costa (fig. .313). Female genitalia with a shallower con- 

 cavity in terminal margin of the projecting ductus bur- 

 sae at genital opening. Figure 793 shows the extreme of 

 reduction in the concavity. Other examples of mira- 

 bella show intergrading approaches to the deep con- 

 cavity of walsinghami. 



Type locality: San Diego, Calif, (type in USNM). 



Food plant: "Plum." 



Distribution: Calijomia, Atascadero (San Luis 

 Obispo County, July), Camp Baldy (San Bernardino 

 Mts., July), Cloudburst Canyon (Los Angeles County, 

 July), Mount Lowe (July), Pasadena, Pine Valley (San 

 Diego County), San Diego (July). According to Essig 

 (1926) the larvae were taken in large numbers on prune 

 trees at Hopeland, Calif. 



The name mirabella represents, at most, only a south- 

 ern California race of walsinghami. 



226. Ambesa lallatalis (Hulst) 

 Figures 311, 789 



Neophopleryx lallatalis Hulst, Trans. Amer. Ent. See, vol. 13, 



p. 161, 1886. 

 Ambesa lallatalis (Hulst) Phycitidae of N. Amer., p. 142, 1890 



(part) . 



Forewing white heavily dusted with blackish giving 

 the entire wing a pale ashy gray appearance ; markings 

 as in walsinghami but much fainter; the transverse hnes 

 obscure; antemedial line indicated by its broken outer 

 blackish border which has the same outer loop over the 

 cell so characteristic of walsinghami but much fainter 

 and often interrupted; on better marked examples a 

 whitish crescent on inner margin indicates the base of 

 the normal antemedial line; beyond this, dark lines 

 extend along vein lb and the edge of inner margin as 

 far as base of subterminal line, defining a narrow oval 

 patch along inner margin; subterminal line sinuate, de- 

 fined by its black, dentate inner border, the latter inter- 

 rupted by a rather broad pale shade extending along 

 outer half of lower fold; the outer area (beyond sub- 

 terminal line) and the costal area at base also paler than 

 remainder of wing; a thin blackish line along outer mar- 

 gin. Hind wing white to pale smoky brown. Eighth 

 abdominal segment of male without tufts. Alar ex- 

 panse, 26-30 mm. 



Male genitaUa with apical process of gnathos a simple, 

 narrow, moderately long hook. Transtilla absent. 

 Harpe without clasper; cucuUus moderately broad; 

 sclerotized costa terminating in a very shortly project- 

 ing point at apex. Anellus a narrow, elongate, plate. 

 Cornutus almost as long as aedeagus. Vinculum with 

 terminal margin broad. 



Female genitalia with terminal margin of ductus 

 bursae at genital margin scobinate, convex, slightly 

 notched in the middle (giving the projecting lower sur- 

 face of the ductus a bilobed appearance). Eighth-seg- 

 ment collar broadly sclerotized, wrinkled at lateral mar- 

 gins, not ventrally fused. 



Type locality: Nevada (type in AMNH, ex Rut- 

 gers). 



Food plant: Unknown. 



In addition to the female type in the Rutgers Collec- 

 tion, I have seen only four other authentic specimens, a 

 series of three males and one female from Bellevue, 

 Washington County, Utah, in the National Collection, 

 collected by G. P. Engelhardt, June 21, 1917. The 



