AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE SUBFAMILY PHYCITINAE 



123 



wing very pale smoky fuscous. Alar expanse, 20-22 

 mm. 



Male genitalia with an elongate, stout, tapering 

 clasper extending about half the length of harpe; 

 figiu-ed from male from Edmonton, Alberta, and com- 

 pared by Clarke with the genitalia of the type of 

 pravella in the British Museum. Female genitalia with 

 sclerotization at genital opening in the form of a broad, 

 stout, curved, granulate and wrinkled, lunate plate 

 with strong lateral arms projecting into the ductus 

 bursae. 



Type locality: Old town, Maine (type in BM). 



Food plant: Populus, Salix [?]. 



Distribution: United States: Maine; New Hamp- 

 shire, Hampton (July); New York, Ilion (June); Colo- 

 rado, Chimney Gulch (Golden, June). Canada: Que- 

 bec, Knowlton (Feb., reared in laboratory from larva 

 on aspen), Norway Bay (June); Ontario, Constance 

 Bay (Feb., from poplar). Grand Bend (July), Hymers 

 (June), Mer Bleue (June), Ottawa (Mar., from poplar). 

 Smoky Falls (Mattagami River, June), Trenton (June) ; 

 Manitoba, Aweme (May, June, July), Winnipeg; Sa- 

 skatchewan, Indian Head (June, July); Alberta, Bilby 

 (June, July) , Edmonton (May, July) , Nordegg (July) ; 

 British Columbia, Canim Lake (June), "100 Mile 

 House" (June). 



These records (except for the type locahty) are from 

 specimens before me from the U. S. and Canadian 

 National Collections. The Salix plant record is from 

 Packard. I have not seen the reared Brunswick, 

 Maine, specimens upon which it was based but have 

 httle doubt that the name pravella was correctly ap- 

 plied. Most of the specimens in our collections that 

 have been identified as pravella as well as many of the 

 references in literatiu-e are referable to Nephopteryx 

 subfuscella (Ragonot) {=semiobscurella (Hulst)). This 

 confusion is discussed under subjuscella. The two 

 species are easily confused, especially with worn exam- 

 ples, if their genitalia are not examined ; but in unrubbed 

 specimens pravella is easily separated from subjuscella 

 by the lack of any reddish or reddish ocherous scaling 

 adjacent to inner margin at the base of forewing. Also 

 included under pravella in the U. S. and Canadian 

 National Collections were 21 Canadian examples of a 

 new species (hereinafter described as abditiva) similar 

 in all superficial characters to pravella but with dis- 

 tinctly dijfferent male and female genitalia. 



249. Meroptera abditiva, new species 

 FiGTTKES 335, 813, 814 



In color and maculation like pravella but with con- 

 sistently different genitalia. Alar expanse, 19-22 mm. 



Male genitalia with harpe having a stout but short, 

 stubby clasper, less than one-fourth the length of harpe. 

 Female genitalia with the sclerotization at genital open- 

 ing in the form of a rather narrow granulate, curved, 

 transverse band without inwardly projecting arms. 

 The pigmented, granulated area of the bursa is individ- 

 ually variable in extent and sometimes divided into two 

 distinct patches by a shght break at the anterior 



(closed) end of the bursa. Extremes of variation are 

 shown in figures 813 and 814. However, there are no 

 intergradations whatever between abditiva and pravella 

 in the structure of the female genital plate nor in the 

 male clasper. 



Type locality: Knowlton, Quebec (type in Cana- 

 dian Nat. Coll. ; paratypes in Canadian Nat. Coll. and 

 USNM, 61344). 



Food plant: Populus tremuloides. 



Described from male type and 3 female paratypes 

 from the type locahty reared (in laboratory) Feb. 12, 

 1 and 2, 1930, from larvae feeding on leaves of P. tre- 

 muloides ("aspen") by J. McDunnough; and 17 para- 

 types from the following Canadian localities: Quebec, 

 Mount St. Hilaire, June 30, 1908, G. Chagnon (9); 

 Norway Bay, June 4, 1938, E. G. Lester (cf). New 

 Brunswick, Chamcook, June 23, 1938, T. N. Freeman 

 (9); Eel River, June 21, 1941, T. N. Freeman (cf). 

 Nova Scotia, Beddeck, June 23, 1936 and June 27, 1938, 

 T. N. Freeman (29) ; White Point Beach, Queens, Feb. 

 12 and 20, 1936, J. McDunnough (2 9, reared). 

 Ontario, Trenton, May 29 and June 25, 1908, Evans 

 (2 9) ; Vineland Station, June 15, 1936, W. L. Putnam 

 (9, reared). Saskatchewan, Christopher Lake, June 

 19, 1939, A. R. Brooks (cf). British Columbia, 

 Canim Lake, June 25, 1938, J. K. Jacob (9) ; Jesmond, 

 July 13, 1937, J. K. Jacob (2 9); Kaniloops, June 14, 

 1937, J. K. Jacob {d'); Shingle Creek, Penticton, 

 June 25, 1935, A. K. Cartrell (9). 



In as much as pravella and abditiva have the same 

 hosts and larval habits, an overlapping distribution, 

 and similar habitus, it is necessary to examine their 

 genitalia to distinguish them apart. 



68. Genus Nephopteryx Hiibner 



Nephopteryx Hiibner, Verzeichniss bekannter Schmett[er]linge, 

 p. 370, 1825.— Zeller, Isis von Oken, 1846, p. 731.— Grote, 

 Bull. U. S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. Terr., vol. 4, p. 695, 1878; 

 North Amer. Ent., vol. 1, p. 11, 1879.— Ragonot, Ent. 

 Monthly Mag., vol. 22, p. 19, 1885 (citation of type) ; Mono- 

 graph, pt. 1, p. 254, 1893. — Hulst, Phycitidae of N. Amer., 

 p. 142, 1890.— Forbes, Cornell Mem. 68, p. 622, 1923.— 

 Hemming, Hubner, vol. 2, p. 229, 1937.— Bisset, in Pierce 

 and Metcalfe, Genitalia of the British Pyrales, p. 61, 1938. — 

 Janse, Journ. Ent. Soc. South Africa, vol. 5, p. 34, 1942. 

 (Type of genus: Phycita rhenella Zincken; Europe; figs. 25, 

 336, 815.) 



Sciota Hulst, Ent. Amer., vol. 4, p. 115, 1888. (Type of genus: 

 Sciota croceella Hulst.) 



Characters of Meroptera except: Labial palpus erect 

 or obhquely upturned. Maxillary palpus of male in 

 the form of an aigrette or squamous. Forewing with 

 10 usually connate with the stalk of 8-9 or closely 

 approximate to it, rarely stalked. Transtilla frequently 

 incomplete or absent. Clasper of harpe digitate, slen- 

 der, simple (without spining). One cornutus on penis in 

 uvinella, other species have two cornuti as in Meroptera. 

 Female genitalia with ductus bursae sclerotized along 

 ventral surface for most of its length from junction with 

 bursa, the sclerotization terminating before genital 

 opening, the latter simple (unsclerotized). 



