AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE SUBFAMILY PHTCITINAE 



127 



257. Nephopteryr vetustella (Dyar), new combination 



Figure 820 



Salehria vetustella Dyar, Journ. New York Ent. Soc, vol. 12, 

 p. 106, 1904.— Forbes, Cornell Mem. 68, p. 626, 1923. 



Myrlaea vetustella (Dyar) Barnes and McDunnough, Check list 

 of the Lepidoptera of Boreal America, No. 5650, 1916. — 

 Forbes, Cornell Mem. 68, p. 627, 1923.— McDunnough, 

 Check list, No. 6224, 1939. 



Forewing pale ash gray with a slight purplish shading 

 over outer half; basal area almost to inner dark border 

 of antemedial line, Indian red or reddish orange, this 

 reddish shade also on collar and top of head; antemedial 

 line distinct from upper vein of cell to inner margin, 

 narrow, oblique, inwardly notched between cell and 

 inner margin, bordered inwardly by a broad black band 

 and outwardly by a narrow black line, the black borders 

 continuous to and fused at costa; sub terminal line 

 usually distinct but faint and with a weak dark inner 

 bordering line, sinuate; discal dots separated, small, 

 blackish; a weak row of blackish dots along termen. 

 Hind wing pale smoky brown; the veins and terminal 

 margin slightly darkened. Alar expanse, 22-25 mm. 



Male genitalia similar to those o{ Jemaldi. Female 

 genitalia with a single long granidate patch in bursa 

 extending nearly the length of the bursa on its left side 

 (seen from below) and curving onto ventral surface near 

 junction of bursa and ductus bursae. 



Type locality: Plummers Isl., Md. (type in USNM) . 



Food plant: Unknown {Amorpha sp. ?). 



Distribution: United States: Maryland, Hum- 

 mers Isl. (Apr., May); Pennsylvania, Oak Station 

 (June), Pittsburgh (May, June) ; New York, Dion (May) ; 

 j/^inois, Edgebrook (June), Elkhart (Aug.), Palos Park 

 (June); Iowa, Iowa City (June), Sioux City (July); 

 Missouri, St. Louis; Florida, St. Petersburg (June). 

 Canada: Ontario, Ottawa (June, July) ; Qiiebec, Meach 

 Lake (June). 



This species forms one of a group of closely related 

 species (delassalis to vetustella) that feed upon Amorpha 

 and have similar male genitalia but differ markedly in 

 the number, arrangement, and relative sizes of the gran- 

 ulate patches of the female bm-sa. These differences 

 appear to be constant and the specific character holds 

 even in series of individuals from widely different 

 localities. The male genitalia exhibit some minor dif- 

 ferences, especially in the relative size and position of the 

 two cornuti ; but here individual variation makes the 

 apparent differences untrustworthy for specific differ- 

 entiation. During dissection of the male organs a 

 simple transtilla can be faintly seen in all the species of 

 the group, but it is so weakly sclerotized that it is not 

 visible or but partially distinguishable in balsam mounts. 

 The structure is obsolescent and cannot be considered 

 "present" in the sense in which it is in Meroptera for 

 example or even in a few other species of Nephopteryx. 



258. Nephopteryx inconditella (Ragonot), new combination 



Figure 825 



Salebria contatella inconditella Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 1, pp. 

 348, 350, 1893.— McDunnough, Check Uat, No. 6205b, 1939. 



Thorax and forewing pale ash gray with a faint bluish 

 tint; some reddish scaling at extreme base of wing and a 

 small spot of the same shade at middle of lower fold; 

 pale antemedial line distinguishable from inner margin 

 to cell, deeply notched at vein lb, its black borders 

 complete from inner margin to costa, the inner border 

 broad and fusing with the narrow outer one near costa; 

 subterminal line distinct, sinuate-serrate, narrowly bor- 

 dered by obscure blackish lines; discal spots obscure but 

 usually distinguishable, separated; terminal dots weak, 

 confluent; on most specimens a narrow, dark transverse 

 shade extending from costa at inner edge of subterminal 

 line to middle of inner margin. Hind wings translucent, 

 whitish with a faint ocherous tint, the veins slightly 

 darkened; a narrow brownish shade along terminal 

 margin. Alar expanse, 25-30 mm. 



Male genitalia of the jemaldi type but clasper some- 

 what more strongly sclerotized than in the seven preced- 

 ing species. Female genitalia with a single, small, 

 round, granulate patch on ventral surface of bursa very 

 near junction of bursa and ductus bursae. 



Type locality: Colorado (type in Paris Mus.) . 



Food plant: Unknown. 



Distribution: Colorado; Arizona, Huachuca Mts., 

 Palmerlee, and four Arizona specimens with only the 

 state locahty and without dates, one of these a pseudo- 

 type of "Pinipestis albovittella Hulst." 



The species was described as a pale western variety of 

 contatella (Grote), to which it is apparently most nearly 

 related and which, except for its paler ground color, it 

 resembles. Its female genitalia however clearly indi- 

 cate a distinct species. The ground color of forewiug 

 is intermediate between that of suhcaesiella {= conta- 

 tella) and that of dammersi. 



259. Nephopteryx suhcaesiella (Clemens), new combination 

 FiQUBBS 339, 826 



Pempelia suhcaesiella Clemens, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel- 

 phia, p. 206, 1860. 



Pempelia contatella Grote, North Amer. Ent., vol. 1, p. 49, 1880. — 

 Comstock, in Rep. [U. S.] Comm. Agr. for 1880, p. 261, 1881 

 (in part) . 



Salebria contatella (Grote), Bull. U. S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. Terr., 

 vol. 6, no. 3, p. 590, 1882. — BeutenmOller, Canadian Ent. 

 vol 22, p. 16, 1890 (larva). — Hulst, Phycitidae of N. Amer., 

 p. 152, 1890; U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 52, p. 424, 1903.— 

 Packard, U. S. Dep. Agr. Fifth Rep. Ent. Comm., p. 361, 

 1890.— Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 1, p. 348, 1893.— Forbes, 

 Cornell Mem. 68, p. 626, 1923. — McDunnough, Canadian 

 Ent., vol. 78, p. 109, 1946. 



Salebria virgatella suhcaesiella (Clemens) Barnes and McDun- 

 nough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Boreal America, No. 

 5631a, 1916— McDunnough, Check list, No. 6205a, 1939.— 

 Craighead, U. S. Dep. Agr. Misc. Publ. 657, p. 453, 1950. 



Color and maculation similar to those of inconditella 

 but the ground color of forewing a much darker gray, 

 basal area contrastingly paler gray; the reddish scaling 

 on base of wing ranging from wine to rusty ocherous, 

 always present but sometimes reduced to a few scales, 

 rarely extended for a short distance onto the thorax; 

 inner black border of antemedial line somewhat broader 

 and more diffused than on inconditella, complete to costa 



