240 



XINITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 207 



portant lepidopterous pest of the gooseberry here and 

 abroad, often doing serious injury. It is also recorded 

 as an occasional enemy of currants. 



There is one generation a year, the moths flying from 

 mid-April to early June. About 10 months are passed 

 in the pupal stage, the insects overwintering as pupae in 

 loose cocoons on the ground under fallen leaves and 

 other rubbish. 



135. Genus Melitara Walker 



Melitara Walker, List, pt. 27, p. 136, 1863.— Hulst, Phycitidae of 

 N. Amer., p. 171, 1890. — Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 2, p. 12, 

 1901.— Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 30, p. 133, 

 1928.— Heinrich, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 86, p. 338, 

 1939. — Dodd, Biological campaign against prickly-pear, 

 Brisbane, Australia, pp. 38, 39, 58, 1940. (Type of genus: 

 Melitara prodenialis Walker.) 



Megaphycis Grote, Canadian Ent., vol. 14, p. 30, 1882. (Type 

 of genus: Zophodia bollii Zeller.) 



Tongue developed (stout, but rather short). Antenna 

 of male bipectinate, of female shortly bipectinate. La- 

 bial palpus porrect. Maxillary palpus squamous. Hind 

 wing with veins 7 and 8 approximate beyond cell; 3 and 

 5 connate (rarely very shortly stalked). Eighth ab- 

 dominal segment of male simple. 



Male genitalia with apical process of gnathos bifid; 

 harpe with apex evenly rounded; vinculum short; anel- 

 lus with base of plate narrowly sclerotized, arms mod- 

 erately long and stout; aedeagus stout, moderately long. 



Female genitalia without signum, the latter replaced 

 by a few very fine scobinations (not distinguishable in 

 most preparations except under high magnification), 

 bursa copulatrix otherwise simple; ductus seminalis from 

 bursa near junction of ductus bursae and bursa copula- 

 trix. 



Larva bluish, not banded; sclerotized plates sur- 

 rounding body setae rather small; 3 setae in group VII 

 on abdominal segments 7 and 8. 



The larvae feed gregariously in the joints of various 

 species of Platypuntia. 



Eggs laid in chains ("egg sticks"). 



Melitara and the 16 genera following (Olycella to Cac- 

 tobrosis) form what appears to be a natural group of 

 genera and species more closely related to each other 

 than to other Phycitinae, although they also show dis- 

 tinct affinities to Zophodia and the coccid feeders of the 

 Laetilia complex. They all have a common host asso- 

 ciation, their larvae being internal feeders in the fruits 

 and stems of various cacti. A fuller treatment of the 

 several species will be found in my paper on the cactus- 

 feeding Phycitinae (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 86, 

 pp. 331-413, 1939). 



The genus Melitara as here defined is separated from 

 the other cactus-feeding Phycitinae by the following 

 combination of characters: Antennae bipectinate in 

 both sexes; labial palpi porrect in both sexes; veins 7 and 

 8 of hind wing approximate; veins 3 and 5 of hind wing 

 connate; eighth abdomial segment of male simple; 

 larvae not banded or conspicuously spotted, gregarious 

 in habit throughout feeding period. 



Two species are recognized as belonging to the genus, 

 and its distribution is apparently limited to the United 

 States and adjacent areas in northern Mexico. 



496. Melitara prodenialis Walker 



Figures 74, 527, 1016 



Melitara prodenialis Walker, List, vol. 27, p. 137, 1863. — Hulst, 

 Phycitidae of N. Amer., vol. 17, p. 171, 1890; U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. Bull. 52, p. 429, 1903.— Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 2, 

 p. 13, 1901.— Hunter, Pratt, and Mitchell, U. S. Dep. Agr. 

 Bur. Ent. Bull. 113, p. 28, 1912.— Dodd, Council for Sci. 

 and Ind. Res., Australia, Bull. 34. p. 27, 1927; Biological 

 campaign against prickly-pear, Brisbane, Australia, p. 77, 

 1940.- Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 30, p. 133, 

 1928.— Heinrich, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 86, p. 339, 

 1939.— McDunnough, Check list. No. 6277, 1939. 



Zophodia bollii Zeller, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, p. 550, pi. 3, 

 fig. 21, 1872. 



Megaphycis bollii (Zeller) Grote, Canadian Ent., vol. 14, p. 30, 

 1882. 



Melitara prodenialis bollii (Zeller) Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash- 

 ington, vol. 30, p. 133, 1928. 



Palpi, head, and thorax cinereous fuscous sparsely 

 dusted with white, especially on basal segments of labial 

 palpi; posterior margin of thorax blackish. Forewing 

 cinereous fuscous with a heavy dusting of white on costal 

 half; the fuscous and whitish areas contrasted but not 

 sharply defined, the white dusting most pronounced 

 between antemedial and subterminal fines and in 

 subapical area beyond subterminal line; a few black 

 scales scattered over entire wing; antemedial line 

 narrow, black, outwardly angled from basal fourth of 

 costal margin to lb, less sharply defined from there to 

 inner margin; subterminal line narrow, black out- 

 wardly margined by a narrow border of white, beyond 

 which is a faintly dark shading which forms an obscure 

 line parallefing the subterminal line, the parallel black 

 lines most pronounced from costal margin near apex to 

 vein 6 ; subterminal line ii-regularly dentate and sinuate, 

 the angulations rather shallow; discal dots fused, form- 

 ing a black line or smudge along discocellular vein; a 

 row of black dots along termen at the vein ends; cifia 

 grayish fuscous; underside of wing grayish fuscous, in 

 some specimens with a more ocherous tint. Hind wing 

 white, semihyafine with more or less fuscous suffusion 

 at apex and along costal and terminal margins, the 

 fuscous shading more extended in female than male; 

 cifia white with a narrow, dark subbasal line. Alar 

 expanse, 31-45 mm. 



Male genitafia with outer margins of vinculiim evenly 

 curved; elements of transtifia rather broad. Female 

 genitafia with ductus bursae rather slender for most of 

 its length. 



Type localities: "United States" (prodenialis, in 

 BM); Texas (bollii, Cambridge Mus. Nat. Hist.). 



Food plants: Opuntia (Platypuntia) spp. 



Distribution: Texas, DaUas, Freeport, Utopia, Col- 

 lege Station (Oct.), Brownsvifie; Mississippi, Biloxi 

 (Sept.); Oklahoma, Wichita National Forest (June); 

 Florida, Altamont (Sept., Oct.), Key West, Lakeland 

 (Apr.), Crescent City (May), Miami (Oct.), St. Peters- 

 burg (Mar., June, Sept., Oct.), Fort Meade (Apr.), Fort 



