AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE SUBFAMILY PHYCITENAE 



241 



Myers (Apr.), Venice (May); North Carolina, Southern 

 Pines (June) ; Delaware, Indian River Bay (July) ; New 

 Jersey, Laiieburst (Sept.); New York, Rye (July). 



497. Melitara dentata (Grote) 

 Figures 528, 1017 



Zophodia dentata Grote, Canadian Ent., vol. 8, p. 158, 1876; 

 Bull. U. S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. Terr., vol. 3, p. 799, 1877. 



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



Melitara dentata (Grote) Hulst, Phycitidae of N. Amer., p. 172, 

 1890; U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 52, p. 429, 1903.— Kellogg, 

 Kansas Univ. Quart., vol. 1, p. 39, 1892. — Ragouot, Mono- 

 graph, pt. 2, p. 14, 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. 29, 

 1927; Biological campaign against prickly-pear, Brisbane, 

 Australia, p. 79, 1940. — Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, 

 vol. 30, p. 134, 1928.— Heinrich, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vol. 

 86, p. 341, 1939.— McDunnough, Check list No. 6278, 1939. 



Melitara doddalis Dyar, Ins. Insc. Menstr., vol. 13, p. 13, 1925; 

 Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 30, p. 134, 1928.— Dodd, 

 Council for Sci. and Ind. Res., Australia, Bull. 34, p. 29, 

 1927; Biological campaign against prickly-pear, Brisbane, 

 Australia, p. 80, 1940. 



Melitara junctolineella Hulst (in part), Canadian Ent., vol. 32, 

 p. 173, 1900.— Barnes and McDunnough, Contributions, 

 vol. 3, p. 199, 1916. 



Melitara bollii Dodd (not Zeller), Council for Sci. and Ind. Res., 

 Australia, Bull. 34, p. 29, 1927. 



General color and pattern as in prodenialis except: 

 Blackish shading on posterior margin of thorax less pro- 

 nounced and in some specimens not distinguishable. 

 Forewing with white dusting rather evenly distributed 

 over the entire wing, the whitish and fuscous areas not 

 contrasted except (in some specimens) for a rather 

 narrow pale suffusion along costal margin and a more 

 or less pronounced dark shade from end of cell to middle 

 of inner margin; the subterminal line with no black 

 shading beyond its white border except for a short dis- 

 tance from apex, markedly dentate and sinuate, the 

 angulations deep, the angxilation between veins 5 and 

 6 reaching to the cell. Hind wing semihyaline, in the 

 male almost pure white with httle or no fuscous shading, 

 the latter, when present, confined to a narrow band 

 along costal margm and a fine line along termen ; in the 

 female fuscous shadings nearly always pronounced, 

 though limited to a narrow line along costal margin, a 

 slight clouding at apex, and a thin line along termen; 

 cilia white. Alar expanse, 33-50 mm. 



Male genitaUa with outer margins of vinculum shght- 

 ly sinuate ; elements of transtilla slightly narrower than 

 those of prodenialis. Slight diflPerences in the shape of 

 the anellus between the two species shown in figiu-es 

 527e-f and 528b. Female genitalia essentially like 

 those of prodenialis except that ductus bursae is nor- 

 mally stouter. 



Type localities: Clear Creek Canyon, Colo, {den- 

 tata, in BM); MesiUa Park, N. Mex. (doddalis, in 

 USNM). 



Food plants: Opuntia (Platypuntia) spp. 



Distribution: United States: Wyoming, Evanston 

 (July), Medicine Bow (July); Colorado, Glenwood 

 Springs (July, Aug., Sept.), Fort Collins, Denver, Rocky 



Ford (Sept.); Utah, Buckskin VaUey (Iron County, 

 June, July), Eureka (Aug.), Dividend (Aug., Sept.); 

 Kansas, Manhattan (Sept.); Arizona, Mormon Lake 

 (July), Douglas (Aug., Sept.), Oracle (Sept.), Globe 

 (Sept.), Quijotoa (Oct.), Chiricahua Mts.; New Mexico, 

 Mesilla Park (Sept.), Silver City (Sept.), Jemez Springs 

 (July, Aug., Sept.); Texas, Uvalde (Sept., Oct., Nov.), 

 Henrietta (Oct.), Trent (Oct.), Rock Springs, Laredo 

 (Sept.), Shafter (Sept.), Albany, Panhandle (Aug.). 

 Mexico: Chihuahua (city), Julimes (Sept., Oct.), Mo- 

 relia (Oct.). 



Shortly after the publication of my 1939 paper on 

 the cactus-feeding phycitids (in whicli I discussed the 

 synonymy of dentata and doddalis) we I'eceived through 

 Mr. Leith Hitchcock a series of moths from Uvalde, 

 Tex., labeled Melitara bollii. They were evidently the 

 specimens that Dodd distinguished from prodenialis in 

 treating bollii as a distinct species. Dyar was respon- 

 sible for the original identification of bollii with pro- 

 denialis as a race or variety. He apparently was con- 

 fused by Dodd's biological notes on the Uvalde moths. 

 Some of these moths he placed with other Texas speci- 

 mens of true bollii, while others from the same Uvalde 

 rearing he included under his doddalis. M. bollii 

 Zeller is a synonym of prodenialis while bollii Dodd (not 

 Zeller) is merely a southern Texas form of the exceed- 

 ingly variable dentata Grote. 



136. Genus Olycella Dyar 



Olycella Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 30, p. 134, 

 1928.— Heinrich, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 86, p. 343, 

 1G39. — Jan.se, Journ. Ent. Soc. South Africa, vol. 8, p. 40, 

 1945. (Type of genus: Melitara junctolineella Hulst.) 



Tongue develoijed (as in Melitara). Antenna of male 

 bipectinate, of female shortly bipectinate. Labial pal- 

 pus obliquely ascending (sometimes in the female the 

 third segment is bent forward, which gives the palpus a 

 porrect appearance, but the second segment is always 

 deflected upward and reaches nearly as high as the top 

 of the head). Maxillary palpus squamous. Hind wing 

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

 5 connate. Eighth abdominal segment of male simple. 



Male genitalia with apical process of gnathos bifid; 

 harpe with apex evenly rounded; vinculum short; 

 anellus with base of plate narrowly sclerotized, arms 

 moderately long and stout; aedeagus stout, moderately 

 long. 



Female genitalia with signum, the latter a small 

 ridged plate; bm-sa copulatrix wrinkled, otherwise 

 simple and without scobinations; ductus bursae with a 

 pair of sclerotized plates on inner wall at genital open- 

 ing; ductus seminalis from center of bursa. 



Larva white with broad blacldsh or purpUsh cross 

 bands on the caudal margins of the segments; sclero- 

 tized plates surrounding setae rather smaU ; three setae 

 in group VII on abdominal segments 7 and 8. 



The larvae feed gregariously for a short period after 

 hatching (probably during the first instar) but there- 

 after are sohtary in habit. They feed in the joints of 

 various Platypuntias. 



