AMERICAN MOTHS OF THE SUBFAMILY PHTCITINAE 



301 



Trans. Ent. Soc. London, vol. 80, pp. 171, 177, 1932.— 

 Corbet and Tarns, Proc. Ent. Soc. London (ser. b), vol. 113, 

 p. 68, 1943; Entomologist, vol. 76, p. 15, 1943. — Hinton, 

 Bull. Ent. Res., vol. 34, p. 195, 1943. 



Forewing gray, more or less dusted with black and 

 with blackish markings; antemedial line grayish white 

 (this pale shade on some specimens extending over the 

 remainder of the basal area), slightly oblique and 

 irregularly dentate, bordered outwardly by a black 

 shade varying from a narrow line to a broad suffu- 

 sion; sub terminal line pale gray, obscure on most 

 specimens, variable and irregularly dentate, usually 

 with a dark inner border; veins in outer area of wing 

 somewhat darkly outlined; discal dots at end of cell 

 pronoimced, sometimes confluent along discocellular 

 vein but usually well separated and the lower dot 

 elongated slightly along veins 3 and 5; a row of faint 

 dark dots along termen. Hind wings translucent, 

 whitish, the veins and terminal margin pale brownish 

 fuscous. Alar expanse, 18-28 mm. 



Genitalic characters as given for the genus. The 

 male genitalia are remarkably uniform and exhibit little 

 individual variation, considering the variability of the 

 species otherwise. The female genitalia are variable 

 (see fig. 1 124) in the number and shape of the signa. 



Type localities: Germany (kiihniella, in BM); 

 Durango, Mexico {gitonella, in BM); Texas (fusco- 

 fasciella, in Paris Mus.). 



Food: Flour, grains, nuts, dried fruits, chocolate, 

 seeds, biscuits, cakes, jellies, candy, and a host of other 

 dried and stored vegetable products. The favored 

 foods are wheat and other grain flours. Other records, 

 unless based upon reared adults, should be received 

 with caution; for the larvae are very difficult to dis- 

 tinguish from those of a number of other phycitids 

 feeding on dried vegetable matter, and records based 

 upon larval identifications are as apt to be incorrect as 

 not. The species is of major economic importance only 

 as a flour and milled-grain feeder and is often a serious 

 pest in flour mills. It is apparently an indoor insect 

 and requires a high temperature throughout the year 

 for maximum development. 



Distribution: Nearly cosmopolitan. 



"The Mediterranean flour moth" has probably as 

 extensive a literature as any other lepidopteron. Only 

 the more important systematic, biological, and physio- 

 logical references are given above. For further refer- 

 ences the papers by Noyes (1931) and Eichards and 

 Thomson (1932), the "Index of American Economic 

 Entomology," "Zoological Record," and "Review of 

 Applied Entomology" should be consulted. 



Considering its variabihty kuhniella has remarkably 

 httle synonymy except for numerous misspellings of its 

 specific name. A list of these will be found in the 

 Richards and Thomson paper (1932). Most modern 

 authors use the equivalent spelling kuehniella in place 

 of kuhniella; but as the latter was the original ortho- 

 graphic form and the species was named in honor of 

 Professor Kiibn of Halle we are obliged by the inter- 

 national rules to follow it. 



The name Juscqfasciella Ragonot applies to a color 

 form with broad blackish borders to the transverse 

 lines and a contrasted pale area of forewing. Such 

 examples occur rather frequently in our Southwestern 

 States. Unless venation is noted, it is easy to confuse 

 kuhniella with large examples of Vitula edmandsae. 

 Pale specimens of the two species are strikingly similar 

 in habitus. 



The original specimens before Zeller when he described 

 kuhniella are in the British Museum but, according to 

 Clarke and Tams, no one specimen bears a type desig- 

 nation so I am here designating a male from the original 

 series as lectotype. This specimen bears three labels, 

 the first a small white one with the inscription, 

 "excl. 4/7/77"; a second label inscribed in Zeller's 

 handwriting "Ephestia kiihnii Z," "MSS.Z"; and a 

 third label with the inscription "Zell. Coll. 1884." Tams 

 concurs in this selection. 



187 Genu8 Ephestia Gudnee 



Ephestia Gu6n6e, Europaeorum Microlepidopterorum index 

 methodicus ... p. 81, 1845; Ann. Soc. Ent. France, ser. 2, 

 vol. 3, p. 319, 1845.— Zeller, Isis von Oken, 1848, pp. 585, 

 592. — Herrich-Schaffer, Systematische Bearbeitung der 

 Schmetterlinge von Europa, vol. 4, p. 110, 1849. — Heine- 

 mann, Schmetterlinge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, Abt. 

 2, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 201, 1865.— Meyrick, Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 New South Wales, vol. 3, p. 215, 1878; vol. 4, p. 234, 1879; 

 vol. 7, p. 160, 1882; Revised handbook of British Lepidop- 

 tera, p. 387, 1928. — Hulst, Phycitidae of N. Amer., p. 197, 

 1890; U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 52, p. 434, 1903.— Ragonot, 

 Monograph, pt. 2, p. xiii, 1901. — Hampson, in Ragonot, 

 Monograph, pt. 2, p. 271, 1901.— Forbes, Cornell Mem. 68, 

 p. 634, 1923. — Richards and Thomson, Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 London, vol. 80, p. 171, 1932. — Bissetin Pierce and Metcalfe, 

 Genitalia of the British Pyrales, p. 58, 1938. (Type of 

 genus: Tinea elutella Hiibner.) 



Hyphantidium Scott, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 27, p. 207, 

 1859. (Type of genus: Hyphantidium sericarium Scott.) 



Cadra Walker, List, vol. 30, p. 961, 1864 (Type of genus: Cadra 

 defectella Walker.) 



Tongue well developed. Antenna simple and pubes- 

 cent in both sexes. Labial palpus upturned, reaching 

 slightly above vertex. Maxillary palpus minute, fili- 

 form. Forewing smooth; 9 veins; vein 2 from before 

 but rather near lower outer angle of cell; 3 from outer 

 angle; 4 absent; 5 more or less approximate to 3 at base; 

 6 from below upper angle of cell, straight or slightly 

 curved towards base (from a slight distance beyond base 

 running parallel with 8) ; 9 absent; 10 from the cell; male 

 with a strong costal fold enclosing scale tuft. Hind 

 wing with vein 2 from well before lower outer angle of 

 ceU; 3 and 5 approximate at base or short stalked 

 (elutella) ; 7 and 8 anastomosed for most or all of their 

 lengths beyond cell; cell one-half or slightly less than 

 one-half the length of wing; discocellular vein curved. 

 Abdomen of male with compound dorsal tufts. 



Male genitalia with gnathos terminating in a pair of 

 well-spaced prongs. Transtilla complete or, if elements 

 slightly separated, their apices broadly developed, if 

 complete with flaring lateral projections. Uncus short, 

 broad; its terminal margin bluntly rounded. Aedeagus 

 not appreciably enlarged at apex; penis armed with a 



