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Adults of Lactura rubritegula and L. basistriga. 1 HOLOTYPE male Lactura rubritegula. TX: Kendall Co., Boerne, D. Cain Home (29°52'51"N, 98°36'51"W), 27 April 2015, David Wagner & Delmar Cain colls., CO1 Barcode DLW-000816 Genitalia slide # TAM-2017-002 2 Female Lactura basistriga. TX: Cameron Co. Sabal Palm Grove (25°51'9"N, 97°25'3.8"W), BBN15#27.a, larva collected 25 April 2015; emerged 21 May 2015, Berry Nall coll., Host: Sideroxylon celastrinum, Genitalia slide # TAM-2017-005.
Source publication
A new species of Lactura is described from Texas: Lacturarubritegulasp. n. Identity of the new species can be reliably determined by both larval and adult characters, CO1 haplotypes, and its late-spring period of flight activity. Male genitalic features overlap with those of L.basistriga (Barnes & McDunnough, 1913), whereas female structures differ...
Citations
... In addition, although the ML analysis included sequences of only three species of Ithome, the clusters in which the sequences of I. tamarugensis and I. tiaynai were reciprocally grouped were highly supported by bootstrap (Fig. 1), and the genetic distance between the two species using the COI marker is comparable to those reported for other morphologically close species of Lepidoptera (e.g. Hausmann et al. 2009;Matson and Wagner 2017;Ullah et al. 2017;Müller 2018;Pfeiler et al. 2018). Accordingly, although very preliminarily, the genetic analysis also provides evidence in support of a close evolutionary relationship between the two Chilean species of Ithome. ...
Morphology and DNA barcode sequences were used to assess the taxonomic status of a micro-moth of the genus Ithome Chambers, 1875 (Lepidoptera, Cosmopterigidae, Chrysopeleiinae), whose larvae feed on inflorescences of Prosopis tamarugo Phil. (Fabaceae), a tree native to the Pampa del Tamarugal, Atacama Desert, northern Chile. As a result, Ithome tamarugensis Vargas, sp. nov. is described and illustrated. Its genitalia are remarkably similar to those of Ithome tiaynai Vargas, 2004 from coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert. However, the two species can be recognized by the shape of the phallus in males and the shape of the antrum and ductus bursae in females. The genetic distance between DNA barcodes of I. tamarugensis and I. tiaynai was 3.0–3.3% (K2P), and a maximum likelihood analysis indicated that they are in reciprocally monophyletic clusters, providing additional support for the heterospecific status suggested by morphology.
... This disparity traces to large numbers of undescribed tropical species. In North America, taxonomic understanding of the family has been hamstrung by confounding phenotypic overlap in color and pattern among many species (Heppner 2008, Matson andWagner 2017). ...
... The most recent checklist of North American Lepidoptera (found north of Mexico) recognizes six species of Lactura (Heppner and Duckworth 1983): Lactura pupula (Hübner, [1831]), Lactura subfervens (Walker, 1854), Lactura psammitis (Zeller, 1872), Lactura basistriga (Barnes and McDunnough, 1913), Lactura atrolinea (Barnes and McDunnough, 1913), and L. rhodocentra (Meyrick, 1913). To this set, we add Lactura rubritegula (Matson & Wagner, 2017) from the southern Hill Country of central Texas; L. nalli sp. n. from the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas; and Lactura subfervens sapeloensis ssp. ...
... We suspect adult Lactura sometimes disperse from their natal colonies, given that several collection records appear to be out of range, e.g., a single L. rubritegula from Houston, Texas ( Fig. 52) (Matson and Wagner 2017). Individuals have also been taken or photographed outside the range of their respective Sideroxylon hosts. ...
The Lactura Walker, 1854 fauna north of Mexico is revised. Six species are documented, one new species Lacturanalli Matson & Wagner, sp. n. is described, and two new synonymies are proposed: Lacturapsammitis (Zeller, 1872), syn. n. and L.rhodocentra (Meyrick, 1913), syn. n. One new subspecies Lacturasubfervenssapeloensis Matson & Wagner, ssp. n. is also described. Adult and larval stages, male and female genitalia, are illustrated, a preliminary phylogeny is presented based on nuclear and mitochondrial data, distribution records provided for verified specimens, and the biology and life history for each species is briefly characterized. Phylogenetic analyses, larval phenotypes, and life history information reveal that much of the historic taxonomic confusion rampant across this group in North America traces to the phenotypic variation in just one species, L.subfervens (Walker, 1854).
Alypiodes Grote currently includes four recognized species of day-flying agaristine noctuids from Mexico and the American Southwest. Here we add a fifth, elevating the name Alypiodes flavilinguisGrote 1883rev. status from synonymy. DNA barcodes, larval characters, and adult markings that reliably differentiate Alypiodes flavilinguis from Alypiodes bimaculata and other species in the genus are enumerated. Adults, including their male and female genitalia, and the larvae are illustrated for both species.
