Lasionycta skraelingia (Herrich-Schäffer)

Crabo, Lars & Lafontaine, Donald, 2009, A Revision of Lasionycta Aurivillius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) for North America and notes on Eurasian species, with descriptions of 17 new species, 6 new subspecies, a new genus, and two new species of Tricholita Grote, ZooKeys 30 (30), pp. 1-156 : 12-13

Lasionycta skraelingia (Herrich-Schäffer)

Figs 1–3, 136, 194. Map 1

Phlogophora skraelingia Herrich-Schäffer, 1852: 57 .

Lasionycta skraelingia ; Aurivillius 1892b: 285.

Mamestra skraelingia ; Staudinger and Rebel 1901: 159.

Lasionycta scraelingia ; Hampson 1905: 56. Invalid emendation.

Lasionycta skroelingia ; Warren 1910: 85. Misspelling.

Hada skraelingia ; Hartig and Heinicke 1973: 193.

Lasionycta skraelingia ; Lafontaine et al. 1986: 255.

Type material. Type: lost. Th e original description is suffi cient to characterize the species ( Lafontaine and Kononenko 1988). Type locality: Lapland.

Diagnosis. Lasionycta skraelingia is distinguished from L. taigata Lafontaine by its undulating antemedial line (irregular in L. taigata ) and more even gray forewing (mottled in L. taigata ). The cucullus of the male valve is larger in L. skraelingia than in L. taigata , and the digitus is very short. Th e female genitalia are similar, but the appendix bursae of L. skraelingia is shorter than that of L. taigata . Th e CO1 sequence of L. skraelingia is identical to one of several L. taigata haplotypes.

Distribution and biology. Lasionycta skraelingia is Holarctic, occurring from Scandinavia to northwestern North America. In North America this species is known from three specimens from Windy Pass, Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon. Th e adults are crepuscular and fly rapidly over small spruces. Th ey are collected by hand netting, rarely if ever coming to a light. Dates are from late June to early July.

In Scandinavia the species is polyphagous when reared and has been fed on Betula nana L. ( Betulaceae ), Polygonum aviculare L. ( Polygonaceae ), and Vaccinium uligonosum L. ( Ericaceae ) ( Ahola and Silvonen 2008). Th ese authors report that Eurasian populations are biennial, likely also the case in North America. The Yukon specimens were been collected in two odd-numbered years.