Lasionycta phaea (Hampson)

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 : 16

Lasionycta phaea (Hampson)

Figs 6, 139, 197. Map 2

Anarta phaea Hampson, 1905: 45 .

Lasiestra impingens phaea ; McDunnough 1938: 72.

Lasionycta phaea ; Lafontaine and Kononenko 1988: 909.

Type material. Lectotype ♀ [ BMNH, examined]. Type locality: Cambridge Bay , Victoria Land [Victoria Island, Nunavut, Canada]. Th e lectotype female was designated by Lafontaine and Kononenko (1988: 909).

Diagnosis. Lasionycta phaea is the only North American Lasionycta in which the male has a broadly spatulate uncus and the female a spiraled indentation on the appendix bursae. Th e moth resembles a small L. taigata or L. skraelingia . The reniform spot is smaller then in either of these species. Th e adult is diurnal, with reduced eyes, whereas the other species are nocturnal and have normal-sized or only slightly reduced eyes. Th e male antenna of L. phaea is nearly filiform whereas those of L. taigata and L. skraelingia are biserrate.

Distribution and biology. Lasionycta phaea is an arctic species. It has been collect- ed from Baffin Island in northeastern Canada to the central Brooks Range in northern Alaska and southward along the west coast of Hudson Bay to Arviat, Nunavut. It is rare in collections. Adults are diurnal and occur on wet tundra. Collection dates range from late June to mid-July.