Catocala blandula, Hulst, 1884

Gall, Lawrence & Hawks, David, 2010, Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list, ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 37-83 : 61

Catocala blandula syn. manitobensis Cassino , syn. n.

Catocala blandula var. manitobensis Cassino, 1918b: 81

Catocala blandula ssp. manitobensis ; McDunnough 1938: 118

Catocala blandula ssp. manitobensis ; Franclemont and Todd 1983: 129

Type material. Catocala manitobensis : the original description states “ Holotype 1 ♁, 6 paratypes, in the collection of the author, Cartwright, Manitoba, July 17.” A female at the USNM ( USNM Type No. 44528) bears a label stating “manitobensis / Cass. / Type fide / Buchholz.” Because Cassino often missexed his material, we see no reason to challenge Buchholz’s judgment, and accept this specimen as the holotype by original designation. Cassino tabulated several characteristics supposedly distinguishing C. m. manitobensis from nominate C. blandula Hulst, 1884 . On the dorsal forewing these included: a darker and more distinct postmedian band; a light to absent brown scaling distad from the postmedian band; and a lighter and bluish ground color, such that “the whole effect of the superiors is a bluish tint quite unlike that of blandula , the scales of which are more brownish.” We have examined specimens of C. m. manitobensis (including paratypes) and nominate C. blandula from across the Nearctic, and find that the characteristics ascribed to C. m. manitobensis occur sporadically throughout the species’ entire geographic range, especially in females, and see little merit in retaining the name manitobensis . Exemplary localities where specimens often show manitobensis characteristics include the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, and the eastern seaboard of Maine and maritime Canada; the same characteristics also appear regularly in what we presently consider to be C. blandula populations from lowland coastal areas in the southeastern USA (e.g., notably around Gainesville, Florida). These lowland C. blandula populations are among the most morphologically variable known: some Floridian specimens (especially females) are nearly identical to types of C. manitobensis , whereas others have the entire forewing pattern obscured by brownish black, and numerous intergrades occur. In many respects, the extreme variation in these southeastern C. blandula populations is analogous to the extreme infrapopulational forms of both C. connubialis Guenée, 1852 and C. crataegi Saunders, 1876 seen from the same geographic region. Type Locality: Cartwright, Manitoba, [ Canada].