Hemaris aethra (Strecker, 1875), 2018

Schmidt, B. Christian, 2018, Cryptic species among bumblebee mimics: an unrecognized Hemaris hawkmoth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) in eastern North America, Zootaxa 4399 (1) : -

Hemaris aethra (Strecker, 1875) stat. rev.

Macroglossa aethra Strecker, 1875: 107 , pl. XIII, fig. 2.

Type locality: Montréal [Québec], Canada. [ FMNH; Fig. 11 ]

COmPARISON Of SERIES Of SPECImENS fROm bOTH SPRINg ANd SUmmER bROOdS Of THE TWO EASTERN SPECIES STUdIEd HERE SHOW THAT THREE dIAgNOSTIC TRAITS Of THE AdUlT PHENOTYPE Of THE CRYPTIC SPECIES ( TAblE 2) ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE HOlOTYPE Of H. aethra ( FIg. 11 ): OVERAll lARgER SIZE (WINgSPAN 48 mm); STRAW-YEllOW dORSOlATERAl VESTITURE THAT EXTENdS INTO SEgmENT A4; ANd mORE EXTENSIVE REddISH-bROWN PATCH Of THE fOREWINg APEX. AlSO, THE TYPE lOCAlITY Of MONTRéAl, QUébEC IS IN THE CENTRAl PART Of THE SPECIES’ RANgE. THE HOlOTYPE EXAmINEd ClOSElY mATCHES THE IllUSTRATION IN STRECKER’S (1875) ORIgINAl dESCRIPTION ( FIg. 11 ). BARNES & MCDUNNOUgH (1910) RECOgNIZEd aethra AS A SUbSPECIES dISTINCT fROm OTHER EASTERN NORTH AmERICAN diffinis (bASEd SOlElY ON AdUlT PHENOTYPE), ANd ARRANgEd diffinis INTO PARAPATRIC SUbSPECIES, WITH aethra fROm NORTHERN ONTARIO THROUgH QUébEC INTO MAINE, ANd diffinis TO THE SOUTH. BARNES & MCDUNNOUgH AlSO STATE THAT aethra IS lARgER WITH mORE YEllOW VESTITURE ANd mORE REddISH SCAlINg IN THE fOREWINg APEX. THE CHARACTERIZATION Of Hemaris diffinis aethra bY BARNES ANd MCDUNNOUgH IS THEREfORE AlSO fUllY CONSISTENT WITH THE CRYPTIC SPECIES IdENTIfIEd HERE.

Figures

FIGURE11. Illustration (top) from the original description of Macroglossa aethra (Strecker 1875), and the holotype specimen with associated labels (bottom), deposited in the Field Museum of Natural history (available at http://collections- Zoology.fieldmuseum.org/catalogue/804170).