Diarsia rubifera (Grote)

Pogue, Michael G., 2006, The Noctuinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U. S. A., Zootaxa 1215 (1), pp. 1-95 : 48-49

16. Diarsia rubifera (Grote)

( Figs. 55­57, Map 34)

Identification: Forewing length 13.0–16.0 mm. This species is easily differentiated from D. jucunda . Diarsia rubifera has reddish brown forewing color, faint pattern, and a small black dot ventral to the orbicular spot in the area of the claviform spot. Orbicular and reniform spots are variable ranging from being slightly darker than ground color with a few white scales to being mostly white and outlined in white. The reniform spot is more likely to be mostly white than the orbicular spot, and is filled with black or gray in the ventral apex. Antemedial and postmedial lines are black with an adjacent tan line that is proximal to antemedial and distal to postmedial. Subterminal line is tan to white. Hindwing is lighter than in D. jucunda being dirty white suffused with pale gray, a faint discal cell, and faint submarginal line.

Flight period: Collected from mid­July to early August.

Collected localities: North Carolina: Haywood Co., Flat Creek Trail on Balsam Mountain Road, Polls Gap on Hemphill Bald Trail , Purchase Knob E of house forest, Purchase Knob N of house forest; Swain Co. , Beetree Ridge, Indian Gap on Clingman’s Dome Road . Tennessee: Sevier Co., Jake’s Creek Trail at Campsite 27. (18 specimens) MAP 34. Collecting localities of Diarsia rubifera .

Elevation range: 3590–5400 ft. (1094–1646 m)

General distribution: This species is distributed from coast to coast and from central and southern Canada and the northern United States. In the East it occurs as far south as western North Carolina , and in the West it has been recorded from southwestern Montana and southwestern Colorado ( Lafontaine 1998). The collections from GSMNP are new records for the state of Tennessee .

Larval hosts: Unknown ( Lafontaine 1998).