Aplectoides condita (Guenée)

Pogue, Michael G., 2006, The Noctuinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U. S. A., Zootaxa 1215 (1), pp. 1-95 : 43-44

11. Aplectoides condita (Guenée)

( Figs. 44–45, Map 29)

Identification: Forewing length 17.0–20.0 mm. Forewing ground color is brown to dark gray. Orbicular and reniform spots are concolorous with ground color, mixed with white in some specimens, and are partially outlined in black. This species can be distinguished from A. pressus (Grote) by the lack of longitudinal yellow streaks and by the presence of a short black basal dash below the M vein in the forewing of A. condita . Hindwing dirty white with a faint discal cell and obscure pale gray shading near the outer margin.

Flight period: Collected from end of May to July.

Collected localities: North Carolina: Haywood Co., Purchase Knob at house; Swain Co. , 1 mi N of Clingman’s Dome, 3 mi N of Clingman’s Dome, 5 mi N of Clingman’s Dome, 13.5 mi NE of entrance to GSMNP on Thomas Divide Trail . Tennessee: Blount Co., 0.2 mi NE of Parson’s Bald on Wolf Ridge Trail; Sevier Co., Brushy Mountain ATBI Plot , Chimney Tops Trail , ca. 7 mi S Sugarlands Visitor Center. (11 specimens)

MAP 29. Collecting localities of Aplectoides condita .

Elevation range: 3480–5960 ft. (1061–1817 m)

General distribution: This is a widely distributed boreal zone species that occurs across central and southern Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia. In the East it occurs as far south as northern New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania, and west to Michigan and Wisconsin; it is found along the Appalachians in Virginia and North Carolina. In the West it occurs in Idaho and Oregon ( Lafontaine 1998). The collections from GSMNP are new records for the state of Tennessee.

Larval hosts: McCabe (1988) reared larvae on tamarack ( Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch , Pinaceae ), which seemed to be the preferred host, but larvae also accepted balsam fir ( Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill., Pinaceae ).