Lasionycta subfuscula

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 : 55-56

Lasionycta subfuscula sub-group

This sub-group includes only L. subfuscula , a moderately large gray species with distinct dark lines and spots, including the claviform spot. It resembles members of the L. perplexa sub-group. Males have the widest antenna of any Lasionycta , over 4× as wide as the central shaft, and are easily identified without magnification. Females are the only species in the species-group in which the corpus bursae is angled 30° leftward at its junction with the ductus bursae.

The valve is elongate with a moderate constriction at the base of the cucullus. The costa is angled slightly ventrad beyond the digitus. Th e costal lobe is prominent, extending above the valve margin. Th e cucullus is smaller relative to the valve than in the L. perplexa sub-group, and bears a corona of a singe row of setae. The digitus is angled 30° to the valve axis and is relatively long and slender. Th e female appendix bursae is slightly more slender than those of the L. perplexa sub-group.

CO1 distance analysis suggests that L. subfuscula is a sister group to a large assemblage containing the species of the L. leucocycla and L. perplexa sub-groups, L. staudingeri , and L. subfumosa .