Lasionycta coracina Crabo & Lafontaine, 2009

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 : 37-38

Lasionycta coracina Crabo & Lafontaine , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:884101B7-189C-4311-8A32-2C3EC330DE3B

Figs 31, 32, 149, 205. Map 7

Type material. Holotype ♁. Canada, Northwest Territories, Richardson Mts. , 67.141° N 136.004° W, 690 m., 5 July 2009, L. Crabo and G. Morrell. CNC . Paratypes: 10 ♁, 20 ♀. Canada, Northwest Territories. Same data as holotype (6 ♁, 5 ♀) . Yukon. British Mts , Firth R., 24 July 1956, E. P. Cashman / Slide No. 8364 (1 ♀) ; same locality, 25 July 1956, R. E. Leech (1 ♀) ; Richardson Mts , km 413 [Dempster Hwy], 66.630° N 136.275° W, 840 m., 2–3 July 2009, L. Crabo and G. Morrell (1 ♁, 4 ♀) ; same locality and collectors, 5 July 2009 (7 ♀) ; km 416 Dempster Hwy , 22–28 June 1980, 750 m, Wood and Lafontaine / Slide No. 8309 (1 ♁) ; Mi 252 Dempster Hwy, 1 July 1985, Tom Kral / Databased for CNC, Noctuoidea # 10526/ Barcodes of Life Project, University of Guelph , DNA # Noctuoidea 10528 (1 ♀) ; km 465 Dempster Hwy, 4 July 1985, 800 m., J. and L. Troubridge / Databased for CNC, Noctuoidea # 10286/ Barcodes of Life Project , University of Guelph , DNA # Noctuoidea 10286 (1 ♀) ; USA, Alaska. Cape Th ompson, 3 Aug. 1961, B. S. Heming (2 ♁). CNC, LGC, UASM, USNM, personal collection of Glenn Morrell , Maine, USA .

Etymology. Coracina is Latin and means raven-like, a reference to the dark appearance and northern distribution of this species.

Diagnosis. Lasionycta coracina is a small entirely dark-gray species from northern Alaska, northern Yukon, and adjacent Northwest Territories. It resembles a dark L. leucocycla with which it is structurally indistinguishable in males and females. Lasionycta coracina differs from all L. leucocycla sub-group species except L. anthracina in having a dark dorsal hindwing. Lasionycta anthracina occurs far south and east of the range of L. coracina . The forewing apex of L. coracina is more sharply angled than that of L. anthracina and it is a duller gray without a warm brown tint. Th e hindwing fringe is pale in L. coracina whereas it is dark in L. anthracina .

The single available CO1 sequence of L. coracina is identical to one of the haplotypes of L. leucocycla albertensis .

Description. Head – Antenna of male weakly biserrate. Antenna of female filiform and ciliate. Dorsal antenna gray with scattered white scales in distal row on each segment. Scape mixed gray and white scales. Eye reduced, ellipsoid. Palpus covered with dark-gray and scattered white scales. Frons and top of head a mixture of darkgray and white hair-like scales. Thorax – Vestiture of thorax a mixture of dark-gray and white hair-like scales, appearing uniform dark gray. Legs dark gray with lighter gray to white at distal end of tarsal segments. Wings – Forewing length: male 11–13 mm (expanse 23 – 30 mm); female 12 – 13 mm (expanse 24 – 31 mm). Forewing a mixture of slate gray, black, and white scales, appearing uniform to slightly mottled ash gray. Terminal area with luteous scales in some specimens. Basal, antemedial, and postmedial lines dark gray with slightly lighter filling. Basal and antemedial lines undulating. Medial line nearly obsolete, evident as slightly darker area between orbicular and reniform spots. Postmedial line moderately scalloped between veins, excurved between top of cell and fold. Subterminal line pale, evident mostly due to irregular dark shading proximally. Spots dark gray, faint. Orbicular spot round, filled with ground color or pale-gray scales and a faint darker ocellus. Reniform spot faint, evident as a dark smudge. Claviform spot faint and small. Fringe of ground color to pale gray, weakly checkered with darker gray between veins. Ventral forewing brown gray with dark-gray discal spot, subterminal line, and terminal area. Dorsal hindwing dark brown gray with slightly darker gray postmedial line and wide marginal band. Discal spot inconspicuous, slightly darker gray than ground color. Hindwing fringe white. Ventral hindwing covered with pale-gray scales and heavily suffused with dark-gray scales, appearing slightly lighter than ventral forewing. Markings darker gray. Discal spot moderately large and thick. Postmedial line closer to marginal band than to discal spot, variable in darkness, evident only at costa in some specimens and nearly complete in others. Marginal band thin with sharply demarcated medial margin. Fringe uniform luteous to white. Abdomen – Uniformly dark gray. Male genitalia – (Fig. 149). Genital capsule and aedeagus as for L. leucocycla species-group and L. leucocycla sub-group descriptions. Valve approximately 6.8× as long as wide. Single vesica preparation examined lacks subbasal cornuti. Female genitalia – (Fig. 205) Ovipositor, segment VIII, and bursa copulatrix as in L. leucocycla species-group description. Corpus bursae approximately 1.3× ductus bursae length and 0.6× as wide as long with 50 % constriction near base. Appendix bursae relatively wide at base.

Distribution and biology. This species is only known from the Richardson and British Mountains in northern Yukon, adjacent Northwest Territories, and Cape Thompson in northwestern Alaska. Specimens were collected from late June to early August. Th e habitat in the Richardson Mountains is sparsely vegetated gravel tundra slopes with Dryas (Rosaceae) stripes. Th e adults feed at Saxifraga spp. ( Saxifragaceae ). Th e moths are diurnal, most active in the late afternoon and when cloudy.

Remarks. Lasionycta coracina is similar to L. fumida (Graeser) stat. rev. from eastern Russia, previously treated as a subspecies of L. leucocycla ( Lafontaine et al. 1986) , but differs structurally; L. fumida has a round eye unlike L. leucocycla and L. coracina , suggesting that it is nocturnal. Th e male valve of L. fumida is longer and more slender than that of either of the other two species.