Ogdoconta margareta Crabo

Crabo, Lars G., 2015, A new species of Ogdoconta Butler (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Condicinae, Condicini) from southeastern Arizona, USA, ZooKeys 527, pp. 51-56 : 52-55

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Noctuidae

Ogdoconta margareta Crabo sp. n. Figs 1, 2

Type locality.

Harshaw, 2.9-5 km SW, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, USA.

Type material.

Holotype: Male: USA: AZ: Santa Cruz Co., Harshaw, 2.9-5 km SW, 31.42-[31].45° -110.72-[110].74°, 1490-1765 m, 1 IX 2013, L Crabo leg./Crabo [genitalia] slide 681/BOLD CNCLEP 00113651. CNC. Paratype: One male: Mexico, Sonora/BOLD CNCLEP 83594. LGC.

Etymology.

I take pleasure in naming this species after my mother, Margareta Crabo of Cave Creek, Arizona. The holotype was collected three days prior to her 80th birthday. The name is a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis.

The male of Ogdoconta margareta (Fig. 1) resembles the male of Ogdoconta tacna (Fig. 3), although the ranges of these species are not known to overlap. Ogdoconta margareta occurs in southeastern Arizona, USA and northeastern Sonora, Mexico and Ogdoconta tacna occurs in central and southeastern Texas, USA ( Metzler et al. 2013).

The valves of both species are unique in the genus in having a broadly triangular cucullus with an irregular outer margin with a series of small knobs. The most prominent structural differences between these species are in the aedeagus, vesica, and sacculus of the valve. In the genitalia of Ogdoconta margareta (Fig. 2) the aedeagus is straight and the vesica is straight distal to a basal 135° bend, whereas in the genitalia of Ogdoconta tacna (Fig. 4) the aedeagus has a proximal bend and the proximal and distal portions of the vesica are coiled. The dorsal sacculus of Ogdoconta margareta is triangular with greatest width near the distal end, whereas that of Ogdoconta tacna is rounded with greatest width at the mid-point. The saccular extension of Ogdoconta margareta is relatively short, not reaching the ventral cucullus as in Ogdoconta tacna .

The female of Ogdoconta margareta is unknown.

Superficially, Ogdoconta margareta and Ogdoconta tacna are very similar and key out together in couplet 6 of the key to species in Metzler et al. (op cit.). The forewings of Ogdoconta margareta have a violet tint whereas those of Ogdoconta tacna are greenish. The hindwing of Ogdoconta margareta is paler than that of Ogdoconta tacna without significant dark suffusion at the anterior margin. Ogdoconta margareta can be distinguished from all of the other Ogdoconta species that are known to occur in Arizona, Ogdoconta cinereola ( Guenée), Ogdoconta moreno Barnes, and Ogdoconta rufipenna Metzler, Knudson, & Poole, by its uniform purplish brown forewing and pale whitish hindwing. The forewings of the other species are either dark red brown or have lighter areas on the distal wing, and their hindwings are darker. Modifications to the Ogdoconta key to species in Metzler (op cit.) are given in the Discussion, below.

Description.

Adult male (Fig. 1). Head: Antenna filiform with sparse ventral cilia, dorsum with alternating off-white and gray scales; scape, head, and labial palpus covered with gray, off-white-tipped gray, and sparse off-white scales; frons smooth, unmodified; labial palpus with third segment one-third the length of the second segment; eye smooth, normal sized. Thorax: Entire thorax, including prothoracic collar and patagium, covered with off-white-tipped gray and gray scales, appearing uniform purplish brown similar to the forewings; legs with off-white and gray scales, prothoracic leg palest, tarsal segments gray with distal off-white bands. Forewing: length 13 mm excluding fringe; covered with brown-gray, off-white, and fawn scales, appearing hoary purplish brown, slightly darker gray medial to the subterminal line and terminal area and slightly paler near the postmedial line; basal and antemedial lines nearly obsolete, evident as a few pale scales on the costa and in the fold; medial shade dark gray, faint and diffuse; postmedial line brown gray, double with filling of the adjacent ground color, outer portion weakly dentate with dark and pale scales on the veins lateral to the line, oriented parallel to outer margin, nearly straight; subterminal line a hoary sinuous row of pale scales; terminal line dark brown bordered mesially by an incomplete line of pale scales; fringe gray brown with hoary pale tips; orbicular and reniform spots hoary, filled with the adjacent ground color, orbicular spot irregularly ovate, lateral portion touching posterior reniform spot; reniform spot asymmetrically figure-eight shaped with posterior margin extended toward base and touching orbicular spot; claviform spot absent; hindwing slightly brownish off white with slight dusting of pale gray scales near anterior margin and darker gray veins; terminal line dark brown; hindwing fringe pale tan with scattered gray scales and paler outer margin. Abdomen (removed for dissection after photography): covered with fuscous scales, slightly darker weak dorsal tufts on the first two segments. Male genitalia (Fig. 2): Uncus cylindrical, 6 × as long as thick, apex pointed bluntly; juxta 1.25 × as tall as wide with arrowhead-shaped caudal portion; valve bifid with larger dorsal portion bearing triangular cucullus and small ventral portion comprised of saccular extension; sacculus 0.5 × as long as valve, dorsal margin bluntly triangular and extending to near dorsal valve margin distal to mid- point of sacculus near mid-valve, blade-like saccular extensions 0.4 × as long as sacculus, extending to near ventral cucullus margin, asymmetrical, slightly shorter and more robust on the right than the left; dorsal margin of mid-valve slightly convex, cucullus large, triangular, 0.5 × as wide as valve length, with finely crenulate lateral margin and rounded dorsal and truncate ventral margins, mesial surface covered with fine hairs; aedeagus cylindrical, straight, 10 × as long as wide, without ornamentation; vesica 1 × as long as aedeagus with slight expansion at subbasal bend but otherwise similar in width to aedeagus, straight beyond 135° subbasal bend toward left, subapex with two short fields of innumerable short cornuti. Female: unknown.

Distribution and biology.

Ogdoconta margareta is a rarely collected species that is known only from the type locality in southeastern Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico.

The two known specimens were collected in early September. It is possible that Ogdoconta margareta also flies during the spring because the closely related species Ogdoconta tacna has two broods ( Metzler et al. 2013).

The holotype was collected in one of a series of black light traps placed mostly in a forest of oak and pine, with a few traps in the ecotone between forest and shrub desert. The habitat of this species in Mexico is unknown.

The early stages are unknown.

Discussion.

The Key to the species of Ogdoconta in North America north of Mexico in Metzler et al. (op cit.) can be modified to include Ogdoconta margareta by substituting the following couplet 6 for the original and inserting the following couplet 8 after couplet 7: