Raphia frater frater Grote

Schmidt, B. Christian & Anweiler, Gary G., 2014, Taxonomy and biogeography of the Nearctic Raphia Huebner (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Raphiinae), ZooKeys 421, pp. 91-113 : 102-103

Raphia frater frater Grote Figs 1f , 1g , 2 , 3

Raphia frater Grote, 1864

Saligena personata Walker, 1865

Type material.

Raphia frater Grote, 1864 - # 7675 [ANSP]. Type locality: Middle States [eastern USA]; here restricted to Mount Pocono, Monroe Co., Pennsylvania. Grote (1864) simply stated the type locality as "Middle States," and no additional information is available on the holotype label data. We interpret this as referring to the region south of the New England States, and north of the southern States. Given the complex variation of North American Raphia frater , it is advisable to restrict the type locality. As Grote’s material likely originated from the eastern United States, we restrict the Type locality to Mount Pocono, Monroe Co., Pennsylvania, from which we examined typical Raphia frater frater specimens. Raphia frater and Raphia abrupta are the oldest available names for this species, and were published simultaneously. As first revisers, we designate frater as the senior name (ICZN, Article 24.2.2). Syn. Saligena personata Walker, 1865 - [BMNH]. Type locality: United States.

Diagnosis and description.

The nominal subspecies of Raphia frater typically has an even, powdery, dark grey forewing ground colour with all of the markings complete, consisting of the antemedial and postmedial band, and the orbicular, reniform and usually the claviform stigmas. Average forewing length is 16.3 mm (n = 9) in males, 18.6 mm in females (n = 9). The male hindwing is white with little or no dusting of black scales in the subterminal area, and with a pronounced, diffusely-edged black patch in the anal angle, this often with an adjacent black line formed by the terminus of the postmedial band; females usually have some fuscous scales on the hindwing, especially on a slight postmedial band. This subspecies generally lacks the form with contrastingly darker medio-anal and costal black patches that is prevalent in Raphia frater coloradensis , but it does occur rarely even in Atlantic Canada ( Fig. 1g ). The yellowish-ochre forewing scales typical of Raphia frater coloradensis are absent. Raphia frater abrupta differs in having a more angulate and linear antemedial band, a paler grey and less powdery-appearing forewing, duskier hindwing, and smaller size. As discussed in the section on Raphia frater , geographically intermediate populations are extremely variable with respect to these traits, and are considered to be transitional between subspecies frater and coloradensis / abrupta, the only two subspecies abutting the range of Raphia frater frater .

Biology and distribution.

Raphia frater frater is primarily a boreal taxon, especially common in aspen ( Populus tremuloides and Populus grandidentata ) dominated forests and the Aspen Parkland ecoregion of the Prairie Provinces. In the East, it extends south of the Great Lakes region into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, but apparently not southward into the southern Appalachians, which are essentially devoid of Raphia records. The transition zone between Raphia frater frater and Raphia frater abrupta extends from Maryland westward roughly along the Ohio River Valley to east-central Missouri, then northwestward through the northern Great Plains. The southeastern range edge of Raphia frater frater is virtually identical to that of both trembling and bigtooth aspens ( Fig. 2 ). In the West, Raphia frater frater occurs south along mid-elevation mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest into Washington, and southward along the Rocky Mountains. Specimens from high elevations in Colorado (Gilpin Co., 9500') and New Mexico (Sangre de Cristo Mtns., 7900') are of the typical frater phenotype, the coloradensis phenotypes occurring at lower elevations.

Figures

Figure 1. Geographic distribution and phenotypic variation of Raphia frater subspecies. Circles indicate specimens examined during this study: green - subsp. piazzi; pink - subsp. abrupta; black - subsp. frater; blue - subsp. coloradensis; yellow - subsp. cinderella. Multi-coloured circles indicate transitional populations and / or phenotypically intermediate specimens between respective subspecies. a Raphia frater piazzi (Zavallo Co., TX) b Raphia frater abrupta (Oktibeha Co., MS) c Raphia frater abrupta (Cottle Co., TX) d Raphia frater abrupta (Cottle Co., TX) e Raphia frater abrupta (Montgomery Co., MD) f, g Raphia frater frater (Edmunston, NB) h Raphia frater abrupta - frater intermediate (Anne Arundel Co., MD) i Raphia frater abrupta - frater - coloradensis intermediate from highly variable population in Cherry Co., NE j Raphia frater coloradensis (Alamosa Co., CO) k Raphia frater coloradensis (Milk River valley, AB) l Raphia frater coloradensis (Sanpete Co., UT) m Raphia frater coloradensis (Elko Co., NV) n Raphia frater cinderella (Ventura Co., CA) o, p Raphia frater coloradensis - frater intermediates (Chelan Co., WA) q Raphia frater elbea (Cochise Co., AZ) r Raphia frater elbea (San Juan Co., UT) s Raphia frater elbea (Santa Cruz Co., AZ). All specimens are males.

Figure 2. Distribution of Raphia frater subspecies (circles) relative to range of Populus larval host plants (coloured shading) in eastern North America. Black circles - subsp. frater; white circles - subsp. abrupta; grey circles - subsp. piazzi; half-circles represent transitional populations and / or phenotypically intermediate specimens. Blue shading - combined ranges of Populus tremuloides and Populus grandidentata; yellow shading - Populus deltoides; range overlap depicted in green. Populus ranges adapted from USGS (2013).

Figure 3. Distribution of Raphia frater subspecies (circles) relative to range of Populus species (coloured shading) in western North America. Half-circles represent transitional populations and / or phenotypically intermediate specimens. Ranges for Populus trichocarpa + Populus balsamifera and Populus angustifolia + Populus deltoides are combined, with both Populus balsamifera and Populus deltoides occuring in Alberta - Montana (upper right). Populus ranges adapted from USGS (2013).