Paphia Taxonomy and biogeography of the Nearctic Raphia Huebner (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Raphiinae) Schmidt, B. Christian Anweiler, Gary G. ZooKeys 2014 2014-06-27 421 91 113 5877D2D0-A333-5D08-8BCC-92312AA279D4 Hill Hill Insecta Noctuidae Raphia CoL Animalia Raphia frater subsp. piazzi Lepidoptera 12 103 Arthropoda subSpecies frater piazzi   Paphia[sic] piazziHill, 1927.  Type material. Holotype male [USNM]. Type locality: Brownsville, Texas [USA].  Diagnosis and description.    Raphiafrater piazziis the least-known member of the group with a restricted distribution in central and southern Texas. Most similar in size and facies to  Raphia frater abrupta, it is distinguished from that subspecies by the paler, more evenly grey forewing with sharper transverse lines than in  Raphia frater abrupta. The biology and biogeographic relationship to  Raphia frater abrupta, which occurs to the northeast of  piazzi'srange, is not known, and very few specimens of this taxon are present in collections. An additional enigma is whether or not Rio Grande piazzipopulations interact with the vastly-different looking Sonoran  Raphia frater elbea.  Biology and distribution. Described from southernmost Texas, this subspecies is otherwise known only from the Edwards Plateau region; a single specimen from Sinton County to the southeast is phenotypically intermediate between abruptaand piazzi, but clearly more field work is needed to establish the limits of both subspecies. mtDNA barcode data of three piazzispecimens (Sinton Co. and Zavalla Co.) are very similar to the haplotypes of  Raphia frater abrupta,  Raphia frater frater, and  Raphia frater coloradensis.  Remarks. We were unable to obtain DNA sequence from topotypical specimens of piazzifrom the lower Rio Grande near Brownsville, Texas. The unique haplotype of the Edwards Plateau specimens ( Fig. 4) may represent nominal piazzi, but could equally represent a unique genetic lineage from the Edwards Plateau, with its unique fauna much of which is not shared with the Rio Grande fauna.