Raphia frater Raphia pallula 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 9509A1F2-C185-5382-ABD9-2ED51C2E02CA Putnam-Cramer Putnam-Cramer 2014 Insecta Noctuidae Raphia CoL Animalia Raphia frater subsp. coloradensis Lepidoptera 13 104 Arthropoda subSpecies frater stat. r. coloradensis   Raphia fratervar. coloradensisPutnam-Cramer, 1886  Raphia pallulaH. Edwards, 1886, syn. nov.  Type material.   Raphia fratervar. coloradensis- Neotype female, here designated [CNC]. Type locality: Deer Creek Cyn. Park, 39°33.18'N, 105°08.49'W, 5950', SW Littleton, Jefferson Co., Colorado. None of the original types, three males and four females "taken in Colorado by D. Bruce," could be located and are presumed lost. The primary type of  Xylena thoracicaPutnam-Cramer, the only other noctuid named by Putnam-Cramer, is housed at USNM. Prior to 1886, D. Bruce collected in the mountains and foothills near Denver ( Brown 1966), and we accordingly select a specimen from the same region to designate as neotype:"Colorado: Jefferson Co. / 39°33.18'N, 105°08.49'W/ Deer Creek Cyn. Park / SW Littleton, w of hogback / 16-17 June 2008, 5950' elev / riparian area s. of road / leg: Chuck Harp uv trap"; "Neotype /  Raphia fratervar. / coloradensisPutnam-Cramer / Schmidt and Anweiler 2014."   Raphia pallula- Holotype female [AMNH]. Type locality: Siskiyou Co., California [USA]. Published several months after coloradensisPutnam-Cramer, Edwards was apparently not aware of Putnam-Cramer'sname as it is not mentioned in his description.  Diagnosis and description. Within the range of coloradensis, specimens identical to the typical boreal  Raphia frater fraterare often present; in the most arid parts of the range of coloradensisin the southern Great Basin, coloradensisis more consistently pale ochre yellow with obsolete transverse lines and diffuse black costal/reniform blotches, overall very similar to elbea, but with less pronounced costal and reniform dark patches. Average forewing length is 14.9 mm ( n= 9) in males, 16.8 mm in females ( n= 6).  Biology and distribution. This subspecies occurs from southernmost British Columbia / Alberta to New Mexico, Utah, and California. It is most commonly associated withriparian, low-elevation habitats. Northern populations fly from late May to July in a single generation. Flight dates spanning from May into August in the Great Basin and Southern Rocky mountain region indicate a second or partial second generation.  Remarks.   Raphia frater coloradensisis the most weakly-differentiated subspecies, and may simply be an ecologically induced phenotype of  Raphia frater fraterthat occurs in the warmer, drier regions of the West. Several populations, spanning a large geographical area, have been identified that exhibit a large range of phenotypic variation, as discussed above in the 'Morphology'section. Specimens from Siskiyou Co., California and the east slope of the northern Sierra Nevada (Sierra Co.) are phenotypically very similar to Great Basin coloradensis, and we therefore treat pallulaas a junior subjective synonym. DNA barcodes of two specimens from the northern Sierra Nevada (Sierra Co.) belonged to the frater-coloradensis-abruptahaplogroup ( Fig. 4).