Raphia frater Saligena personata 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 F204BD13-9909-5777-B565-1DA05CEF8EB4 frater Grote Grote Insecta Noctuidae Raphia CoL Animalia Raphia frater subsp. frater Lepidoptera 11 102 Arthropoda subSpecies frater frater   Raphia fraterGrote, 1864  Saligena personataWalker, 1865  Type material.    RaphiafraterGrote, 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'smaterial 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 fraterspecimens.  Raphia fraterand  Raphia abruptaare the oldest available names for this species, and were published simultaneously. As first revisers, we designate frateras the senior name (ICZN, Article 24.2.2). Syn.  Saligena personataWalker, 1865 - [BMNH]. Type locality: United States.  Diagnosis and description. The nominal subspecies of  Raphia fratertypically 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 coloradensisare absent.  Raphia frater abruptadiffers 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 fraterand coloradensis/ abrupta, the only two subspecies abutting the range of  Raphia frater frater.  Biology and distribution.   Raphia frater frateris primarily a boreal taxon, especially common in aspen (  Populus tremuloidesand  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  Raphiarecords. The transition zone between  Raphia frater fraterand  Raphia frater abruptaextends 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 frateris virtually identical to that of both trembling and bigtooth aspens ( Fig. 2). In the West,  Raphia frater frateroccurs 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 fraterphenotype, the coloradensisphenotypes occurring at lower elevations.