Nudorthodes texana (Smith, 1900) Smith, 1900

Lafontaine, J. Donald, Walsh, J. Bruce & Ferris, Clifford D., 2014, A revision of the genus Protorthodes McDunnough with descriptions of a new genus and four new species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Eriopygini), ZooKeys 421, pp. 139-179 : 160

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Noctuidae

Nudorthodes texana (Smith, 1900) comb. n. Figs 46-49, 70, 87; Map 14

Perigea texana Smith, 1900: 476.

Perigea consors Smith, 1900: 477.

Type material.

Perigea texana : lectotype ♂, USNM, designated by Todd (1982), examined. Type locality: USA, Texas, Round Mountain. Perigea consors : lectotype ♂, USNM, designated by Todd (1982), examined. Type locality: USA, Phoenix, Arizona.

Diagnosis.

Nudorthodes texana is the most widely distributed and common species in the genus. In most of its range adults can be recognized by the pale buffy-brown or gray-brown color of the forewings with darker shading around the reniform and orbicular spots and in the outer part of the subterminal area. The male and female genitalia of Nudorthodes texana form the basis for the description of the genus Nudorthodes ; it and Nudorthodes variabilis are structurally very similar, differing mainly in the shape of the costal process of the sacculus and the relative lengths of the ampulla of the clasper in the male genitalia. The barcode of Nudorthodes texana is most similar to that of Nudorthodes variabilis , the two differing by 3.67-3.98 %.

Distribution and biology.

Nudorthodes texana occurs from the intermontane region of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Utah southward to southern California and Arizona and southeastward to the Gulf Coast of Texas. Adults were collected rarely in the spring, mostly in March; the second generation occurs from mid-August to mid-November with the flight earlier in the North than in the extreme South. The larva was described by Crumb (1956) and Godfrey (1972).

Notes.

A peculiar form of Nudorthodes texana (Fig. 49) occurs in southwestern Arizona in the vicinity of Yuma. The forewing is a mottled pale orange brown or reddish brown, without the dark shading between the reniform and orbicular spots characteristic of Nudorthodes texana . The barcodes of this population differ from those of Nudorthodes variabilis by 3.36-3.67 % and from those of Nudorthodes texana by 4.43-5.05 %. However, many specimens from the Yuma area are intermediate in appearance between the mottled-orange form and the normal form of Nudorthodes texana and these barcode with either haplotype clade, suggesting adults of the two haplotype groups are interbreeding, or did so in the past. For this reason we do not describe the Yuma form as a distinct species, but suggest more research on the two haplotype groups in this area is needed. Only five specimens of the deviant haplotype are known.