Taxonomy and biogeography of the Nearctic Raphia Huebner (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Raphiinae) Author Schmidt, B. Christian Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, K. W. Neatby Bldg., 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON, Canada K 1 A 0 C 6 Author Anweiler, Gary G. E. H. Strickland Entomological Museum, 218 Earth Sciences Building, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T 6 G 2 E 9 text ZooKeys 2014 2014-06-27 421 91 113 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.421.7517 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.421.7517 1313-2970-421-91 4DB3DA2D21B14D269544B4008028D304 FFA88030FFBAFF84A232FFF3FF807607 578387 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.