Stamnodes fergusoni Matson & Wagner, 2020

Matson, Tanner A., 2023, A review of Mexican Stamnodes (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) with the description of 16 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 911, pp. 1-79 : 20

Stamnodes fergusoni Matson & Wagner, 2020

Figs 11 , 93–95

Stamnodes fergusoni Matson & Wagner, 2020: 79–90 . Type locality: Ranch Road 189 (30.1823° N, 100.06° W), Val Verde County, Texas, USA. [USNM].

Stamnodes fergusoni – Rajaei et al. 2022 (online catalogue).

Stamnodes sp. (undescribed) – Knudson & Bordelon 2002: 7–8.

Distribution

Mexico: Stamnodes fergusoni is found in the grassland, steppe, thorn scrub, and foothill habitats of the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico where its host plant is abundant. The Mexican distribution remains largely unclarified, with only a few collections from the Tamaulipan mezquital ecoregion of north Coahuila near Ciudad Acuña, and one record as far south as Sierra Mojada. So far as known, S. fergusoni is the only Stamnodes with a principally Chihuahuan Desert distribution. USA: Stamnodes fergusoni is primarily found in West Texas but extending westward to southeastern Arizona.

Biology

Stamnodes fergusoni is univoltine with a peak autumn flight from September through October and a single generation with mature caterpillars from October into November. Over most of this species’ range, the pupa is believed to overwinter and remain in diapause until the following fall. Larvae ( Fig. 93 ) are hosted by Salvia L. ( Lamiaceae ) and were reared to maturity on rock sage ( Salvia pinguifolia (Fernald) Wooton & Standl. ) in Arizona and New Mexico ( Matson & Wagner 2020). Matson & Wagner (2020) also suggested this species may feed on shrubby blue sage ( Salvia ballotiflora Benth. ) in south Texas and Coahuila where S. pinguifolia is absent. This potential Salvia ballotiflora host plant association has not been confirmed.

Molecular characterization

This species is represented in BOLD as BIN: BOLD:ACO1632 (n = 6). At present, the average pairwise intraspecific distance is 0.76%, the maximum pairwise intraspecific distance is 1.59%, and the distance to the nearest neighbour, Stamnodes aumatlapalli sp. nov. (n = 2), is 4.19%.

Remarks

See Matson & Wagner (2020) for description, genitalic images, and other life history information.

Figures

Figs 11–18. Adult Stamnodes Guenée, [1858], dorsal (a) and ventral (b) views. 11. S. fergusoni Matson & Wagner, 2020, holotype, ♂ (USNMENT01771260). 12. S. deceptiva Barnes & McDunnough, 1918 (USNMENT01771261). 13. S. fervefactaria (Grote, 1881) (USNMENT01771262). 14. S. disrupta sp. nov., holotype (BMEC). 15. S. mariachi sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (EMEC174828). 16. S. erupta sp. nov., holotype, ♂ (USNMENT01771245). 17. S. ceniza sp. nov., holotype, ♂ (LEP190410CNIN). 18. S. proana (Druce, 1893), holotype (NHMUK). Scale bar = 1 cm.

Figs 90–93. Final instar larval variation of North American species of Stamnodes Guenée, [1858]. 90. S. albiapicata Grossbeck, 1910, collected from Pholistoma membranaceum (Benth.) Constance; USA: California: San Diego Co. (2017C29); photo credit Moria L. Robinson. 91. S. coenonymphata (Hulst, 1900) collected from Cercocarpus betuloides Nutt.; USA: California: Sonoma Co. (2018E171). 92. S. formosata (Strecker, 1878) collected from Cercocarpus montanus Raf.; USA: Arizona: Cochise Co. (2014K98), photo credit David L. Wagner. 93. S. fergusoni Matson & Wagner, 2020, collected from Salvia pinguifolia (Fernald) Wooton & Standl.; USA: New Mexico: Lincoln Co. (2018J32), photo credit David L. Wagner (Matson & Wagner 2020).

Fig. 94. COI neighbour-joining tree for Mexican Stamnodes Guenée, [1858] using default Kimura-2P model in the Barcode of Life Project (BOLD). Taxon names followed by BOLD Process ID.

Fig. 95. Biogeographic associations of Mexican Stamnodes Guenée, [1858]. (*) denotes species found in two or more provinces. Underlying biogeographic provincial map taken from Morrone (2020: fig. 4.5) with permission to reproduce this figure granted by author Juan J. Morrone.