Ufeus hulstii Smith, 1908

Lafontaine, J. Donald & Walsh, J. Bruce, 2013, A revision of the genus Ufeus Grote with the description of a new species from Arizona (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Xylenini, Ufeina), ZooKeys 264, pp. 193-207 : 199-200

Ufeus hulstii Smith, 1908 Figs 9, 101722

Ufeus hulstii Smith, 1908: 99.

Ufeus lura Dyar, 1914: 370, syn. n.

Type material.

Ufeus hulstii : lectotype ♂. Stockton, Utah, AMNH, designated by Todd (1982). Ufeus lura : holotype ♂. Mexico City, Mexico, USNM.

Other material examined and distribution.

Canada: Alberta, British Columbia. Mexico: Distrito Federal, Durango. USA: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington.

Remarks.

Ufeus hulstii is the western counterpart of Ufeus plicatus and was treated as a subspecies of it for many years. Differences in external appearance, male and female genitalia, barcodes, and biology led to its recognition as a separate species by Lafontaine and Schmidt (2010), but they used the name Ufeus electra for it, a name that had been treated as a synonym of Ufeus plicatus by Franclemont and Todd (1983) and Poole (1989). Re-examination of the type material resulted in the name Ufeus electra being transferred to the synonymy of Ufeus satyricus and Ufeus hulstii being used for this species ( Lafontaine and Schmidt 2011).

Diagnosis.

In Ufeus hulstii both sexes have an orange-brown forewing and fuscous hindwing with males averaging slightly darker than females. Most females of Ufeus hulstii have a dark streak through the orbicular and reniform spots, but the streak does not normally extend to the postmedial line or into the basal area of the wing. Although occasionally specimens of Ufeus hulstii are as small as those of Ufeus plicatus (16 mm), they are, on average, much larger with forewing lengths up to 22 mm in males and 23 mm in females. The male genitalia of Ufeus hulstii differ from those of Ufeus plicatus by the characters given in the key and in the diagnosis for Ufeus plicatus . The female genitalia of Ufeus hulstii are similar to those of Ufeus plicatus .

Distribution and biology.

Ufeus hulstii is widely distributed in western North America from central Alaska southward to south-central Mexico and from the Rocky Mountain foothills to the West Coast. The larvae are reported to feed on poplar, aspen, and willow with adults emerging in early summer ( Crumb 1956). Like other species, the adults overwinter, but they also are more frequently collected during the summer months than other species.