Chytolita morbidalis ( Guenee )

Crabo, Lars G., Davis, Melanie, Hammond, Paul, Tomas Mustelin, & Jon Shepard,, 2013, Five new species and three new subspecies of Erebidae and Noctuidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera) from Northwestern North America, with notes on Chytolita Grote (Erebidae) and Hydraecia Guenee (Noctuidae), ZooKeys 264, pp. 85-123 : 90

Chytolita morbidalis ( Guenee)

Herminea morbidalis Guenée 1854: 56. Type locality: North America.

Chytolita petrealis Grote 1880: 219. Type locality: [USA], Ohio, Illinois, syn. n.

Chytolita fulicalis Smith 1907: 143. Type locality: [USA], Tennessee, syn. rev.

Zanclognatha punctiformis Smith 1895: 37. Type locality: [USA], District of Columbia, syn. rev.

Remarks.

Two species of Chytolita Grote have until now been recognized for North America ( Lafontaine and Schmidt 2010): Chytolita morbidalis ( Guenée) and Chytolita petrealis Grote. Both species names have at various times been used for material collected in the PNW; however, only a single species with slight variation in size and darkness exists in this region. Material from eastern North America, the type specimens of the available names, and material previously submitted for CO1 sequencing were therefore examined to attempt to elucidate the correct name for the PNW species. It was found that there is virtually no variation in barcodes in this genus despite the fact that the sample is diverse and includes larger light-colored specimens identified as Chytolita morbidalis and smaller dark ones submitted as Chytolita petrealis from a large portion of eastern North America. The two previously recognized species have been described as "identical in pattern" ( Forbes 1954) and were only distinguished by size and darkness without structural differences. The dark small forms known as Chytolita petrealis are from swamps and acid bogs (Forbes op. cit.) and are consistent with an ecophenotype. This evidence indicates that Chytolita petrealis Grote is a synonym of Herminea morbidalis Guenée.

The two syntypes of Herminea morbidalis Guenée could not be located and might be lost; however, the original description is sufficient to identify the species and associate it with the genus Chytolita based on features of the labial palpus and the presence of an accessory cell on the forewing. A neotype designation is not necessary since there is only one Chytolita species in North America.