Catocala praeclara ssp. manitoba Beutenmüller, 1908

Gall, Lawrence & Hawks, David, 2010, Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list, ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 37-83 : 59-61

Catocala praeclara ssp. manitoba Beutenmüller , stat. n.

Fig. 26 (lectotype)

Catocala manitoba Beutenmüller, 1908: 54

Catocala manitoba ; Barnes and McDunnough 1918: 41

Catocala manitoba ; McDunnough 1938: 118

Catocala manitoba ; Franclemont and Todd 1983: 129

Type material. Catocala manitoba : the original description states “Types. -- Collections: American Museum of Natural History, Rutgers College, and George J. Keller.” There are seven types at the AMNH, and a male is designated as lectotype to clarify application of the name manitoba . Th e lectotype bears the labels “Cartwright / Manitoba, Canadian / E. F. Heath / VIII 22 07”, “Type / No. / A.M.N.H.”, “ Catocala / manitoba / Beuten.” Beutenmüller considered C. manitoba closely related to C. praeclara Grote & Robinson, 1866 , and Barnes and McDunnough (1918: 41) felt this “duller and darker-colored form” might “merely be a geographical race” of praeclara .

60 Lawrence F. Gall & David C. Hawks / ZooKeys 39: 37–83 (2010) Figures 25–32. Type specimens of Catocala . 25 lectotype, C. maestosa Hulst, 1884 26 lectotype, C. manitoba Beutenmüller, 1908 27 lectotype, C. miranda H. Edwards, 1881 28 lectotype, C. nebraskae Dodge, 1875 29 lectotype, C. nerissa H. Edwards, 1880 30 lectotype, C. nevadensis Beutenmüller, 1907 3Ι lectotype, C. nuptula Walker, [1858] 32 lectotype, C. nurus Walker, [1858] .

25 26 27 29 3Ι 28 30 32 I cm

Beutenmüller described the forewings of C. manitoba as generally more concolorous and less lustrous than C. praeclara , with a reduced basal dash “scarcely extending to the middle of the basal area, sometimes absent” (a basal dash is a prominent characteristic of eastern C. praeclara populations). At that time, there was an apparent geographic disjunction between C. manitoba , which had only been recorded from Manitoba, and C. praeclara , which was known from the eastern coast of the USA and maritime Canada. Specimens referable to C. manitoba are now known from over forty localities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, northern South Dakota and northern Wyoming. Similarly, populations of praeclara are now known from throughout the Great Lakes region, and then eastward to the seacoast. Individuals lacking a basal dash occur sporadically throughout the entire range of C. praeclara (more frequently in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the southern USA; see above under account for C. charlottae Brou, 1988 ), and the same individuals that lack the basal dash often have less iridescent and/or more concolorous forewings. A paratype of C. manitoba in the ANSP has a prominent basal dash and markings otherwise consistent with nominate C. praeclara , lacking only the lustrous scaling. Beutenmüller also stated that the two medial teeth of the postmedian forewing line were of nearly equal size in C. praeclara , and unequal in C. manitoba , but this distinction does not hold over the broader distributions now known. Because these several traits vary inconsistently over a widespread area, and covary to a certain extent, particularly in the geographic sampling gap of Beutenmüller’s time, we treat C. manitoba as a subspecies of C. praeclara Grote & Robinson, 1866 Populations to the west and north of Minnesota most consistently and uniformly display the characteristics ascribed to C. p. manitoba . Type Locality: restricted to Cartwright, Manitoba, [ Canada] on the basis of the lectotype labels.