Oncocnemis kelsoensis Robertson and Mustelin

Mustelin, Tomas, 2006, Taxonomy of southern California Erebidae and Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) with descriptions of twenty one new species, Zootaxa 1278, pp. 1-47 : 14-15

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.273509

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6261528

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A287F8-FFE2-084E-450E-F9D76612FAA5

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Oncocnemis kelsoensis Robertson and Mustelin
status

sp. nov.

Oncocnemis kelsoensis Robertson and Mustelin , NEW SPECIES

Figs. 6 View FIGURES 1 – 21 , 31 View FIGURES 22 – 39 a, 31b, and 68

Type material. Holotype: Male, Kelso dunes, San Bernardino County, California, 30 March 1989, R. Robertson. Paratypes: 34 males, 6 females. San Bernardino County: Same locality and collector as holotype, 31 March 1986, 2 April 1988, and 30 March 1989. Holotype and genitalic slide #266/TM deposited in SDNHM, paratypes in USNM, CNC, CAS, UCB, and the private collections of R. Robertson and the author.

Etymology. The specific name refers to the Kelso dunes.

Diagnosis. Oncocnemis kelsoensis is a white, longitudinally gray­striped species known only from the Kelso dunes in the Mojave Desert. It can be distinguished from its congeners by the forewing pattern.

Description. Antenna filiform in both sexes; palpus covered with white scales, intermixed with some black scales; eye naked; frons covered with white hairs and two transverse dark bands; prothoracic collar covered with white scales and one black transverse line at base; thorax covered with white hairlike scales and a few black scales along tegula; venter covered with white hair; area behind eye darker; legs covered with pale gray hairs; abdomen covered with white; venter white; forewing ground color white; long thin black basal dash; veins dark; orbicular and claviform spots absent; reniform spot present as clearing of darker dusting; antemedial, postmedial, and subterminal lines absent; dark dusty streaks between veins; fringe checked white and black; ventral side white. Hindwing white; veins dark; terminal line dark; fringe white; ventral side white; discal spot absent. Male genitalia ( Figs. 31 View FIGURES 22 – 39 a and 31b): Valve length 2.7 mm, width at middle 0.65 mm, straight and evenly broad, cucullus rounded; clasper length 0.45 mm, basally 0.4 mm, claw­shaped, sharp point; aedeagus length 2.3 mm, width 0.8 mm, tapering to 0.6 mm, slightly bent; everted vesica length approximately 4 mm, width 1.0 mm tapering to 0.8 mm, curved to right; 3 longitudinal patches of 0.2–0.3 mm spines. Female genitalia ( Fig. 68 View FIGURES 63 – 79 ): Ovipositor lobe rectangular, 0.55 x 0.35 mm, a row of stout spines pointing anteriorly and with ringlike bases; posterior apophyses 3.9 mm long; anterior apophyses 2.0 mm long; ductus bursae 2.0 mm long and 0.3 mm wide at narrowest constriction, weakly sclerotized, slowly widens before junction with corpus bursae; corpus bursae 2.6 x 1.35 mm, oval, slightly pointed, with longitudinal stripes; appendix bursae large, 1.5 x 1.2 mm, round, and with small appendix near ostium bursae.

Distribution and habitat. Oncocnemis kelsoensis has been collected only in late March and April in the Kelso dunes in the middle of the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County.

SDNHM

San Diego Natural History Museum

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

CNC

Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes

CAS

California Academy of Sciences

UCB

University of California at Berkeley

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Noctuidae

SubFamily

Acontiinae

Genus

Oncocnemis

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