Conochares acutus (Smith, 1905)

Mustelin, Tomas, 2006, Taxonomy of southern California Erebidae and Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) with descriptions of twenty one new species, Zootaxa 1278, pp. 1-47 : 9

Conochares acutus (Smith, 1905)

Conochares catalina (Smith, 1906) , NEW SYNONYM

Based on a comparison of the types, C. catalina appears to be conspecific with C. acutus . Both were described from material collected in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, and they differ only in the amount of gray on the outer half of the forewing, which is more prominent in C. acutus and lacking in C. catalina ; the latter is nearly all white. However, most populations of this species in southern California exhibit a range of phenotypes, from those with the outer half of the forewing uniformly gray (matching the type of C. acutus ) to specimens with a nearly pure white forewing (typical C. catalina ), as well as abundant intermediate forms.