Stamnodes franckata (Pearsall, 1909)

Matson, Tanner A., 2023, A review of Mexican Stamnodes (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) with the description of 16 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 911, pp. 1-79 : 48-49

Stamnodes franckata (Pearsall, 1909)

Figs 22 , 94–95

Coenocalpe franckata Pearsall, 1909a: 130 . Type locality: Chiricahua Mts, near Douglas, Arizona, USA. [AMNH].

Stamnodes franckata – Pearsall 1909b: 366. — McDunnough 1938: 151 (checklist). — Ferguson 1983: 103 (checklist). — Poole & Gentili 1996: 686 (checklist). — Scoble 1999: 902 (catalogue). — Knudson & Bordelon 2002: 7–8. — Scoble & Hausmann 2007 (online catalogue). — Pohl et al. 2016: 449 (checklist). — Rajaei et al. 2022 (online catalogue).

Diagnostic remarks

Stamnodes franckata is easily confused with sympatric S. formosata . Stamnodes franckata is typically larger than S. formosata , has darker brown scaling at the forewing apex and costomedial patch above, and the forewing apical area and hindwing are striated with brown scales beneath that stand in opposition to S. formosata ’s vibrant red scales of the same areas. The ground colour of S. franckata is also given more toward ochreous than the cream colour of S. formosata , and the fringe of S. franckata is sometimes pink.

Distribution

Mexico: Stamnodes franckata is mostly a Sierra Madre Occidental entity with most records from Sonora. However, it is also likely that S. franckata will be found in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila as the moth is abundant in the Chisos Mountains of Texas. USA: Stamnodes franckata ranges from central Arizona to the Big Bend region of Texas.

Biology

Adults fly from August to October with mature caterpillars following from September to early November. Larvae are hosted by alder leaf mountain mahogany ( Cercocarpus montanus ). The caterpillar and host plant were discovered by David L. Wagner in November 2017 in southeast Arizona. Additional unpublished life history details and larval illustrations are forthcoming (Matson & Wagner in prep.).

Molecular characterization

This species is represented in BOLD by two BINs: BOLD: AAM3493 (n = 7, USA: Arizona, New Mexico) and BOLD:ACE7212 (n = 2, USA: west Texas). The pairwise distance between these two BINs is 1.31%. The distance to their nearest interspecific neighbour, Stamnodes coenonymphata (n = 3), is around 5.8%.

Figures

Figs 19–30. Adult Stamnodes Guenée, [1858], dorsal (a) and ventral (b) views. 19. S. saltillo sp. nov., holotype, ♂ (CNIN). 20. S. formosata (Strecker, 1878) (USNMENT01771263). 21. S. lampra Rindge, 1878, paratype (USNMENT01771264). 22. S. franckata (Pearsall, 1909) (USNMENT01771255). 23. Stamnodes sp. (?undescribed; Mexico: Nuevo León) (USNMENT01523823). 24. S. patamon (Druce, 1893) (CNIN). 25. S. coenonymphata (Hulst, 1900) (TAM). 26. S. catarina sp. nov., holotype, ♂ (AMNH_IZC 00352926). 27. S. churro sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (AMNH_IZC 00352920). 28. S. ferropulvisa sp. nov., holotype, ♀ (USNMENT01523824). 29. S. calcarea sp. nov., holotype, ♂ (CMNH). 30. S. ululata Pearsall, 1912 (USNMENT01771256). Scale bar = 1 cm.

Fig. 94. COI neighbour-joining tree for Mexican Stamnodes Guenée, [1858] using default Kimura-2P model in the Barcode of Life Project (BOLD). Taxon names followed by BOLD Process ID.

Fig. 95. Biogeographic associations of Mexican Stamnodes Guenée, [1858]. (*) denotes species found in two or more provinces. Underlying biogeographic provincial map taken from Morrone (2020: fig. 4.5) with permission to reproduce this figure granted by author Juan J. Morrone.