Tricholita signata (Walker) Signate Quaker

Pogue, Michael G., 2010, The Hadeninae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA 2380, Zootaxa 2380 (1), pp. 1-75 : 54

50. Tricholita signata (Walker) Signate Quaker

( Figs. 98–99 , Map 51)

Identification: Forewing length 12–18 mm. Male antenna is bipectinate and filiform in the female. Forewing ground color ferruginous to ferruginous brown. Antemedial line faint, black, and slightly scalloped between veins. Orbicular spot is obscure being slightly lighter than ground color and margined with scales that are slightly darker than ground color. Reniform spot is variable from absent to white with a variable amount of ferruginous scales inundating the center of the spot. Postmedial line is black and is slightly sinuate to slightly scalloped between veins. Subterminal line is black to dark ferruginous and more sinuate and wider than postmedial line. Subterminal line separates the usually darker subterminal area from the lighter terminal area. In some specimens the subterminal and terminal areas are concolorous. Hindwing is gray.

Flight period: June to mid-October.

Collected localities: North Carolina : Haywood Co., Balsam Mountain Road Flat Creek Trail, Mt. Sterling Trail , Mt. Sterling Trail 1.54 mi from trailhead, Purchase Knob at house, Purchase Knob E of house in field, Purchase Knob E of house in forest, Purchase Knob, Purchase Knob north of house in forest, Purchase Knob NE of house in field, Purchase Knob cabin; Swain Co., Big Cove Road site b, Big Cove Road site c, Big Cove Road site p, Big Cove Road site w, Mt. Buckley , Noland Creek , Smokemont . Tennessee: Blount Co., Cades Cove ATBI house 2,000 m SW, Tremont ; Cocke Co. , Albright Grove trailhead, Cosby ATBI house, Cosby Campground , Cosby Ranger Station , Foothills Parkway second pullout; Sevier Co. , Greenbrier Ranger Station , 1.3 mi west of junction Hwy. 441 and Clingmans Dome Road on Road Prong Trail. (96 specimens)

Elevation range: 1300–6560 ft. (396–1999 m)

General distribution: From Nova Scotia to Ontario in Canada. In the U.S. it ranges from Maine to Florida, in the Midwest from Ohio, Michigan and Arkansas to North Dakota and Kansas, and west to Colorado and New Mexico.

Larval hosts: Larvae obtained from eggs were reared on common dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale F.H. Wigg. , Asteraceae ), goldenrod ( Solidago sp. , Asteraceae ), and common plantain ( Plantago major L., Plantaginaceae ) ( Godfrey 1972). Little is known about this species natural hosts.

MAP 51. Collecting localities of Tricholita signata .

Figures

FIGURES 97–104. Adults. 97, Pseudorthodes vecors, m, North Carolina, Haywood Co., Balsam Mtn. picnic area, on Flat Creek Trail, 5265 ft., 28 June 2004, M.G. Pogue, USNMENT 00221059; 98, Tricholita signata, m, North Carolina, Haywood Co., Purchase Knob, NE of house, field, 4925 ft., 31 July 2003, M.G. Pogue, USNMENT 00156862; 99, Tricholita signata, m, North Carolina, Haywood Co., Purchase Knob, NE of house, field, 4925 ft., 2 Aug. 2003, M.G. Pogue, USNMENT 00218886; 100, Ulolonche culea, f, New York, 4 June 1901; 101, Ulolonche culea, f, New York, Long Island, 6 June 1901; 102, Ulolonche culea, f, Maryland, Montgomery Co., Colesville, 30 May 1988, D.C. Ferguson; 103, Ulolonche modesta, f, New Jersey, Ocean Co., Lakehurst, Wrangle Brook Rd., 3 June 1956, D.C. Ferguson; 104, Ulolonche modesta, m, Indiana, Newton Co., Conrad Savanna, 41o 06.4’ N, 87o 26.5’ N, 23 May 1997, E.H. Metzler.