Charadra moneta Schmidt & Anweiler, 2010

Schmidt, Christian & Anweiler, Gary, 2010, The North American species of Charadra Walker, with a revision of the Charadra pata (Druce) group (Noctuidae, Pantheinae), ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 161-181 : 177-179

Charadra moneta Schmidt & Anweiler , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3650C4F0-1233-44D0-977B-1FC79CC18A14

Figs 19–22, 28, 32

Type material. Holotype ♁ – UNITED STATES: “ Walnut Canyon 6500’ / 6-1/ 3 mi EESE Flagstaff / Coconino co. , Arizona / 12 September 1965 / J. G. Franclemont ”; “ HOLOTYPE / C haradra moneta / Schmidt & Anweiler” [red label]. CUIC . Paratypes – (33 ♁, 33 ♀) CNC, CUIC, USNM. Arizona: same data as holotype, 9–18 Sep 1965 (27 ♁, 13 ♀) ; 15 May – 22 June 1966 (6 ♁, 14 ♀) ; 17 Dec. 1965 (1 ♀); 30 Jan. 1966 (1 ♀); 20 Feb. 1966 (1 ♀); 17 Apr. 1966 (1 ♀); 29 Apr. 1966 (1 ♀). Arizona, Apache Co., 3 mi. S Alpine , 15 June 1966, R.F. Sternitzky (1 ♀) .

Etymology. During a discussion regarding the distinctness of this taxon compared to C. deridens , BCS bet GGA ten dollars that the DNA barcodes of C. moneta and C. deridens would be more than 1% divergent. Moneta is the Latin term for money.

Diagnosis. Charadra moneta is most likely to be confused with C. deridens , from which it differs externally in the overall warm brown tones of the fore- and hindwing (the forewing having more the appearance of the pata group), compared to the grey, black and white colour of C. deridens . Th e orbicular spot in moneta has a brownish, diffuse pupil, whereas that of C. deridens almost invariably has a well-defined central black pupil. Internally, the subdorsal cornuti of the male vesica lacks subapical spines (two or three spines in C. deridens ), and the vesica differs in shape. Th e base of the vesica is smaller, with the diameter 1.3 × that of the aedeagus apex, compared to nearly 2 × the diameter in C. deridens . Th e basal diverticulum of the vesica has a constricted base in C. moneta , but is very broad-based in C. deridens . The barcode fragment of the COI gene is about 2.5% divergent between C. moneta (New Mexico) and C. deridens (Colorado and various eastern North American localities).

Description. Sexes externally alike, except females slightly larger than males. FW length averaging 18 mm in males, 19 mm in females. Head – palps short, covered in stiff grey, black and white hair-like scales; proboscis well developed; eyes large, globular; frons with short grey and black hair; male antenna broadly bipectinate, with longest rami about seven times as long as width of shaft; female antennae biserrate. Thorax – clothed in long light grey, black and brown scales; forewing dark brown, sometimes with a poorly defined slightly darker medial area; antemedial and postmedial black lines well defined to nearly obsolete, often joined medially by a dark lateral streak; area around reniform spot and below orbicular spot with pale-grey or whitish-gray scales; reniform whitish, indistinct, with a diffuse pale-brown infill; orbicular round to slightly oblong, pale grey with diffuse brown infill; subterminal line poorly defined with dark scales, except more prominently lined with black where it meets lower margin and where it bends basad before meeting upper margin; terminal line narrow, black, broken at veins; fringe dark grey and black, faintly checked with lighter grey at veins; hindwing pale fuscous, almost white in basal half with a slightly darker marginal area in distal third; veins darkly scaled along outer half of wing; fringe grey on inner half, white on outer and lightly checkered with black between veins. Abdomen – clothed in lead grey hair-like scales mixed with numerous white scales at terminus, with a series of three small dark-grey tufts midway along dorsal centerline; legs grey, banded with black at joints. Male genitalia (Fig. 28) – Valve simple and relatively short, lobate; apical and dorsal margin slightly convex; costal process long and sickle shaped, extending to valve apex, with fine, apically directed spinules; clasper club shaped with a caudoventrally directed, pyriform apex, extending to valve apex; sacculus unmodified; uncus slightly constricted medially, apex bluntly rounded with a slight medial notch; tegumen narrow and band-like dorsally; saccus broadly U-shaped; juxta Y-shaped with a triangular base; aedeagus 4 × longer than wide, with a very wide, dorso-caudally directed opening to vesica, opening about 1/3 total length of aedeagus; bulbous base of vesica orientedt about 90 degrees to aedeagus; base of vesica with two large cornuti on right side, a subdorsal thorn-like cornutus directed basad, terminating in two or three irregular points; second cornutus situated laterad, consisting of a low, multi-spined crest; one medial and one distal diverticulum, both bulbous, distal one slightly smaller, oriented dorsad. Female genitalia (Fig. 32) – Papillae anales blunt, unmodified; antevaginal plate with broad U-shaped medial notch, proximal margin with a pair of shallow, lightly sclerotized pockets; laterally with ventrally curved, flange-like pockets; ductus short, lightly sclerotized;; corpus bursae pyriform with a broad triangular diverticulum dorsally near junction of ductus bursae; ductus seminalis exiting caudo-ventrally.

Distribution and biology. Recorded from central and eastern Arizona (Coconino and Apache Cos.), the San Mateo Mountains of New Mexico, the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and the Big Bend region of Texas; south to the Sierra Madre in Nuevo Leon, northern Mexico. Collection dates range from March to June (Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico) and September ( Mexico), possibly indicating two or more broods. Much of the type series was reared on Quercus gambelii .

Remarks. Specimens from New Mexico and Texas have a more smoothly-marked forewing and a less contrasting hindwing marginal band than those from Arizona, but are indistinguishable internally; the type series is therefore restricted to Arizona specimens.

Three barcoded specimens from NM exhibited a single haplotype, at least 2.5% divergent from the sampled C. deridens haplotypes.