Heteranassa fraterna ( Smith, 1899 )

Mustelin, Tomas, 2006, Taxonomy of southern California Erebidae and Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) with descriptions of twenty one new species, Zootaxa 1278, pp. 1-47 : 7-8

Heteranassa fraterna ( Smith, 1899)

Heteranassa minor Smith, 1899 , NEW SYNONYM

Smith (1899) described both Campometra (= Heteranassa ) fraterna (Smith) and H. minor (Smith) based on material from southern California and Arizona. His descriptions are short and based exclusively on external appearance. Smith chose the name H. fraterna to indicate the similarity to H. mima (Harvey, 1876) and the name H. minor to indicate its smaller size. The types are deposited in the USNM, and one specimen of each was designated as the lectotype by Todd (1982). Both lectotypes are female and are very similar in maculation and size. Based on the absence of any differences in genital morphology between the two lectotypes and several co­types, I propose that H. minor be synonymized with H. fraterna . Both were described in the same paper; H. fraterna appears first, and I select it as the senior name.

Heteranassa fraterna is a relatively common species in the deserts of southern California. There is a great deal of variation in size, ground color, the amount of dark dusting on the forewing, and the presence of pale or white scales in the reniform spot. The type of H. minor is within the variation of the species. Females tend to be more or less uniformly blackish, as are the lectotypes of both H. fraterna and H. minor , while males have more contrasting markings. In his description of H. fraterna, Smith (1899) emphasized the narrow separation of the two black lines from the antemedial transverse line, which is much broader in H. mima . I have not examined the types of mima and therefore cannot determine whether mima is indeed distinct from fraterna .