Revision of the New World Panthea Hübner (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) with descriptions of 5 new species and 2 new subspecies
Author
Anweiler, Gary G.
87B63195-32B4-4FAF-8732-54242BF1FAA9
E. H. Strickland Entomological Museum, 218 Earth Sciences Building, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T 6 G 2 E 9
gganweiler@shaw.ca)
text
ZooKeys
2009
2009-05-12
9
9
97
134
journal article
22557
10.3897/zookeys.9.157
f309b9a6-ba6b-4f63-96b6-caf37e4e2a21
1313–2970
576456
20B00870-7416-4583-ADE0-4302E5571B66
Panthea virginarius
Grote
Figs. 29-35
,
50-51
,
62
,
69
Biston virginarius
Grote, 1880: 220
.
Lycia virginaria
(Grote)
;
Dyar 1902: 328
.
Panthea virginaria
(Grote)
;
Barnes and McDunnough 1917: 83
;
McDunnough 1938: 54
;
Franclemont and Todd 1983: 134
.
Panthea portlandia
Grote, 1896: 14
;
Dyar 1902: 98
;
Smith 1903: 98
; Barnes and Mc- Dunnough 1917: 83;
McDunnough 1938: 54
; Franclemont and Todd 1883: 134.
New synonomy.
Panthea angelica
Dyar, 1921: 142
;
McDunnough 1938: 54
; Franclemont and Todd 1883: 134.
New synonomy.
Panthea portlandia suffusa
McDunnough, 1942: 94
; Franclemont and Todd 1883: 134.
New Synonomy.
Type
material.
Biston virginarius
:
Holotype
female,
Soda Springs
,
Shasta Co
,
California
,
USA
(
BMNH
). Photograph examined
Panthea angelica
:
Mt. Lowe, Los Angeles
,
California
,
USA
.
Holotype
male (
USNM
) Photograph examined; genitalia slide apparently lost.
Panthea portlandia
: described by Grote from
2 specimens
from Portland,
Oregon
,
USA
.
Types
could not be located in either the
BMNH
or
USNM
and may be lost.
Panthea virginaria suffusa
: described from a
holotype
male from Dixon Creek, Barriere,
British Columbia
,
Canada
. The specimen was reared from a larva collected from
Picea englemanni
.
(Type #
5282 in
CNC
). Adult and genitalic slide examined.
Diagnosis
.
Panthea virginarius
varies greatly in size and color pattern depending on location and habitat. Both sexes of
P
.
virginarius
can be very difficult to separate from those of
P. gigantea
where they occur together unless genitalic characters are used. The tip of the uncus can usually be examined without dissection by brushing the scales from the end of the abdomen; the male of
P
.
gigantea
has a bifurcate tip to the uncus (
Fig. 48
),
P
.
virginarius
does not (
Fig. 50
). Females can be separated by the structure of the sterigma, which is much larger and more massively sclerotized in
P
.
gigantea
(
Fig. 60
) than in
P
.
virginarius
(
Fig. 62
). Black and white specimens of
P
.
virginarius
from southern
British Columbia
and
Idaho
(
Fig. 35
) have been mistaken for nominate
P. acronyctoides
(
Fig. 36
), but the two taxa are well separated by range (
Figs. 69
,
72
). In the Rocky Mountains from
Alberta
and
British Columbia
southward
P
.
virginarius
can be confused with
P. acronyctoides nigra
.
Panthea virginarius
is larger and the male has a paler, banded hindwing than
nigra
; females can be differentiated by examining the ductus, which is wrinkled in
P
.
virginarius
(
Fig. 62
), smooth with an expanded rim around the ostium in
nigra
(
Fig. 63
).
Distribution
and biology.
Panthea virginarius
occurs mainly west and north of the Great Basin, from the coast of southern
California
northward to the Queen Charlotte Islands of
British Columbia
and the Alaskan Panhandle, eastward to central
California
, northern
Nevada
,
Idaho
, northwestern
Wyoming
, western
Montana
, and southwest- ern
Alberta
; a disjunct population is in the Cypress Hills of
Alberta
and
Saskatchewan
(
Fig. 69
). Large black and white populations (syn. “
portlandia
”) occur along the coast from central
California
to southern
British Columbia
. These are replaced by gray and black populations both farther north and farther south along the coast, and at higher elevations inland. Intermediate populations occur at lower elevations eastward as far as western
Montana
and extreme southwestern
Alberta
.
Panthea virginarius
is found in coniferous forests, in particular but not confined to Douglas-fir forest (
Pseudotsuga menziesii
(Mirb.) Franco
) at elevations ranging from sea-level to near tree-line.
Remarks
.
Panthea virginarius
appears in checklists as both the original spelling
virginarius
(e.g.,
Grote 1880
;
Poole
1989
) and
virginaria
(e.g.,
Franclemont and Todd 1983
) with the ending changed from the original spelling for gender congruity. The original spelling is used herein.
The taxonomy of
Panthea virginarius
has suffered from the same plethora of errors as has occurred elsewhere in the genus, starting with Grote describing
virginarius
as a geometrid (
Biston
), and finishing with McDunnough describing
suffusa
as a form of
portlandia
because the
P
.
virginarius
specimens he used for comparison were misidentified specimens of
P
.
acronyctoides nigra
.
Panthea angelica
is a population of
P
.
virginarius
in southern coastal
California
(Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties). Internally it is identical to nominate
virginarius
, and externally differs only by being slightly more suffused with dark scales and thus appearing less powdery. The name
angelica
has been widely misapplied, both in the literature (e.g.,
Crumb 1956
) and on museum specimens of
P
.
greyi
and
P
.
acronyctoides nigra
, lending weight to the apparently mistaken belief that
angelica
was a good species.
Panthea portlandia
is the name that has been applied to the large and striking black and white coastal populations of
P
.
virginarius
that occur mainly at lower elevations from northern
California
to southwestern
British Columbia
. Inland, and at higher elevations, this form intergrades with typical
P
.
virginarius
, but some of the white shading of the
portlandia
phenotype is still evident as far east as western
Montana
and southwestern
Alberta
. Both white and gray forms occur together at some locations in central
Washington
. The genitalia are indistinguishable from those of typical
P
.
virginarius
, so the name
portlandia
is also placed in synonymy under
P
.
virginarius
.
Panthea portlandia suffusa
was described by McDunnough after comparing it to what he believed were specimens of
P
.
virginarius
from
Colorado
and
Alberta
, but which were in fact specimens of
P
.
acronyctoides nigra
. This is evident from his description of the genitalia of
P
.
virginarius
,
which accurately describes
P
.
acronyctoides
, not
portlandia
(
McDunnough 1942
)
. An examination of his slides in the CNC confirms this. It also explains his puzzling (but accurate) statement that based on the genitalia slides of males from
Colorado
and Nordegg,
Alberta
,
P
.
virginarius
seemed to be merely a large western race of
P
.
acronyctoides
Walker (
McDunnough 1942
)
.
Specimens of
P
.
virginarius
from northwestern
Wyoming
tend to be lighter gray, and specimens from
Wyoming
and adjacent areas of
Idaho
tend to have the diverticulum of the vesica and its terminal spine greatly reduced in size, and occasionally obsolete.
The various forms of
P
.
virginarius
vary greatly in both size and in the proportions of black and white scaling, and thus external appearance varies greatly over a very large geographic area. However, with the exception of specimens in a small area of northwestern
Wyoming
, little significant variation occurs in the genitalia of either sex, and all are treated as forms rather than subspecies. Further study, particularly in
California
, may show that one or more populations there should be recognized at the subspecies level,
e.g.,
a silvery-gray population on the Monterey Peninsula that has been reared on Monterey pine (
Pinus radiata
D. Don
) (Frank Sala pers. comm.).
The life history of
P. virginarius
on Vancouver Island,
British Columbia
. is briefly described by
Hardy (1963)
. The larva and adult female are illustrated in color (as
P. portlandia
) by
Miller and Hammond (2003)
, and the larva is described and illustrated in color by
Duncan (2006)
.