Acontia areletta Dyar, 1907

Ferris, Clifford & Lafontaine, Donald, 2009, Review of the Acontia areli group with descriptions of three new species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Acontiinae), ZooKeys 9 (9), pp. 27-46 : 37-40

Acontia areletta Dyar

Figs. 16 , 22

Acontia areletta Dyar, 1907: 229 .

Type material. Holotype ♁: Mexico, Mexico City [ USNM, Washington, DC].

Other material examined. 1 ♁, Mexico, Federal District, San Jacinto.

Diagnosis. Acontia areletta resembles A. areloides , from which it can be separated by its white hindwing, lacking the fuscous band around the margin as found in A. areloides .

Description. As for male of A. areloides excepting the dorsal hindwing, which in A. areletta is pure white, without a fuscous marginal band. Th e female is unknown. Male genitalia ( Fig. 22 ; 2 dissections) – uncus: decurved, very long and narrow with very slightly expanded rounded apex. Manica (memranous tube posterior to juxta) with

stout spine-like field of sclerites (attached to outer edge of aedeagus in Fig. 22 ). Valves: asymmetrical; right valve broad, approximately rectangular, with blunt process near middle of dorsal margin, apex pointed dorsally, without apical corona; sacculus without posterior extension; clasper swollen basally on dorsal margin, then tapering evenly to spine-like apex extending slightly beyond ventral margin of valve; left valve similar to right, but sacculus smaller and clasper much shorter. Aedeagus: similar to that of A. areloides ; everted vesica similar to that of A. areloides , but with two small additional subbasal diverticula. Female genitalia – unknown.

Biology. Unknown. Adults from late October to November.

Figures

Figures 2-16. Acontia areli group adults. 2-4. A. areli, 2 ♁, Catron Co., NM; 3 ♁, Grant Co., NM; 4 ♀, Grant Co., NM; 5-7. A. areloides, 5 ♁, Grant Co., NM; 6 ♁, Catron Co., NM; 7 ♀, Catron Co., NM. 8-10. A. toddi, 8 ♁, holotype, Emery Co., UT, 9 ♁, Yavapai Co., AZ, 10 ♀, Emery Co., UT. 11-13. A. geminocula, 11 ♁, holotype, Yavapai Co., AZ; 12 ♁, Cochise Co., AZ; 13 ♀, Pima Co., AZ. 14-15. A. albifusa, 14 ♁, holotype, Pima Co., AZ, 15 ♀, Pima Co., AZ. 16. A. areletta ♁, San Jacinto, Mexico.

Figures 20-22. Acontia areli group male genitalia (left – ventral; right – lateral). 20 A. geminocula, 21 A. albifusa, 22 A. areletta.