Ogdoconta tacna (Barnes, 1904)

Metzler, Eric H., Knudson, Edward C., Poole, Robert W., J. Donald Lafontaine, & Pogue, Michael G., 2013, A review of the genus Ogdoconta Butler (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Condicinae, Condicini) from North America north of Mexico with descriptions of three new species, ZooKeys 264, pp. 165-191 : 175-176

Ogdoconta tacna (Barnes, 1904) Figs 14, 15, 32, 33, 41

Caradrina tacna Barnes 1904a: 167.

Type material.

Caradrina tacna is based on an unspecified number of syntypes. The female syntype in the USNM bearing the locality "Kerrville, Texas" is labeled and hereby designated as Lectotype to ensure the stability of the name.

Diagnosis.

The forewing of Ogdoconta tacna is gray brown with a slight greenish tint. The species is separable from all other species of Ogdoconta in North America by a pattern of fine white lines and a light scattering of white scales over a gray-brown forewing. In particular, the orbicular and reniform spots are clearly outlined by fine, dirty-white lines. Postmedial line is mostly straight and oblique from the costa to the posterior margin, although there is a slight outward pointing angulation near the bottom of the reniform spot. Postmedial line is accented with vague dark gray-green rectangles on its inner side. Subterminal area is slightly lighter than the terminal area, and the subterminal line is irregular and dull white. Terminal line consists of a series of dark rectangles accented on their inner sides by white lines. Hind wing of the male is dirty white with dark scales along the fringe and a dusting of dark scales along the costal margin. Female hind wing is more generally suffused with dark scales. White still shows through, particularly basally and along the posterior margin. Forewing length: 11.0-13.5 mm.

The male genitalia are distinctive. The cucullar part of the valve is triangular, not ovate, and there is a series of small knobs along the outer margin. Aedeagus is long, narrow, and slightly sinuous. Vesica is narrow with a tight basal loop followed by a straight region containing a double row of short, stubby spines, not found in the other North American species of Ogdoconta . The distal end of the vesica is another tight loop. Female genitalia are distinctive. Ostium is strongly sclerotized and the sclerotization extends the entire length of the ductus bursae. Appendix bursae contains a series of sclerotized rugosities. The distal end of the appendix bursae is not distinguishable from the beginning of the ductus seminalis. The caudal end of the corpus bursae contains the same sclerotized rugosities found in the appendix bursae.

Distribution and biology.

In the US, this species is only known from central and southeastern Texas. The distribution of Ogdoconta tacna in Mexico is not known. The larva and its food plants are unknown. Adults were collected in April and May and again in September and October. Ogdoconta tacna is infrequently collected.

Remarks.

The Lectotype designated here is the specimen illustrated as type female on plate IX, fig. 15 in Barnes and McDunnough (1912).

The shape of the valve and the knob-like projections on the valve can be seen by brushing a few scales from the protruding genitalia of male specimens.

The CNC specimen from Florida reported as Ogdoconta tacna ( Kimball 1965, Heppner 2003) is Ogdoconta fergusoni Metzler & Lafontaine, new species. The specimen from Cassadaga, FL, attributed to Stanley V. Fuller, could not be located amongst Fuller’s specimens, now deposited at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, University of Florida, and it could not be located at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, which is where Kimball deposited his specimens. If the Fuller specimen was examined by Kimball it is easy to speculate that the Fuller specimen is Ogdoconta fergusoni . The specimens identified as "Ogdoconta species near tacna" ( Kons and Borth 2006) from six localities in northern and northeast Florida were not available for this study.