Stamnodes apollo Cassino, 1920

Matson, Tanner A., 2023, A review of Mexican Stamnodes (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) with the description of 16 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 911, pp. 1-79 : 68

Stamnodes apollo Cassino, 1920

Figs 38 , 59 , 94–95

Stamnodes apollo Cassino, 1920: 115 . Type locality: Hereford, Arizona, USA. [MCZ].

Stamnodes apollo – McDunnough 1938: 151 (checklist). — Ferguson 1983: 103 (checklist). — Poole & Gentili 1996: 686 (checklist). — Scoble 1999: 901 (catalogue). — Scoble & Hausmann 2007 (online catalogue). — Pohl et al. 2016: 448 (checklist). — Rajaei et al. 2022 (online catalogue).

Diagnostic remarks

Stamnodes apollo is readily confused with S. agapetica . It can be distinguished from S. agapetica by its lighter buff-orange ground colour, cream to buff forewing underside apex, and hindwing venter, which bears subtle, dark brown, transverse striations. Male genitalia offer the most diagnostic characters; S. agapetica has pointed lateral projections on the juxta ( Fig. 60a ) and only a single, large, spinose cornutus on the vesica ( Fig. 60b ), while S. apollo has a more rounded juxta that lacks lateral projections ( Fig. 59a ) and a pair of large spinose cornuti on the vesica ( Fig. 59b ). It should be noted, the pointed lateral projections of the juxta in S. agapetica are not easily visualized in Fig. 60a .

Distribution

Mexico: Stamnodes apollo is found throughout the Sierra Madre Occidental and Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt regions to at least the state of Morelos. USA: this species is a montane Madrean endemic with individuals recorded from the Santa Rita, Santa Catalina, Chiricahua, and Huachuca mountains of Arizona. Stamnodes apollo is often sympatric with related S. agapetica .

Biology

Stamnodes apollo is spring and summer active with adult records extending from March through July, with most records from earlier months. The immature stages remain unknown.

Molecular characterization

Stamnodes apollo is represented in BOLD as BIN: BOLD:ACG1155 (n = 3). At present, the average pairwise intraspecific distance is 0.2% and the pairwise maximum intraspecific distance is 0.31%. The distance to the nearest adjacent interspecific neighbour, Stamnodes agapetica (n = 5), is around 7% ( Fig. 94 ).

Figures

Figs31–40.Adult StamnodesGuenée,[1858],dorsal(a)andventral(b)views.31.S.costimacula(Grossbeck, 1912) (DLW). 32. S. cassinoi Swett, 1917 (DLW). 33. S. annellata (Hulst, 1887) (USNMENT01771252). 34. S. seiferti (Neumoegen, 1882) (USNMENT01771250). 35. S. tenebrosa sp. nov., holotype, ♂ (AMNH_IZC 00352924). 36. S. affiliata Pearsall, 1911 (DLW). 37. S. reckseckeri Pearsall, 1910 (USNMENT01771257). 38. S. apollo Cassino, 1920 (USNMENT01771258). 39. S. agapetica (Dyar, 1916) (USNMENT01771259). 40. S. albiapicata Grossbeck, 1910 (USNMENT01771253). Scale bar = 1 cm.

Figs 58–60. Male genitalia: genital capsules (a) and phalli (b). 58. S. tenebrosa sp. nov., holotype (TAM- 2021-097, AMNH).59. S. apollo Cassino, 1920 (TAM-2020-046, CNIN). 60. S. agapetica (Dyar, 1916) (TAM-2023-205, CMNH). Scale bar = 1 mm.

Fig. 94. COI neighbour-joining tree for Mexican Stamnodes Guenée, [1858] using default Kimura-2P model in the Barcode of Life Project (BOLD). Taxon names followed by BOLD Process ID.

Fig. 95. Biogeographic associations of Mexican Stamnodes Guenée, [1858]. (*) denotes species found in two or more provinces. Underlying biogeographic provincial map taken from Morrone (2020: fig. 4.5) with permission to reproduce this figure granted by author Juan J. Morrone.