Marimatha tripuncta ( Möschler, 1890 ) Ferris & Lafontaine, 2010

Ferris, Clifford & Lafontaine, Donald, 2010, Review of the North American species of Marimatha Walker with descriptions of three new species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Eustrotiinae) and the description of Pseudomarimatha flava (Noctuinae, Elaphriini), a new genus and species confused with Marimatha, ZooKeys 39 (39), pp. 117-135 : 128

Marimatha tripuncta ( Möschler, 1890) , comb. n.

Figs 7, 8, 14, 21

Xanthoptera tripuncta Möschler, 1890:158

Thioptera aurifera of authors, not (Walker, [1858])

Type material. Th ree female syntypes. Puerto Rico. MNHU, Berlin, examined.

Other material examined. Southern Florida; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Haiti; Puerto Rico; St Croix, Virgin Islands; Trinidad.

Diagnosis. Separated from other species in its North American range by the tuberculate frons, the dark transverse smudge on the DFW, and the deeply curved postmedial line. Some specimens of piscimala from Texas are superficially similar. Male genitalia with large apical cornutus with basal process and several smaller cornuti. Female genitalia with angled diverticulum posteriorly on right side of corpus bursae.

Description. Not distinguishable from Marimatha piscimala except by distribution, DNA, and the genital characters given in the diagnosis.

Distribution and Biology. Caribbean and southern Florida. Flight season late April to mid-October.

Remarks. This species was tentatively identified in Florida as Thioptera [= Marimatha ] aurifera ( Walker, 1862) by Kimball (1965) and was listed as T. aurifera by Franclemont and Todd (1983) and Heppner (2003). Marimatha aurifera is a South American species that lacks a frontal tubercle and has very different genitalia (Fig. 16).