Plagiomimicus yakama yakama Crabo & Wikle

Crabo, Lars G., Hammond, Paul C., Mustelin, Tomas & Wikle, David L., 2018, Six new species and one new subspecies of noctuid moths from western United States of America and Mexico (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), ZooKeys 788, pp. 201-239 : 211

Plagiomimicus yakama yakama Crabo & Wikle ssp. n. Figs 11, 17, 21, 49

Differential diagnosis.

Subspecies P. y. yakama (Figure 11) is darker and greener than P. y. mojave (Figs 12, 13), and the pale areas of the forewing are grayer. The postmedial line of the nominate subspecies is angled slightly basad on the cubital vein, straight or slightly convex in P. y. mojave . Other differences are described under P. y. mojave . No significant differences exist in the male or female genitalia. Barcodes of the two subspecies differ by 0.3 percent, similar to intraspecies variation in P. tepperi and less than interspecies differences in the species-group (1.5 to 2.6 %).

Distribution and ecology.

The nominate subspecies occurs in the Columbia Plateau ecoregion (Figure 49) and is the most northerly of all P. tepperi species-group taxa. All Pacific Northwest records are from close to the 120th parallel, from Vantage, Washington to southern Wheeler County, Oregon.

Plagiomimicus y. yakama is single brooded and flies during late spring and early summer. Its early stages are unknown, but the most likely food plant in Washington is Brickellia oblongifolia Nutt. based on the presence of this plant near populations of the moth in Grant and Kittitas counties (pnwherbaria.org [accessed 23 January, 2018]).