Unk. Arctiidae @ Falcon SP, Starr Co., RGV, Texas

[Vincent Lucas]

Chris & Others:

Here's what Martin Honey of the Natural History Museum in London, UK  
has to say about the synonymy of this moth:

> I'm not subscribed to Leps-L but, for some reason, received the  
> original message (from Mike Quinn).
>
> I sent him a response direct (also later to Doug Yanega) to the  
> effect that:
>
> "This looks like one of the 'forms' of Phoenicoprocta lydia (Druce,  
> 1889) and matches perfectly a specimen we have from Vera Cruz,  
> Mexico."
>
> The taxon Becky mentions, thera Druce, was made a junior subjective  
> synonym of lydia by Dyar in 1915 (lydia has page priority and is  
> from the same type locality as thera [Tabasco, Teapa, Mexico]).
>
> I don't know of any published record refuting this synonymy but  
> perhaps it's something Becky knows.
>
> It's quite variable in terms of its body pattern and colouration, a  
> point alluded to by Druce in the original descriptions.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Martin
> ********************************************
> Martin R. Honey CBiol MIBiol, Curator (Macromoths & British  
> Lepidoptera)
> Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum,
> Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, Great Britain
> EMAIL: M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
> Museum web page <<http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ <https://webmail.nhm.ac.uk/ 
> exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/> >>
>
> TELEPHONE: 020 7942 5675 International: 44 20 7942 5675
> FAX: 020 7942 5229 International: 44 20 7942 5229
> ********************************************
>
> ________________________________

Vince

Vincent Lucas
Naples, FL
vplucas at comcast.net
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leppyone/
http://www.caloosabirdclub.org


On Oct 6, 2008, at 2:59 PM, Chris Schmidt wrote:

> Hi all -
> I've compared the image of the TX specimen in question to specimens  
> here at the CNC (from Chiapas, Mex) and to the plates in Druce,  
> Seitz and Hampson, and I agree with Becky Simmons that the best  
> match seems to be P. thera (TL - Tabasco, Mex). The colour figure  
> with the OD (attached) does not have the paired orange spots on the  
> A4 and A5 segments, but this may be due to sexual variation, as  
> shown by Rodríguez-Loeches L, Barro A. 2008. (Life cycle and  
> immature stages of the arctiid moth, Phoenicoprocta capistrata.  
> 13pp. Journal of Insect Science 8:05, available online:  
> insectscience.org/8.05).
> Was the specimen collected?
> Cheers,
> Chris
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Christian Schmidt, Ph.D.
> (613) 715 - 5429 / schmidtcb at inspection.gc.ca
> Entomologist, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
> Entomologiste, Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments
> Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids & Nematodes/
> Collection nationale canadienne d'insectes, arachnides et nématodes
> K.W. Neatby Bldg. / l'édif. K.W. Neatby
> 960 Carling Ave / 960, avenue Carling
> Ottawa CANADA K1A 0C6
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>>>> Vincent Lucas <vplucas at comcast.net> 10/06/08 11:17 am >>>
> Mike and Others:
>
> I asked the question to Dr. Rebecca Simmons, Assistant Professor,
> University of North Dakota, Dept. of Biology and here's what she had
> to say:
>
>> Hello Vince,
>>
>> Based on my observations of plates, the locality, and the
>> description, my bet is that this is Phoenicoprocta thera (Druce).
>> The locality given in the original description is Mexico, but I
>> wouldn't be surprised to find this in Southern Texas.
>>
>> I hope this helps.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Becky S.
>>
>> Dr. Rebecca Simmons
>> Assistant Professor
>> University of North Dakota
>> Dept. of Biology
>> Box 9019
>> Grand Forks, ND 58202-9019
>> phone: 701-777-3439
>> fax: 701-777-2623
>> e-mail: rebecca.simmons at und.nodak.edu
>
> Cheers.
>
> Vince
>
> Vincent Lucas
> Naples, FL
> vplucas at comcast.net
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/leppyone/
> http://www.caloosabirdclub.org
>
>
> On Oct 5, 2008, at 8:48 AM, Mike Quinn wrote:
>
>> Any help much appreciated. Thanks, Mike Quinn, Austin, TX
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Frances Bartle
>> Date: Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 8:13 PM
>> Subject: Marius Hairstreak, Malachite, Rounded Metalmark at Falcon SP
>> To: TX-BUTTERFLY at listserv.uh.edu
>>
>> Hi TxButterfliers,
>> Our buttterfly garden lived up to its name again today.  <snips>
>>
>> The beautiful moth, member of the Arctiidae family, that I found
>> yesterday still has the experts stumped.  You can see this colorful
>> bug on my Flickr site, below.  Maybe one of you has an idea what it
>> might be.
>>
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/franzabirder/2910976670/
>>
>> Get out and enjoy the butterflies!
>>
>> Fran Bartle
>> Volunteer Naturalist, Falcon SP
>>
>> ======================================
>> TX-BUTTERFLY archives: <http://listserv.uh.edu/archives/tx-
>> butterfly.html>
>>
>>
>
>
> <Phoenicoprocta_thera_BioCenAm_PL71_F26.tif>

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