Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Sparganothis pulcherrimana (Walsingham, 1879)
Cenopis pulcherrimana Walsingham, 1879
(1)
Phylogenetic sequence #620413
Explanation of Names
Specific epithet from the Latin "pulcher" (beauty); the meaning of the specific epithet is the basis for the suggested common name Beautiful Sparganothis. There are two geometrids that share the name, Caripeta pulcherrima (Guedet, 1941) and the emerald moth Nemoria pulcherrima (Barnes & McDunnough, 1916).
Identification
Adult - forewing brown with yellow shading beyond PM line, large yellow semicircular patch along costa, and small yellow rectangular patch along inner margin; brown shading extends to base of wing; hindwing white.
Range
Eastern United States plus Ontario (Florida to Texas, north to at least Iowa and Ontario); type specimen collected in Texas
distribution not well documented due to historical confusion with
Sparganothis niveana; for example, BugGuide has photos from
Florida and
South Carolina but the species is not on traditional moth lists from
Florida and
South Carolina (see comments by Bob Patterson
here)
See Also
Aproned Sparganothis (
S. niveana)
(3) forewing has smaller semicircular patch along costa, lacks rectangular yellow patch along inner margin, and brown shading does not extend to base of wing.
Print References
Walsingham, Lord. 1879. North-American Torticidae.
Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the collection of the British Museum 4:
19;
Pl.64, f.8.
(1)