Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Gelechia versutella Zeller, 1873
Size
Forewing length 6.5-7.5 mm.
(1)Identification
"In [versutella] the brush [of the palpi] is normal and well developed, longer at base than at apex of second joint, while Gelechia lynceella has a very short and even brush. The palpi also show color differences as pointed out by Zeller" (Busck, 1903).
Full original description (Zeller, 1873):
[Latin]
Abdomen ochreous basally[;] terminal segment of palpi brown, white apically; forewings narrow, marbled gray and black, antemedial discal spot present, crossvein with small hollow ["nigro-pupillata"] spot, whitish postmedial line angled, black line along fold broken, base of the cilia shining.
[German; translated by Google Translate with only a couple corrections]
Related to
Gel. nigra Haw. (
cautella Z.), but larger, on the somewhat shorter forewings entirely without the bluish tinge of this species, and with large-spotted, black marbling, in which the two whitish points of the median roughness and the thinner posterior transverse line stand out the most.
Dorsum of thorax yellowish-grey, dusted with brown in the middle and in front. Head yellowish-grey, lighter on the face, somewhat dusted on the crown. Antennae brown, dotted yellow-grey and brownish in a very thin dorsal line, as it were ringed. Palpi brown, pale ocher yellow on the inside, dusted with that color on the outside; the brush of the second segment is strong, but its scales become noticeably shorter towards the top; the terminal segment almost as long as the second segment, brown, with a fine whitish tip. — The four front legs dark brown on the outside, pale yellowish at the ends of the tarsi; dorsal tibiae pale yellow, outwardly brownish-grey at the root and with a brownish-grey streak from the middle, with long, profuse, blond hairs on the incisal edge; hindfeet outwards grey-brown, pale yellow at the tips of the limbs and in a fine line on the lower edge. — abdomen rather slender, acuminate, on the first third and the last two segments pale yellow; the belly almost whitish, broad brown-grey at the base of the segments; the ovipositor does not protrude.
Forewings 4''' [unit?] long, rather narrow, not extended backwards, on a white-grey background very richly and coarsely mottled with black-brown. The sharpest spots can be regarded as: one on the shoulder, one on the middle of the front edge and one on the beginning of the costal fringes, which forms the beginning of the wide inner border of the light transverse line. Furthermore, there are two thick longitudinal lines in the middle field, which are separated by the whitish-grey, somewhat rounded point, and of which the longer second one is bounded by the larger, light, centered spot. From the shoulder spot comes a deep black longitudinal line, diverging towards the front edge and reaching to the middle spot of the front edge. In the fold there is a deep black line, which does not begin at the root, is interrupted behind the middle and reaches the inner corner. The space between the light one Cross-vein spots and the whitish transverse line sharply angled in the middle entirely black-brown, as if composed of three spots. The space behind this transverse line up to the posterior edge is also quite dark and marked on the veins with short, deep black longitudinal lines, but only under certain lighting. The rear edge is bordered by a whitish line above and below the ends of the transverse line, which is marked with rough black dots. Frenzy light loamy yellowish on the root half, dusted brown, gray on the outer half.
Hindwings wider than forewings, with shallow impression of hind edge below tip, brown-grey fringed much lighter.
Underside of forewings brown-grey with a pale yellowish costal spot behind the middle and such costal spots in front of the tip. Fringes grey, pale yellow towards the base and therefore sharply projecting towards the wing surface. Hindwings light grey, with a yellowish, silky shimmer, dull yellowish-white and brownish dusting along the front edge and at the tip.
Range
TL: Texas (leg. Boll)
Busck (1903) examined specimens reared from cottonwood in El Paso, TX; Jetsam [Pool, Yellowstone NP?], WY; and Denver, CO.
Montana and Wyoming to Texas and California.
(2)(1)Season
The flight period is March to September.
(3)Food
Powell & Opler (2009) reported the larvae are reported on several species of
Populus.
(1)
Populus fremontii (cottonwood)
Populus tremuloides (aspen)
Print References
Braun, A. 1921. Two weeks of collecting in Glacier National Park.
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 73:
10.
(4)
Busck, A. 1903. A revision of the American moths of the family Gelechiidae, with descriptions of new species.
Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 25:
878.
(5)
Dyar, H.G. 1903. Descriptions of the larvae of some moths from Colorado.
Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 25:
408.
(6)
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009.
Moths of Western North America. University of California Press, pl. 8, fig. 23; p. 91.
(1)
Zeller, 1873.
Beiträge zur Kentniss der Nordamericanischen Nachtfalter besonders der Microlepidopteren:
23; in
Verhandlungen der kaiserlich-königlichen zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien:
253.
