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TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#134895
5042 - Pyrausta onythesalis

5042 - Pyrausta onythesalis
Bartlesville, Washington County, Oklahoma, USA
August 6, 2007
It came to UV light near pond in wooded area of a flood plain.
From the guide page information here, it looks, to me, like 5043 - Pyrausta pseudonythesalis

Moved
Moved from Pyrausta pseudonythesalis to P. onythesalis as per John Fisher's revised ID emailed to Mark and me.

 
Details?
I'm reviewing the images of onythesalis and pseudonythesalis, particularly of TX and OK specimens. It would be VERY useful to hear why/how John Fisher re-determined this moth...or any image of this pair of species. Now, some years later, can anyone shed further light on the ID of these two similar species? Thanks in advance.

 
don't know
My comment was made in May 2009 so I checked my email account but discovered I have no saved messages older than 2010, and can't remember anything about John's message. Maybe Mark has something?

 
I found
and forwarded the emails to Chuck

 
John Fisher's remarks on these
Mark, Thanks for forwarding the earlier emails. Unfortunately, John Fisher's remarks add little to resolve the issue other than stating that after he refered to the fascicle, he determined that specimens in John Nelsons's collection were ornythesalis and further (a) that specimens in OK are ornythesalis and, (b) "according to Munroe", pseudornythesalis is restricted to TX and thence westward. That is very unsatisfying. It is also unlikely since the Red River is not a very common or effective biogeographical boundary. Pardon me for being nit-picky; other than by genetalic dissection, the details for separating these two taxa are still a black box to us non-professionals.

 
Wing shape
I thought for sure this must be pseudonythesalis but it happens that this image is still on the page for pseudonythesalis at MPG and I could see immediately that the wing shape was quite different. It would appear that pseudonythesalis has a more long-winged look with more acute apices. This is noted in the fascicle. I don't trust wing shape, especially for live moths, but I do think it's worth mentioning.

I agree, these need to be dissected or barcoded. I'm removing it from MPG for now.

Moved
Moved from Pyrausta.

Looks Like It
B.P.

 
Great!
Thanks, Bob. The extended flooding in early July put a damper on the diversity of moths observed. Things are picking up some now.

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