Subspecies Thyanta custator custator

Like Thyanta calceata, this subspecies has black anterolateral pronotal margins that can be used to separate it easily from other Thyanta species(1).

This species is difficult to separate in photos from T. calceata and species differentiation may require dissection of the male genitalia (1).

The range maps given by Rider & Chapin suggest that T. calceata is only sporadically present in the northern parts of Florida(1), so images of Thyanta spp. from central and southern Florida are likely to be T. custator custator, although those identifications should be considered tentative in the absence of examination and distributions could have changed since the time that research was published.

Throughout the Atlantic coastal plain. Mostly along the coast from LA to NY(1). Also recorded from the Bahamas(1). Present throughout Florida(1).

Prior to the 1957 work by Ruckes, the name Thyanta custator was used to refer to almost all US Thyanta. Ruckes found that the original description for T. custator included the piceous anterolateral pronotal margins present in the Thyanta found along the coastal plain and that Blatchley had erroneously applied this description to the wide-ranging subspecies we now refer to as Thyanta custator accerra. Ruckes felt that this species was distinctly separate from the accerra form and placed that under Thyanta pallidovirens(2).

Rider & Chapin showed that while there are morphological differences between accerra and custator, there is little difference in the genitalia and the two interbreed both in laboratory settings and in the limited areas where their range overlaps, based on intermediate specimens. Rider & Chapin felt that accerra, which they separated from T. pallidovirens, and custator should be considered subspecies(1).