Species Lithophane lemmeri - Lemmer's Pinion - Hodges#9899

9899

Lemmer's Noctuid Moth

Orig. Comb: Graptolitha lemmeri Barnes and McDunnough 1929

"An outlier of a complex of species in the southwest US; all feed on CUPRESSACEAE and the group seems to merit at least subgeneric status. Previous questions (e.g. see Schweitzer, 1989) regarding conspecificity of various east coast populations have been mostly resolved by him. Specimens from Missouri are a new species (very different male genitalia). Those from New Jersey and Connecticut to Florida and Mississippi are all true Lithophane lemmeri." - NatureServe

Patronym for Lepidopterist Frederick Lemmer who studied Noctuidae moths in New England.

wingspan ~40 mm - NatureServe

genitalia

New Jersey and Connecticut to Florida and Mississippi are all true Lithophane lemmeri. - NatureServe

Will be found more widely in the southeastern piedmont and coastal plain. - NatureServe

Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) and red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) NatureServe

Its apparent abundance in central and west Austin, Texas, suggests that it may also use the closely-related Ashe juniper (J. ashei).

Adults hibernate, and in New Jersey occur from November into April, rarely even May, with mating mostly in March. Larvae are slow growing and occur from late April to late June, with a few into July. NatureServe

Conservation Status: G3 - per NatureServe, but that status apparently only applies to populations in the mid-Atlantic coastal area (New Jersey south to South Carolina).

Schweitzer, D.F. 1989. A review of Category 2 Insecta in USFWS regions 3, 4, 5. Prepared for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

BugWood

Moth Photographers' Group