Moved from Moths.

Beauty of a photo! This requires a bit of explanation.

Last October, Jim Troubridge published in Zootaxa 1903:1-95, A generic realignment of the Oncocnemidini sensu Hodges (1983) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Oncocnemidinae), with description of a new genus and 50 new species. In addition to the 50 newly described species, many "old" species from several genera, including Homohadena and Oncocnemis, were placed in an older genus called Sympistis.

This photo is of a species named by Grote in 1874, based on a female specimen from Kansas, but which had been treated, along with other forms as a synonym of 10065 - Sympistis [=Homohadena] infixa of widespread distribution. The widespread group turned out to be a complex of species, and Troubridge elevated kappa to full species status based on distinctive genitalia and other factors too complex to describe here. Kappa's distribution is essentially the southeastern USA and extending into the plains of Kansas and Oklahoma.

The ZooTaxa paper is unfortunately not available for public access. However, photographs of specimens of all the species covered in the paper have been made available to MPG by the Canadian National Collection and appear in a series of plates here