Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Mecyna submedialis (Grote, 1876)
Botis submedialis Grote, 1876
Botis pilalis Hulst, 1886
Botis dissectalis Grote, 1880
Identification
Adult: forewing light orangish-yellow with jagged brown AM and PM lines; reniform spot a short horizontal brown bar; orbicular spot small and solid brown; area between reniform spot and AM line clear yellow, surrounded by orangish-brown shading; subterminal line sharply zigzagged, paler and more diffuse than PM line; hindwing pale grayish-yellow with irregular PM line
Range
Ontario and Michigan, south to Florida, west to Arkansas; also occurs in Alberta
See Also
European Corn Borer (
Ostrinia nubilalis) is very similar but has longer wings, and male is generally darker with more brown and greater contrast between light and dark areas
Print References
Grote, A. R. 1876 b: New moths. – The Canadian Entomologist, Ottawa 8: 111.
Grote, A. R. 1880 e: Three new species of Botis. – The Canadian Entomologist, Ottawa 12: 36–37.
Hulst, G. D. 1886: Descriptions of new Pyralidae. – Transactions of the American Entomological Society, Philadelphia 13: 151.
Munroe, E. G. 1950: The generic positions of some North American Lepidoptera commonly referred to Pyrausta Schrank (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). – The Canadian Entomologist, Ottawa 82 (11): 228.
Internet References
live adult image and common name coinage (Bob Patterson, Maryland)
live adult image (Randy Newman, North Carolina)
pinned adult image by John Glaser (Larry Line, Maryland)
presence in Alberta; list (Moths of the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary, Alberta)
presence in Florida; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)
presence in Ontario; list (Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario)
classification of genus
Mecyna in subfamily Spilomelinae of family Crambidae (Brian Pitkin, Butterflies & Moths of the World) - Spilomelinae is treated as a tribe (Spilomelini) of Pyraustinae at
All-Leps