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Photo#309527
moth - Proteoteras

moth - Proteoteras
Williamstown, MA, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, USA
July 15, 2009

Images of this individual: tag all
moth - Proteoteras moth - Proteoteras

Moved
Moved from Moths.

Tortricidae: Proteoteras; probably 3230 - P. aesculana
Other Proteoteras cannot be ruled out, 3235 - P. moffatiana also suspected. Larvae of the two species both utilize maple. Green forms are well known in this genus. I found the comments by Richard Brown at Miss. Ent. Mus., to whom I sent the photo, very interesting:

"Definitely Proteoteras, with two possiblities: 1) its a variation of Proteoteras aesculana - with the typical dark crescent mark not expressed (or expressed as green instead of black), however the apical margin is preceded by a pale area, instead of green. 2) its another tropical species of Proteoteras that has been introduced. Green moths in our fauna have their center of diversity in the neotropics, and there are lots of undescribed Proteoteras in the neotropics based on material in the USNM and Vitor Becker's collection. I don't know of any green species of Olethreutinae in Europe, but there are lots of green species in the Oriental Region, e.g., Thailand."

This is another good example of why joining the All-Leps Barcoding Project might help to resolve some of our most puzzling problems in identification. This is probably an endemic species that can be easily determined by its DNA.

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