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Species Nomenia obsoleta - Hodges#7427

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Larentiinae
Tribe Asthenini
Genus Nomenia
Species obsoleta (Nomenia obsoleta - Hodges#7427)

Hodges Number

7427

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Nomenia obsoleta Swett, 1916
Phylogenetic Sequence # 910271

Explanation of Names

Nomenia duodecemlineata (Packard, 1873) was formerly in the genus Venusia which included as a a synonym Nomenia, a genus recognized as valid in Xue & Scoble (2002).

Size

wingspan ≈ 20 mm

Identification

See Swett (1916) and illustration of type specimen in Rep. Prov. Mus. Nat. Hist. 1916.
--
This species has historically been confused in collections and at BOLD with Venusia pearsalli and/or a cryptic species near pearsalli. However, the evidence appears to support an affinity with N. duodecemlineata and it may turn out that the two refer to the same species. BOLD BIN BOLD:AAB5482 with specimens identified as "Venusia obsoleta" do not match the original description or illustration of type specimen, and DNA barcode places them in Venusia near pearsalli and comptaria.
Examination of male antennae is needed to distinguish species in Nomenia and Venusia; unipectinate in N. duodecemlineata and N. obsoleta, filiform in V. pearsalli (western) and V. comptaria (mostly eastern), bipectinate in V. cambrica. Wing pattern is mostly inconclusive in western NA. (Steve Nanz, pers. comm., 2023)

Range

western (BC south to CA) (1)(2)
Range likely includes records for a cryptic species near comptaria.
Holotype: Goldstream, BC.

See Also

All species in Nomenia and Venusia, see "Identification" above.

Print References

1917. Report of the Provincial Museum of Natural History for the year 1916, p. 24; pl. 8, fig. 7 (paratype of obsoleta).
Swett, L.W., 1916. Geometrid Notes. New Species and Aberrations.. The Canadian Entomologist, 48: 249.
Xue, D. & M.J. Scoble, 2002. A review of the genera associated with the tribe Asthenini (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum London (Entomology), 71: 97.
Xue, D. & M.J. Scoble, 2002. A review of the genera associated with the tribe Asthenini (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum London (Entomology), 71: 97.

Internet References

Barcode of Life (BOLD) - BIN: BOLD:AAI5143 (obsoleta and duodecemlineata). (2)