Aristotelia - Aristotelia planitia

Moved

… v belov, 19 February, 2012 - 11:37pm

planitia?

If this photo were taken in the eastern USA, the moth would be diagnosed as Aristotelia fungivorella. For your California moth, you might try Aristotelia planitia.

Braun, in her description of A. planitia (Braun, A. F. 1925. Microlepidoptera of northern Utah. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 51: 183-226), wrote:

“This species is closest to A. fungivorella Clemens and except for minor differences, the configuration of markings on the fore wing is the same."

Is there really a genetic difference between fungivorella and planitia? I don't know. At any rate, it appears that for the time being, if it is eastern and looks like this, we are to call it fungivorella, whereas if it is western and looks like this, it needs to be called planitia.

… Terry Harrison, 24 September, 2011 - 11:57am

Thank you Terry...

... for your ID comments on this moth. My BOLD DNA results indeed say that "The nearest neighbor is Aristotelia fungivorella" at 98.17% similarity. The online "California Moth Species List" has A. fungivorella listed, but not A. planitia!! Perhaps the two are just one species after all.

Niether BOLD or MPG has any images yet for A. planitia.

… Jim Moore, 24 September, 2011 - 2:28pm

fungivorella/planitia

You wrote: "Perhaps the two are just one species after all."

Probably so, especially given the barcode result. At the least, they are two different species that are very recently derived from common ancestry. Thanks very much for submitting your moth for DNA analysis. I wish that many more people would click, collect, and submit.

… Terry Harrison, 24 September, 2011 - 6:36pm