Species Apamea dubitans - Doubtful Apamea - Hodges#9367

9367

Apamea dubitans (Walker, 1856)

Mamestra dubitans Walker, 1856

Apamea insignata Walker, 1857

Hadena sputator Grote, 1873

Hadena sputatrix Grote, 1875

Agroperina dubitans Hampson, 1908

Xylophasia sputatrix

Phylogenetic sequence # 932344

Latin for "doubting, wavering" from dubito- "to doubt, waver"

forewing length = 17-21 mm (1)

Detailed description can be found in MONA Fascicle 26-9 at link in citations below. (1)

Base of rose-thorns higher than wide; barrel shaped. In A. cogitata, base of rose-thorn nearly flat; much wider than high. Forbes, 1954.

digitus slender, long and narrow

Newfoundland west to Manitoba and south to New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois; also in the Appalachians to northern Georgia; disjunct population in northern Colorado (1)

late June to early October (1)

Apamea cogitata is similar and narrowly overlaps the range of dubitans in the northeast, however cogitata is more reddish brown in the Northeast and can typically be separated from the more dark brownish black dubitans. (1)

Helotropha reniformis has a uniformly dark form that is very similar to Apamea dubitans. However, even the uniformly dark forms of H. reniformis exhibit some contrast in the ST/terminal area with the ST area being slightly paler than the darker gray terminal area. The ST/terminal area of A. dubitans is basically concolorous, showing very little contrast except for a series of dark chevrons that can be present along the inner side of the ST line.

Grote, A.R. 1873. On eight species of Noctuidae. Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. 1: 190 - Hadena sputator

Hampson, G.F. 1908. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British museum. 7: 398 - Agroperina dubitans

Smith, J.B. 1891. Contributions toward a monograph of the Noctuidae of temperate North America. Revision of the species of Hadena referable to Xylophasia and Luperina. Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 13(839):422 - Xylophasia sputatrix

Smith, J.B. 1810. Notes on North American species of Agroperina Hampson. Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 18(3): 140 - Agroperina sputatrix

Walker, F.W. 1856. Noctuidae. List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. 9: 232

Moth Photographers Group (MPG) (2)

The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (3)

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA)(4)