Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Tricholita baranca Barnes, 1905
Phylogenetic sequence # 933195
(1) Numbers
Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) listed 10 named species of the genus
Tricholita in America north of Mexico.
(1)Size
Barnes (1905) listed a wingspan of 28 mm. FW 11.5 to 15 mm, mean 12.9 mm (n = 11)(C. Sexton unpubl.).
Identification
Thorax and forewing relatively uniform dark brown with a slight purple tint; dark color of the FWs typically obscures any underlying pattern; a blackish sinuous PM line with outward points on the veins is sometimes visible, bordered distally by a slightly paler band; reniform spot is filled with 6 to 8 distinct white dots of varying size.
(2) There are 4 to 7 small white dots along the costal margin but terminal area and fringe only rarely show white dots, dashes, or checkering.
Barnes (1905) original description is online and linked in the print references.
Range
The Hill Country of central Texas from Edwards and Uvalde County east to Travis County
(3)(2), with at least one record (stray?) north to Dallas.
Primary syntypes ♂ collected in Kerrville, Kerr Co., Texas.
Season
Apparently has a short flight period in October.
See Also
Tricholita knudsoni is similar but usually has more pale brown and mottling on the FWs; the underlying pattern includes a buffy orbicular spot, doubled but ill-defined, sinuous, somewhat jagged AM and PM lines, and a buffy subapical patch; the fringe usually appears checkered due to white dashes along the veins. T. kudsoni occurs from the West Texas mountains east into the western Edwards Plateau, thus overlapping slightly in the latter area with Canyonlands Quaker.
Tricholita chipeta is medium to dark brown without the reddish tint of T. baranca; the white dots in the reniform spot form a sharp "L" or checkmark with one of the white dots typically extending forward as a short dart; the terminal area of the FW usually has white dashes on each vein. The range of T. chipeta comes close to that of T. baranca in southwestern Texas (Val Verde Co.) but thus far has not been found to overlap.
Print References
Barnes, W. 1905. New species of North American Lepidoptera. The Canadian Entomologist, 37(5):
195.
Sexton, C. 2020. Fingerprinting Moths in the Field: An Example With the Texas Endemic "Canyonlands Quaker", Tricholita baranca. Southern Lepidopterists' News 42(4): 309-311.
