Catocala desdemona H. Edwards 2010, stat. rev.
Creators: name: Hawks, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Catocala
Catocala desdemona

description: <i>Catocala desdemona</i> H. Edwards, stat. rev. Figs 2, 4 <i>Catocala desdemona</i> H. Edwards, 1882: 15. <i>Catocala ixion</i> Druce, 1890: 360, <b>syn. n.</b> <i>Catocala delilah</i> form <i>utahensis</i> Cassino, 1918: 14, <b>syn. n.</b> <i>Catocala delilah utahensis</i> form <i>swetti</i> Barnes and Benjamin, 1927: 8 <i>Catocala delilah desdemona</i> form <i>umbra</i> Barnes and Benjamin, 1927: 8 <b>Type material.</b> <i>Catocala desdemona</i>: <b>lectotype</b> ♁ [USNM, examined], hereby designated to promote taxonomic stability (Fig. 4). Type locality: Prescott, Arizona, [USA]. The original description states “Four examples. Prescott, Arizona. I. Doll. Type. Coll. B. Neumoegen.” Th e lectotype bears the labels “Prescott. / Ariz.”, “Col. / B. Neumogen.”, “Type / No. / 33991 / U.S. N.M.”, “ Catocala / desdemona / Type Hy. Edw.” <i>Catocala ixion</i>: holotype ♁ [BMNH, examined]. Type locality: Xucumanatlan, Guerrero, Mexico. <i>Catocala delilah</i> form <i>utahensis</i>: holotype ♁ [USNM, examined]. Type locality: Provo, Utah, [USA]. <i>Catocala delilah desdemona</i> form <i>umbra:</i> holotype ♁ [USNM, examined], unavailable infrasubspecific name proposed as a color form. Type locality: Hereford, Arizona, [USA]. <i>Catocala delilah utahensis</i> form <i>swetti:</i> holotype &amp;female; [USNM, examined], unavailable infrasubspecific name proposed as a color form. Type locality: Vineyard, Utah, [USA]. <b>Taxonomic remarks.</b> The name <i>ixion</i> has apparently not been previously tabulated in the Nearctic <i>Catocala</i> literature. Druce’s illustration is a good representation of the BMNH holotype, which is a typical specimen of <i>Catocala desdemona</i> H. Edwards. Regarding the name <i>utahensis</i>, Cassino used the term “race” in the body of the original description, and offered a restricted geographic distribution (Utah), and hence the name has been treated as subspecific (McDunnough 1938; Franclemont and Todd 1983). However, the name <i>utahensis</i> refers to a lighter infrapopulational variant of <i>C. desdemona</i> with no definable geographic basis. <b>Diagnosis.</b> <i>Catocala desdemona</i> has been treated as a subspecies of <i>C</i>. <i>delilah</i> since early in the twentieth century. However, <i>C</i>. <i>delilah</i> and <i>C</i>. <i>desdemona</i> breed true ex ovis, and remain morphologically distinct in a broad area of sympatry in central Texas and Oklahoma. Besides <i>C</i>. <i>delilah</i>, no other species is similar to <i>C</i>. <i>desdemona</i>. Mean forewing costal margin length 27.2 mm (♁), 29.5 mm (♁); see the species account for <i>C</i>. <i>delilah</i> above for points of separation. <i>C</i>. <i>desdemona</i> is much more variable in maculation than <i>C</i>. <i>delilah</i>, especially in the southern part of its range. Th e variation is continuous, with the form “umbra” (dark brown patch nearly filling the area between the antemedial and postmedial lines) being just one extreme example. <b>Distribution and biology.</b> <i>Catocala desdemona</i> occurs from central Oklahoma and central Texas westward to central Utah, and southward through Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras. It is sympatric with <i>C</i>. <i>delilah</i> in central Texas and central Oklahoma. County records for the USA are as follows: OKLAHOMA: Comanche, Carter, Oklahoma, Pittsburg, Pottawattamie, Woods; TEXAS: Bexar, Blanco, Brewster, Brown, Burnet, Coleman, Culberson, El Paso, Hays, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Kaufman, Kerr, Kimble, Montague, Real, San Patricio, Taylor, Uvalde, Val Verde, Wise; NEW MEX- ICO: Bernalillo, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Sandoval, San Miguel, Sierra, Torrance, Union; UTAH: Davis, Garfield, Grand, Kane, Utah, Washington; COLORADO: Montezuma; ARIZONA: Cochise, Greenlee, Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai. Records for MEXICO are as follows: SONORA: 3 km S of Mina Trinidad, 9 km W of Yecora, Rancho Tres Rios, km 60 Colonia Mesa Tres Rios to Huachinera; CHIHUAHUA: 4 km S of Temoresi-Cuiteco, Creel; NUEVO LEON: 22 km W. Linares, 6 km W of Iturbide; SINALOA: 11 km W of El Palmito; BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR: 25 km SE of San Antonio, Sierra de La Laguna, Rancho San Antonio de La Sierra; SAN LUIS POTOSI; GUERRERO: Xucumanatlan; MEXICO DF: Zacualpan. Records for GUATEMALA are as follows: Guatemala City. Records for HONDURAS are as follows: CORTÉS, YORO, and OLANCHO departments. Adults emerge from May to November, with peaks of abundance in June and September, at least in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico). This long flight period, especially evident in southeastern Arizona, is apparently due to some eggs hatching in response to the spring growth period of the oaks, while other eggs wait until the summer growth period to hatch. Th ere is no evidence that <i>C</i>. <i>desdemona</i> is ever double brooded. Larvae of <i>C</i>. <i>desdemona</i> undoubtedly feed on several species of oaks in nature, but so far have only been recorded on <i>Quercus oblongifolia</i> Torr. (Huachuca Mountains, Arizona).
description: Published as part of <i>Hawks, David, 2010, Review of the Catocala delilah species complex (Lepidoptera, Erebidae), pp. 13-35 in ZooKeys 39 (39)</i> on pages 18-19, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.39.439, http://zenodo.org/record/576631
description: {"references": ["Edwards H (1882) New species of Heterocera. Papilio 2: 9 - 15.", "Druce H (1890) Heterocera. In: Godman FD, Salvin O, Biologia Centrali-Americana; or Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna of Mexico and Central America. Volume 1, Taylor and Francis, London, p. 360, Fig. 2 (Plate XXXI).", "Cassino SE (1918) A new race of Catocala delilah. Lepidopterist 2: 14.", "Barnes W, Benjamin FH (1927) Notes and new species (Lepid.). Canadian Entomologist 59: 7.", "McDunnough JH (1938) Check List of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the United States of America. Part I. Macrolepidoptera. Memoirs of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 1: 1 - 275."]}