Annaphila scurlockorum Sala and Mustelin, NEW SPECIES
Creators: name: Mustelin, Tomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Annaphila
Annaphila scurlockorum

description: Annaphila scurlockorum Sala and Mustelin, NEW SPECIES
Figs. 7, 32 a, 32b, and 69
Type material. Holotype: Male, Lower Kern Canyon, 1.6 km south of Democrat Hot Springs, Kern County, California, 670 m, 18 March 1964, F. Sala. Paratypes: 139 specimens. Kern County: Same locality as holotype, 1 February–3 April, 1959–1996, collected by F. Sala, C. Henne, R. H. Leuschner, C. L. Hogue. Holotype deposited in USNM, paratypes in SDNHM, LACM, and the collections of F. Sala, R. Leuschner, and the author. Genitalic slides # 264/TM and #267/TM deposited in USNM.
Etymology. The specific name was chosen by Frank Sala to honor his friends of 50 years, Major General Robert Scurlock and his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Scurlock. They are lifelong residents of California and have been active participants in the conservation of the Golden State.
Diagnosis. This species is similar to the Annaphila abdita Rindge and Smith, 1952, but differs in hindwing color, which is whitish gray­powdered with a very small discal spot and dark gray border (Fig. 7 a). The forewing is similar to that of A. abdita, slightly grayer and with the markings less defined. The two species were thought to represent color forms of a single species, but dissections of the genitalia show them to be distinct. The shape of the valve is more narrow and the teethlike processes of the cucullus are smaller in scurlockorum than in abdita (Fig. 32 a and 33a). The everted vesica of both species is triangular, but in scurlockorum there are fewer large spines and no small spines on the vesica of (Fig. 32 b, 33b).
Description. Antenna filiform in male, 8.3 mm long; eye naked, small; palpus and frons black with some white hairs; patagium, tegula and thorax black with some whitish hairs; venter covered with gray hairs; legs black, strongly armed with long cream colored hairy scales on coxa and trochanter; abdomen black dorsally paler on anterior or posterior segments; venter pale with dark lines at anterior or posterior margin of segments; forewing length 9–11 mm; forewing ground color dark gray; maculation weak, sometimes nearly absent; antemedial line faint, pale gray; postmedial line faint, pale gray; orbicular spot faint, pale gray; reniform spot faint, oval, pale gray; subterminal line dark, wavy; terminal line marked with darker scales between veins; fringe white; ventral side pale gray, dark gray marginal shade, costa dark gray, discal spot dark; hindwing ground color whitish to pale yellow with gray dusting; discal spot narrow; marginal band dull black, 0.6–1.0 mm wide; fringe white; ventral side similar to dorsal side, except marginal band gray and with thin inner line; fringe white with gray dusting. Male genitalia (Figs. 32 a and 32b): Juxta oval, two transverse ridges near midline; uncus stout; valve 1.7 mm, width basally 0.5 mm, at middle 0.4 mm, tapering towards apex, sacculus stout; two small teeth on dorsal margin near apex; aedeagus length 1.2 mm, width 0.4 mm, S­curved at middle; everted vesica length 0.8 mm, width 0.4 mm, round sack turning 180° to point in direction of aedeagus, midway with patch of 0.7 mm long sharp spines, distally patch of 0.5 mm long spines. Female genitalia (Fig. 69): Ovipositor lobes 0.3 mm long, triangular, weakly sclerotized; posterior apophyses 0.85 mm, anterior apophyses 0.6 mm; rounded M­shaped sclerotized shape at 8th sternite, ductus bursae arising from it; ductus bursae short, 0.3 mm long, 0.3 mm wide; corpus bursae 2.4 mm long, 1.1 m wide, smooth, no signa; appendix bursae with ductus seminalis arising from right posterior end of corpus bursae near junction with ductus bursae.
Distribution and habitat. Annaphila scurlockorum has been collected only at the type locality in the lower Kern River area below Kernville, a dry riverside bush land. The records extend from early February to the first week of April, but the majority of specimens were collected during March. The moth flies only in full sunshine. The species has been reared from eggs by Frank Sala, who reported that the larva feeds on miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata Donn ex Willd., Portulacaceae) a low­growing annual wildflower that often carpets the ground beneath the scattered chaparral of the area. The eggs are laid singly or in small clusters, usually on the underside of the leaf, near the stem. Larvae feed without diapause and pupate in crevasses of stones or under loose overhangs of bark on the bushes near Claytonia clusters. The pupae diapause until the following spring.
description: Published as part of Mustelin, Tomas, 2006, Taxonomy of southern California Erebidae and Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) with descriptions of twenty one new species, pp. 1-47 in Zootaxa 1278 on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.273509