Photedes sofiae Mustelin, NEW SPECIES
Creators: name: Mustelin, Tomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Photedes
Photedes sofiae

description: Photedes sofiae Mustelin, NEW SPECIES
Figs. 17, 49, and 78
Type material. Holotype: Male, Santa Ana River near Sugarloaf Meadow, San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California, 1890 m, 21 July 2001, T. & S. Mustelin. Paratypes: San Bernardino County: Same locality as holotype, 29 July 2003 (2 males), 14 June 2004 (1 male), T. & S. Mustelin; Cienaga Seca, San Bernardino Mountains, 2000 m, 29 July 2003, T. & S. Mustelin (1 male, 1 female); Sugarloaf Mountain, San Bernardino Mountains, 2300 m, 14 July 2004 (1 male), T. & S. Mustelin; Cactus Flats, San Bernardino Mountains, 2000 m, 1 July 2003 (1 male), T. & S. Mustelin; Johnston Grade, San Bernardino Mountains, 14 July 2004 (1 female), T. & S. Mustelin. Holotype and genitalic slide # 276/TM deposited in SDNHM.
Etymology. This species is named after the author’s daughter, Sofia Mustelin, who assisted in collecting the holotype.
Diagnosis. This new species resembles the more northern Photedes inquinata (Guenée, 1852) and the European P. p y g m i n a (Haworth, 1809) and clearly is congeneric with them. It is larger than both these and is more yellowish than P. inquinata. It also differs by having a much darker hindwing (Fig. 16 a) and it lacks the dark bar often present on the forewing of P. inquinata. (All these species were recently transferred to Photedes from Chortodes).
Description. Antenna finely ciliate in male, unknown in female; eye naked, dark gray with black streaks; labial palp distal segment down­turned, covered in pale tan and some dark brown scales; head, frons, patagium, tegula and thorax covered with thin pale yellowish­tan hairs; venter of thorax covered with long pale tan hairs mixed with dark brown hairs; legs concolorous; abdomen covered in pale tan flat scales, mixed with brown scales and short tan hairs; venter concolorous; forewing length 12 mm; forewing ground color pale yellowish­tan, mixed with black scales in three areas: along forewing costa from base to apex to vein R5, along cubital vein, and between M2 and CuA1 to middle of outer forewing margin, and along posterior margin of wing along vein 1A + 2A; ordinary lines and spots missing; fringe of ground color; ventral side pale tan mixed with black scales; discal spot absent. Hindwing uniformly dark gray; fringe same color; ventral side covered in mixed pale tan and dark gray scales, darker than ventral side of forewing. Male genitalia (Fig. 49): Uncus pointed, thin; juxta broad with oval lateral appendages; sacculus round; valve total length 2.2 mm, width at middle 0.4 mm, broadest at base, gradually tapering, slightly curved dorsally; cucullus round with lateral projection, width 0.55 mm; digitus less than 0.1 mm; aedeagus straight; everted vesica U­shaped with small spine basally and a large spine near apex. Female genitalia (Fig. 78): Ovipositor lobes 0.95 mm long, pointed and heavily sclerotized, small setae point forward; posterior apophyses 1.3 mm, anterior apophyses 0.8 mm; ductus bursae 1.3 mm, sclerotized and 0.7 mm wide, less sclerotized and narrowing to 0.3 mm near corpus bursae; corpus bursae 2.4 mm long, consisting of three lobes, two of equal size and one smaller; ductus seminalis arises from posterior side of the upper large lobe of corpus bursae near ductus bursae.
Distribution and habitat. Photedes sofiae is known only from high altitudes in the San Bernardino Mountains, where most specimens were collected in the middle of the Santa Ana River, which at the Type locality is a small creek lined with willow and with water still flowing in July. Other specimens were collected in similar habitats, while two specimens were collected on the desert side of the mountains in a dry habitat with juniper, piñyon pine, and Joshua trees.
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 33-34, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.273509