Lasionycta luteola
Creators: name: Crabo, Lars
name: Lafontaine, Donald
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Lasionycta
Lasionycta luteola

description: <i>Lasionycta luteola</i> (Smith) Figs 16–18, 145, 202. Map 5 <i>Scotogramma luteola</i> Smith, 1893b: 101. Described again as new in Smith 1894: 56. <i>Lasiestra luteola</i>; McDunnough 1938: 72. <i>Lasionycta luteola</i>; Lafontaine et al. 1986: 264. <b>Type material.</b> <b>Lectotype</b> ♁ [USNM, examined]. Type locality: Laggan [Lake Louise], Alberta. Th e lectotype male was designated by Todd (1982: 127). <b>Diagnosis.</b> <i>Lasionycta luteola</i> is a small alpine species with a shiny mottled gray forewing with variable yellow patches, most evident in the fold in the median area. It has dark-gray antemedial, postmedial, and subterminal lines, inconspicuous spots, and variable dark-gray shading in the medial area and preceding the subterminal line. The reniform spot is evident only as a dark smudge in some specimens. The dorsal hindwing is uniform gray with a luteous white fringe. Th e underside of both wings has similar wide diffuse postmedial lines that contrast with the pale ground color and a relatively inconspicuous hindwing discal spot. <i>Lasionycta luteola</i> in traps can usually be identified by their undersides. Th e genitalia are described in the speciesgroup section. <b>Distribution and biology.</b> <i>Lasionycta luteola</i> is distributed from northern Washington and southwestern Alberta northward to southwestern Yukon. It occurs in alpine tundra. Adults are predominantly nocturnal but also fly during the day and feed on nectar at <i>Silene acaulis</i> (L.) Jacq. (Caryophyllaceae). <i>Lasionycta luteola</i> is usually common and can be abundant. It has been collected from mid-July to mid-August. <b>Geographical variation.</b> Specimens from the Coast Range of British Columbia and the mountains of southwestern Yukon are most vividly colored and variable, often with bright yellow on the forewing and a mottled appearance. Specimens from the Rocky Mountains and northern British Columbia are more uniform gray.
description: Published as part of <i>Crabo, Lars &amp; Lafontaine, Donald, 2009, A Revision of Lasionycta Aurivillius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) for North America and notes on Eurasian species, with descriptions of 17 new species, 6 new subspecies, a new genus, and two new species of Tricholita Grote, pp. 1-156 in ZooKeys 30 (30)</i> on pages 24-25, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.30.308, http://zenodo.org/record/576576
description: {"references": ["Smith JB (1893 b) New species of Noctuidae. Entomological News 4: 98 - 102.", "Smith JB (1894) Descriptions of new genera and species of Noctuidae. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 21: 39 - 88.", "McDunnough J (1938) Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the United States of America. Part 1 Macrolepidoptera. Memoirs of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 1: 1 - 275.", "Lafontaine JD, Kononenko VS, McCabe TL (1986) A Review of the Lasionycta leucocycla complex (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) with descriptions of three new subspecies. The Canadian Entomologist 118: 255 - 279.", "Todd EL (1982) Th e noctuid type material of John B. Smith (Lepidoptera). United States Department of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin 1645, 228 pp."]}