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

description: Protoperigea subterminata Mustelin, NEW SPECIES
Figs. 10, 38 a, 38b and 72
Type material. Holotype: Male, 3 km east of Jacumba, San Diego County, California, 1000 m, 7 November 1999, T. Mustelin. Paratypes: 78 males and 13 females. CALIFORNIA: San Diego County: Jacumba, 7 November 1999, T. Mustelin (2 males), 25 July 1998, T. Mustelin (1 male); 3 km E of Jacumba, 15 October 2004 (18 males); Oriflamme Canyon, 29­30 October 1998, N. Bloomfield (1 male); McCain Valley, 30 September 2000 (1 female), 15 October 2004 (6 males, 1 female), 6 October 2005 (3 males, 1 female), T. Mustelin. Imperial County: In­Ko­Pah Gorge, 800 m, 5 November 2002 (3 males), 15 October 2004 (1 female), 6 October 2005 (9 males, T. Mustelin. Riverside County: Pinyon Crest, 1300 m, 28 September 1968 (1 male), 30 September 1993 (1 male), 1 October 1966 (1 male, 1 female), 11 October 1970 (1 male), 17 October 1987 (1 male), 20 October 1963 (2 females), 6 November 1965 (1 female), 9 November 1990 (1 female), R. Leuschner; Joshua Tree National Monument, Split Rock, 5 October1965, Wilcox and Stone (1 male, 1 female). San Bernardino County: Phelan Road 2 miles west of I­15, 11 October 1982, F. Sala (1 male); Pinyon Hills, Mojave Desert, 28 September 1976, F. Sala (1 female); 24km SE of Essex, 1000 m, 18 October 1966, D. F. Hardwick (10 males, 2 females); Shadow Mts., E side of Silver Peak, 1000 m, 8 October 1988, J. P. & K. E. S. Donahue (1 male). NEVADA: Clark County: 38km SSE of Searchlight, 700 m, 17 October 1966, D. F. Hardwick (2 males). ARIZONA: Cochise County: Cave Creek, east of the Chiricahua Mountains, 1500 m, 11 October 1970, R. Leuschner (1 male). MEXICO: Baja California Norte: 16 km west of Catavina, 24­28 February 1988, N. Bloomfield (7 males); 2.4 km southwest of San Miguel de Comonou, 16­20 December 1987, N. Bloomfield (7 males); 12 km north of Mike’s Sky Ranch, 16­18 October 1987, N. Bloomfield (1 male); 2–7 km north of Santa Ines, 5­9 December 1987, N. Bloomfield (1 male); 18 km southwest of San Miguel de Comonou, 15 December 1987, N. Bloomfield (1 male). Holotype and genitalic slide #59/TM deposited in SDNHM, paratypes in SDNHM, LACM, CNC, and the private collections of L. Crabo, R. Leuschner, F. Sala, J. Troubridge, and the author.
Etymology. The name subterminata refers to the distinctive dark subterminal line of this otherwise pale species.
Diagnosis. The forewing of P. subterminata averages slightly smaller than that of P. umbricata, although there is considerable overlap in size, and dwarf specimens of P. subterminata are not unusual. The forewing of P. s u b t e r m i n a t a is similar to that of P. umbricata, but it usually is paler yellowish gray­brown with the lines more defined. The reniform spot is clear, outlined in pale, and filled with dark blackish brown in P. subterminata (Fig. 10 a). The subterminal line is distinct and forms the border between the dark dusting on the inner side and pale subterminal area (Fig. 10 b). Hindwing is white (Fig. 10 c). Finally, P. subterminata differs from P. p o s t i c a t a (Harvey, 1875) in being paler, more yellowish and having a dark reniform spot and better delineated subterminal area. Genitalically, the two differ in male valve shape (Figs. 36 a and 38a), vesica structure (Figs. 36 b and 38b), and proportion between ductus and corpus bursae (Figs. 71 and 72).
Description. Antenna finely ciliate in males, filiform in females; palpus laterally covered with black scales, tip pale; eye naked; frons, collar and thorax covered with uniformly pale yellowish gray hairlike scales, venter covered with concolorous with dorsum; hair mixed with black hairs; area behind eyes black; legs yellowish gray mixed with black hairs; tarsi black and pale striped; abdomen covered with very pale tan short and flat scales, venter concolorous with dorsum; forewing ground color pale yellowish gray; orbicular and claviform spots missing; reniform spot filled with darker than ground color scales; antemedial line black, serrate, weak, black dot on costa; median line very weak in middle, black dot on costa; postmedial line black, thin, finely serrate, black dot on costa; subterminal line serrate, dark, strongly dark­shaded inward; terminal line black chevrons between veins; fringe concolorous with ground color; ventral side uniformly pale with diffuse discal spot and diffuse subterminal shade. Hindwing white, very faint subterminal shade near apex; terminal line pale yellow gray, fringe white; ventral side as dorsal side, discal spot very small or absent. Male genitalia (Figs. 38 a and 38b): Juxta oval; valve broad, dorsal margin straight, ventral margin with 20° angle, tapering laterally; cucullus a dorsal fingerlike projection bent 45° ventrally, thickness even; projection from valve short and bent laterally; aedeagus slender and curved at 30°; everted vesica tapering, at 20° angle to distal aedeagus, basal diverticula, tapering, with one patch of small cornuti. Female genitalia (Fig. 72): Very similar to those of P. umbricata, but ductus bursae much broader before junction with corpus bursae, 0.75 mm (0.6 mm in umbricata); corpus bursae oval, 2.3 x 1.7 mm, points to right, distally pointed, surface smooth, no appendix bursae, signa absent.
Distribution and habitat. Protoperigea subterminata is a species of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, mostly within southern California, but it also reaches southwestern Nevada, western Arizona, and northern Baja California, Mexico. It is most abundant in the mountain­desert transition zone where it flies in late September–November.
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 22-23, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.273509