Enargia decolor
Creators: name: Schmidt, Christian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Enargia
Enargia decolor

description: <i>Enargia decolor</i> (Walker, 1858) Figs 35–54, 57, 60, 63 <i>Mythimna decolor</i> Walker, 1858: 1658. <i>Enargia discolor</i>; Smith 1900; misspelling. <i>Cosmia discolor</i>; Dod 1905; Dod 1910; misspelling. <i>Enargia decolor</i>; Franclemont 1939. <i>Enargia decolora</i>; Hampson 1910: 239; unjustified emendation. ‡ <i>Enargia decolora</i> ab. <i>mia</i> Strand, 1916: 164; unavailable infrasubspecific name. ‡ <i>Enargia decolora</i> ab. <i>sia</i> Strand, 1916: 164; unavailable infrasubspecific name. <b>Type material.</b> <i>Mythimna decolor</i>: male <b>holotype.</b> BMNH, examined. Type locality: “Orilla [<i>sic</i>], West Canada ” [Orillia, Ontario, Canada]. <b>Diagnosis.</b> <i>Enargia decolor</i> is externally most similar to and broadly sympatric with <i>E. infumata</i>. Specimens with little dark shading can also be similar to <i>E. fausta</i>, particularly females of both species. About 90% of <i>E. decolor</i> specimens can be recognized by one or more of the following external characters: reniform spot lacking pronounced dark scaling at base, or if dark scaling present, not darker than color of adjacent medial line; claviform often present as dark dash; well-marked specimens with pronounced hindwing medial line; male antenna slightly serrate, not prismatic. Internally, in males the corona extends only halfway along the ventral margin of the valve (2/ 3 in <i>E. infumata</i> and <i>E. fausta</i>, Figs 55, 56), and the vesica cornuti and aedeagus are larger (compare Fig. 60 to Figs 58 and 59). Females have a longer ovipositor and corpus bursae (Fig. 63). <b>Distribution and biology.</b> <i>Enargia decolor</i> has a boreal-transcontinental distribution, occurring across the Canadian boreal plain and then southward through the western cordillera at higher elevations, where it is presumably limited by the availability of trembling aspen and possibly other poplars. Records for examined specimens range from northernmost British Columbia (Ft. Nelson) and south-western Northwest Territories (Ft. Smith) east to New Brunswick; also reported from Nova Scotia (Ferguson 1954), Ohio (Rings et al. 1992) and New York (Forbes 1954). In the western United States, specimens were examined from western Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming (Albany and Carbon counties), western Colorado, New Mexico (Grant Co.), and Arizona (Graham Co.). Notably, I have not seen any specimens from the Rocky Mountain front ranges of Colorado, where it would be expected to be widespread if there is a continuous distribution southward into New Mexico / Arizona. As discussed under Remarks, the populations from west of the Rocky Mountains south to New Mexico / Arizona may represent a distinct species. The larvae prefer <i>Populus tremuloides</i>, and Prentice (1962) also reported a small number of larval collections from <i>Betula papyrifera</i>, <i>Populus balsamifera</i>, <i>Salix</i> sp., <i>Populus grandidentata</i> Michx. and <i>Alnus rugosa</i> (Ait.) Pursh. Since this species has mostly been correctly identified, Prentice’s larval host records are also probably mostly correct. Larvae can reach high population densities, causing local defoliation of <i>P. tremuloides</i> (Wong and Melvin 1976). Th e balsam poplar group have quite resinous buds and leaves at bud break, so these may not be suitable hosts, at least for early instar larvae. McGuffin (1958) gives detailed descriptions including setal maps of <i>E. decolor</i>, but a diagnostic comparison of morphology and biology of larvae to <i>E. infumata</i> and <i>E. fausta</i> is still needed. Wong and Melvin (1974) describe the larvae and larval biology of <i>E. decolor</i>. <b>Remarks.</b> <i>Enargia decolor</i> as it is currently defined may consist of two species. Specimens from Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico are on average duskier, and the medial area tends to be the darkest forewing area (subterminal area equally dark in boreal <i>E. decolor</i>); specimens have the markings more obscure overall, often with a pinkish tinge not seen in boreal <i>decolor</i>. Comparison of male genitalia from this region to boreal <i>decolor</i> also suggest a slight difference. Five barcoded specimens from Alberta and New Brunswick exhibited four haplotypes, with a maximum divergence of about 0.26 %; three Utah specimens representing two haplotypes differed between 0.86–1.37 % from the Alberta / New Brunswick material. Additional specimens from key geographic areas (Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon) are needed to fully evaluate the taxonomic status of these populations.
description: Published as part of <i>Schmidt, Christian, 2010, Review of the Nearctic species of Enargia Hubner, [1821] (Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Xylenini), pp. 205-223 in ZooKeys 39 (39)</i> on pages 219-220, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.39.429, http://zenodo.org/record/576642
description: {"references": ["Walker F (1858) List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Volume 15. Edward Newman, London, 1521 - 1888.", "Smith JB (1900). New noctuids from British North America, with notes on some others. Canadian Entomologist 32: 217 - 225.", "Dod FHW (1905) Preliminary list of macro-lepidoptera of Alberta, N. W. T. [continued]. The Canadian Entomologist 37: 241 - 252.", "Franclemont JG (1939) Revision of the American species of the genus Enargia Hhbner (Lepidoptera, Phalaenidae, Amphipyrinae). Canadian Entomologist 71: 113 - 116.", "Hampson GF (1910) Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum. Volume 9. Taylor &amp; Francis, London, 552 pp., xv, plates 137 - 147.", "Strand E (1916) Neue Aberrationen der Noctuiden. Subfamilie Acronyctinae. Archiv fur Naturgeschichte Berlin, Abteilung A 81: 150 - 165.", "Ferguson DC (1954) Th e Lepidoptera of Nova Scotia. Proceedings of Nova Scotian Institute of Science 23 (3): 1 - 375.", "Rings RW, Metzler EH, Arnold FJ, Harris DH (1992) Owlet moths of Ohio order Lepidoptera family Noctuidae. Ohio Biological Survey Bulletin 9 (2): 1 - 219", "Forbes WTM (1954) Th e Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states, Part III. Noctuidae. Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station Memoirs 329: 1 - 433.", "Prentice RM (1962) Forest Lepidoptera of Canada reported by the Forest Insect Survey, Vol. 2: Nycteolidae, Notodontidae, Noctuidae, Liparidae. Canada Department of Forestry, Forest Entomology and Pathology Branch, Publication No. 1013, 77 - 281.", "Wong HR, Melvin JCE (1976). Biological observations and larval descriptions of Enargia decolor (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on trembling aspen in northern Alberta. Canadian Entomologist 108: 1213 - 1220.", "McGuffin WC (1958) Biological and Descriptive Notes on Noctuid Larvae. Canadian Entomologist 90: 114 - 124."]}