Acontia albifusa Ferris &amp; Lafontaine 2009, sp. n.
Creators: name: Ferris, Clifford
name: Lafontaine, Donald
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Acontia
Acontia albifusa

description: <i>Acontia albifusa</i> Ferris &amp; Lafontaine, sp. n. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 0454EE2E-1B4D-4C51-9A87-CD5CE24B84CA Figs. 1, 14-15, 21, 27, 30 <b>Type material.</b> <b>Holotype</b> ♁: Arizona. Pima Co., Mt Lemmon Hwy., mi 2.2, 3500', saguaro forest habitat, 13 Aug. 2004, J. B. Walsh. [CNC, Ottawa, Canada]. <b>Paratypes</b> 8 ♁, 1 &amp;female; (6 dissections): <b>Arizona</b>: Pima Co., Mt Lemmon Hwy., mi 5.7, 4400', oak riparian habitat, 18 June &amp; 14 Sept. 2004, J. B. Walsh (2 ♁); Pima Co., Baboquivari Mts., 15-30 Aug., 1924, O. C. Poling (1 ♁); Pima Co., Baboquivari Mts., Brown Canyon, 3880' (1183 m), 19 Aug., 2006, C. D. Ferris (1 ♁); “ Arizona ” (2 ♁); Santa Cruz Co., Santa Rita Mts., Madera Canyon, 4800', 30 June &amp; 2 July 1959, 1 July 1960, J. G. Franclemont (2 ♁, 1 &amp;female;). Paratypes deposited in CNC, CUIC, USNM, and the personal collections of C. D. Ferris and J. B. Walsh. <b>Distribution</b> (Fig. 30). <b>Note.</b> Material of this species was distributed by E. L. Todd under the unpublished manuscript name “ <i>Acontia agricola</i>.” <b>Etymology.</b> The name of this species refers to the pale basal coloring that diffuses into the dark outer shading. <b>Diagnosis.</b> DFW basal area creamy yellow in both sexes; brown area mottled, not uniformly dark; prominent dark patch distal to reniform spot. <b>Description. Adult male: Head –</b> dark brown with circular pale patch on frons; antenna filiform; palpi porrect slightly longer than eye width, white basally, shading to brown distally head dark brown. <b>Thorax –</b> prothoracic collar and thorax white. <i>Foreleg</i>: coxa white with middle brown spot; femur, tibia and tarsus brown with white-ring in middle of tibia and at joints. <i>Middle leg</i>: femur and tibia white with brown rings at femoral-tibia joint and near apex of tibia; tarsus brown, white-ringed at joints. <i>Hindleg</i>: femur and tibia white; first tarsal segment white shading to brown at joint with second segment; remaining tarsi brown, white-ringed at joints. <i>Wings</i>: male (FWL 9.5- 11 mm). DFW: ground color dark creamy-white over basal half of wing with pale brown transverse lines; splotchy brown and pale on remainder of wing producing a very mottled aspect; prominent white preapical patch on costa; orbicular spot virtually obsolete, defined only by a few dark scales; reniform spot circular, outlined in back and filled mainly with iridescent blue scales; a prominent dark bar distal to reniform spot; a second reniform-like spot below and proximal to reniform spot irregularly outlined in black and with some blue scales in middle; a brown bar below this spot on inner margin; terminal line an irregular series of dark dashes; fringe a mixture of white, gray, and pale brown scales with pale-colored scales concentrated to form a patch near middle of wing and a smaller patch distal to reniform spot. DHW: luminous white, nearly hyaline, with pale brown marginal band; fringe white. <b>Female</b> (FWL 10.5 mm, 1 specimen) <b>–</b> similar to male. <b>Male genitalia</b> (Fig. 21) <b>–</b> <i>uncus</i>: decurved, long, narrow, tapering to pointed tip. <i>Valve</i>: asymmetrical; right valve roughly rectangular, pointed at apex of dorsal margin; corona well-developed; clasper on ventral margin of right valve, narrower near base than at ventral apex of cucullus where clasper abruptly tapers into a long, curved spine follows outer margin of cucullus almost to apex; dorsal margin of clasper with elongated, triangular process on dorsal margin near base; saccular process smooth, broad, somewhat spatulate apically, lying along dorsal margin of clasper; left valve similar to right valve but saccular extension absent and apical part of clasper with spine-like apical part reduced to short inward hook at ventral apex of valve. <i>Aedeagus</i>: very similar to that of <i>A</i>. <i>toddi</i> except cornutus at base of subbasal diverticulum larger than in <i>A</i>. <i>toddi</i>. <b>Female genitalia</b> (Fig. 27) <b>–</b> ostium bursae funnel-like, tapering only slightly to junction with ductus bursae; lower portion of tubular ductus bursae moderately sclerotized, in length about 0.45 × length of ovoid corpus bursae; spinose pouch of corpus bursae to left of ductus. <b>Biology.</b> Unknown. Adults June–September in oak habitat riparian canyons and saguaro cactus forest, 3500-4800' (1065-1465 m).
description: Published as part of <i>Ferris, Clifford &amp; Lafontaine, Donald, 2009, Review of the Acontia areli group with descriptions of three new species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Acontiinae), pp. 27-46 in ZooKeys 9 (9)</i> on pages 44-46, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.9.180, http://zenodo.org/record/576450