Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list
Author
Gall, Lawrence
Yale University, New Haven ,,
Author
Hawks, David
University of California, Riverside ,, United States of America
text
ZooKeys
2010
2010-03-18
39
39
37
83
journal article
10.3897/zookeys.39.425
7faaa125-e85b-4e6a-839f-369f3baa5964
1313–2970
576632
Catocala pretiosa
ssp.
texarkana
Brower
, stat. n.
Catocala texarkana
Brower, 1976: 33
Catocala texarkana
;
Franclemont and Todd 1983: 129
Type
material.
Catocala texarkana
:
holotype
♁ [
USNM
, examined]. When he designated the
lectotype
for
C. pretiosa
Lintner, 1876
,
Schweitzer (1982)
aptly noted “separation of
Catocala texarkana
from
C. pretiosa
is extremely difficult. At present, some specimens cannot be determined with certainty. Th e original description of
C. texarkana
does not contain explicit comparisons with related taxa, and I can find no constant differences between these two taxa.” Even though Schweitzer had rather limited specimen material available to him, especially from the southern Appalachians, he was able to find at least one specimen of
C. pretiosa
(from
Massachusetts
) that was indistinguishable from three topotypical
C. texarkana
. We have subsequently examined hundreds of specimens of
C. texarkana
from over fifty localities from
Texas
and
Oklahoma
through the midatlantic states (including Brower’s types, and a morphologically variable series of several dozen topotypes in the
CUIC
), and find the minor differences between
C. pretiosa
and
C. texarkana
to be essentially as stated by Schweitzer, but with greater overlap and variability. These differences are best reflected by placing
C. texarkana
as a subspecies of
C. pretiosa
Lintner, 1876
. Type Locality: Forestburg,
Texas
, [
USA
].