A new species of Lithophane Hbn . ( Lepidoptera , Noctuidae , Xyleninae ) from southeastern United States

A new species of a noctuid moth in the genus Lithophane is described and illustrated. Lithophane abita Brou & Lafontaine, sp. n. is known from the mid-Atlantic coastal states southward to Florida and the

A new species of Lithophane Hbn.(Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Xyleninae) from southeastern United States

Introduction
Beginning in 1982, specimens of an undescribed species of Lithophane Hübner were captured at a single southeast Louisiana location using four to eight ultraviolet light traps operated at this location throughout the year regardless of weather conditions.Typical of numerous other winter-active moths, this new species is on the wing from Etymology.Th e epithet is derived from the type locality near which all of the known Louisiana specimens have been taken, the town of Abita Springs, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, USA.
Diagnosis.Lithophane abita is a medium-sized species of Lithophane with a gray forewing and pinkish-fuscous hindwing.Th e forewing maculation tends to be pale and muted, except for a contrasting black line in the fold connecting the deeply zigzagged antemedial and postmedial lines.In these superfi cial characters, it has the appearance of some species in the Lithophane lepida Grote species-group of which only Lithophane adipel (Benjamin) (Fig. 3) occurs in southeastern United States.It is even more similar to Lithophane thaxteri Grote (Fig. 4), which like L. abita, has a brown fl ush to the area around the reniform spot and a black line defi ning the lower edge of the reniform spot, but L. thaxteri occurs in the boreal zone of Canada and in eastern United States as far south as New Jersey, but probably will not be found within the range of L. abita.Th e male genitalia of L. abita, however, are unique within the genus and the characteristic shape of the apices of the valves can be seen by brushing away some scales from the end of the abdomen.Th e digitus of the right valve projects beyond the apex of the valve as a long, curved, saber-like spine that is almost ⅔ as long as the valve (Fig. 5); that of the left valve is short, stout, and apically blunt with the part of the digitus extending beyond the valve about ¼ of the length of that of the right valve.Th e spine-like process at the apex of the right valve can often be seen with the naked eye protruding from the end of the abdomen.Th e association of L. abita with bald cypress (Taxodium distichum Rich.), the probable larval host, is also unique within Lithophane.
Description.Males and females similar in all external characters except size.Head: color usually light to medium slate gray, occasional specimens dark gray; pronounced frontal tuft; a wide lateral black band of scales on center of head between eyes defi ned above and below by a bright white line of scales, upper line at a position above eye and below antenna: antenna fi liform, simple, slender, and acuminate, similar gray in color, more so dorsally and near base of shaft; labial palp with black scales laterally and gray scales ventrally and dorsally; labial palp peppered with either black or gray scales with white tips; ventral surface of palp with long scales forming a pointed tuft projecting anteroventrally slightly beyond apex of palp.Th orax: dorsal color similar to that of head and forewing ground color except for wide transverse dark brown band on prothoracic collar with upper margin defi ned by distinct black line with upper scales forming a bright white line; anterior part of thorax with dorsal partially divided tuft of scales; ventral color of thorax light pinkish brown, gray, or fuscous, with area between legs and wings entirely black; outer side of foreleg coxa a mixture of black and white scales (appearing gray to naked eye), with a short group of longitudinal black scales emanating from base; scales on the inner side of coxa brownish gray with a fi ne longitudinal line of black scales; femur covered with black and white scales (appearing gray to naked eye) with black scales more concentrated near trochanter; scales on coxa of midleg a mixture of gray and white, except near trochanter, where scales form a band of black followed by a band of white; similar black and white bands continue along remainder of midleg femur, tibia, and tarsus; hindleg similar in color and appearance to midleg.Abdomen: dorsal color fuscous with pink suff usion throughout; ventral color same as dorsal.Forewing: dorsal ground color matching that on dorsum of head and thorax; maculation varying from strongly marked to barely distinguishable; weakly marked specimens appear to have been on the wing longer, but do not necessarily appear exceptionally worn; most specimens with very faint, sometimes barely distinguishable, bifurcating black basal dash; antemedial (am) line mostly faint, deeply zigzagged, defi ned in paler gray and partly bordered on outer edge by black, except in area of fold where am line sharply defi ned in black forming an outward projecting "V" that extends into prominent, black dash in fold parallel to lower margin of wing and extends to postmedial (pm) line; pm line deeply serrated but faint, partly defi ned by pale gray and dark gray scales; subterminal line also faintly defi ned in pale and dark gray but usually bordered in subterminal area by series of diff use, dark-gray, wedge-shaped spots; terminal area concolorous with medial area, or very slightly darker with wing veins partly defi ned in black; terminal line incomplete, dark gray, usually stronger between veins; orbicular spot a rounded or slightly oblong paler gray shade defi ned mainly by the darker gray shading surrounding it; a prominent crescentic black line extends from outer lower edge of orbicular spot and around lower margin of reniform spot; reniform spot barely distinguishable as a paler gray outline above black line on lower margin of spot; forewing with fuscous-brown scales in area between reniform and orbicular spots, and in lower part of reniform.Ventral color of forewing pale luteous brown on basal half of wing, pinkish brown on distal half and forming a darker marginal shade; reniform spot diff use, dark brown, usually crescent-shaped; terminal line defi ned by faint black scales accentuated with conspicuous black scales forming v-shaped wedges between veins; fringe gray.Wing length: male: 16.7 mm (15.7-18.0,n = 25); female: 17.1 mm (15.6-18.4,n = 25).Hindwing: dorsal color fuscous with pinkish suff usion throughout; fringe contrastingly lighter slate gray, especially at base of fringe; terminal line usually expressed as diff use darker brown lines most often only between veins on outer margin of wing; discal spot crescentic, darker than ground color but barely discernable.Ventral color entirely light pink with numerous tiny brown scales sprinkled over entire surface; terminal line generally similar to that on dorsal surface; discal spot very large, brownish-black spot in center of wing; postmedial line a faint but discernable dark, broad line.
Male genitalia (n = 6): genital capsule (Fig. 5) with supporting ring modifi ed, so enlarged vinculum and pleural sclerite occupy basal ⅔ of ring, presumably to support greatly enlarged base of valve; tegumen proportionally reduced to dorsal ⅓ of ring; uncus short, cylindrical, expanded at apex; juxta a very large diamond-shaped plate oc-cupying most of area inside genital ring; valves short and triangular, very large at base and tapering to narrow apex; valves asymmetrical; right sacculus large, twice as long as cucullus; cucullus reduced with sclerotized fi nger-like process at base of cucullus on dorsal margin of valve; apical part of cucullus reduced to rounded, almost membranous fl ap without any trace of a corona; digitus massive, arising from costal margin of valve, covering basal b of cucullus, then bending dorsally to project posterodorsally from end of valve as a long, tapered, saber-like spine; clasper reduced to Y-shaped sclerite at apex of valve with ampulla projecting beyond costal margin of valve as lightly sclerotized, fi nger-like process; left valve similar to right valve, except sacculus not as enlarged dorsally at base, costal process at base of cucullus triangular, part of left digitus projecting from valve ¼ as long as saber-like extension of right digitus, and apex of left digitus blunt and rounded.Aedeagus (Fig. 6) cylindrical, heavily sclerotized, about 6 × as long as wide; vesica about 1½ × as long as aedeagus; basal 1/6 as wide as aedeagus; apical part infl ated and sac-like, curving in an arc 180° to project anteriorly; vesica with two short diverticula, one short preapical on dorsal surface and one on ventral surface at apex; apex of vesica with two subapical patches of spine-like cornuti, one dorsal and one ventral.Female genitalia (n = 5) (Fig. 7): corpus bursae with prominent postmedial constriction giving it a fi gure 8-shape; without signa; posterior part of corpus bursae with short, lightly sclerotized, appendix bursae to left of ductus bursae; ductus bursae about ⅓ as long as corpus bursae, sclerotized posteriorly but more lightly sclerotized anteriorly and wider at corpus bursae; ostium bursae sclerotized, tapered anteriorly, truncated abruptly at membranous connection with ductus bursae; anterior apophyses slightly shorter, but much stouter, than posterior apohyses, about ¼ × longer than ring of abdominal segment VIII; anal papillae lightly sclerotized, rounded at apex, about as long as membranous connection to abdominal segment VIII; covered by mixture of short and longer hair-like setae.
Biology and distribution.Within Louisiana, Lithophane abita is single brooded with adults on the wing from November 21 to March 29 (Fig. 8).Elsewhere the fl ight season extends from 17 October (Maryland) to early April (Mississippi and North Carolina).Lithophane abita has been confi rmed from the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and North Carolina.Th e suspected host plant is bald cypress, Taxodium distichum Rich.In Maryland the three known localites are in bald cypress swamps within a few kilometers of the northernmost site of natu-  rally occurring bald cypress trees.In Florida, this moth is often found in or very close to pond cypress domes (R. M. Gillmore, pers.comm.).A single Florida specimen was labeled as captured at fruit bait.
Remarks.R. M. Gillmore provided the authors with numerous additional Florida records acquired from various sources, from the counties already listed in the paratype series.Th ese specimens are not included as paratypes due to their poor quality.
Within Louisiana, L. abita was captured using ultraviolet light traps only at the Abita Springs location despite 39 continuous years of collecting using the same collecting methods throughout the State.No species of Lithophane was previously recorded for Louisiana by Chapin and Callahan (1967), who published the only list of Noctuidae for the state.However, intensive collecting by the senior author at the type locality of L. abita has turned up about 10 Lithophane species, some requiring further study to confi rm their identity.[movethis and the next paragraph to beginning of Discussion section] Reference to this undescribed species can be found dating back 44 years to Kimball's (1965) book on the Lepidoptera of Florida.Under the heading Lithophane sp., Kimball (1965: 93) states that [John G.] Franclemont is describing it.Kimball listed six specimens from the Florida counties of Alachua, Escambia, Hillsborough, and Jefferson with collecting dates on three of the specimens from Lutz, Hillsborough Co., dating back 93 years.Th e oldest specimens of L. abita we were able to fi nd were captured 98 years ago in 1911, also at Lutz, Florida.

Discussion
Lithophane abita is apparently not closely related to any other species of Lithophane, although features of the male genitalic structure and suspected larval host plant suggest affi nities to the L. lepida and L. gausapata groups (discussed below).Among the unique features of L. abita are: the strongly asymmetrical male valves; the greatly enlarged base of the valve with the corresponding enlargement of the vinculum and pleural sclerite, and reduction of the tegumen; the greatly reduced cucullus; the very small, mainly membranous, ampulla of the clasper; and the prominent constriction in the female corpus bursae.A phenogram (Fig. 9) based on the 'barcode' fragment of the mtDNA cox1 gene (Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007) illustrates the relationships among 39 of North American Lithophane.Th e results, in combination with genital structure, show the species of Lithophane arranged in nine species-groups.Th e L. abita-group (Group I) is associated with the L. signosa-group (Group II), although 4 % divergent from any species in the L. signosa-group, which show intraspecifi c divergences of less than 1 %.Th ere are no derived morphological character states shared by these two groups, so the association based on molecular data may merely be a product of the isolation of the L. abita-group from any other group of Lithophane rather than a phylogenetic association with the L. signosa-group.In the male genitalia of the L. signosa-group the cucullus is well developed with an apical corona and the digitus is well developed.Th e next cluster in Figure 9 shows a loose association of four isolated species-groups of which the fi rst three (L.pexata-group (III), L. thaxteri-group (IV), and L. fagina-group (V)) have male genitalia similar to those of the L. signosa-group.Th e last group in this cluster includes four species of the L. tepida-group (Group VI) in which the cucullus is reduced and the digitus forms an apical spine at the end of the valve.Th is is somewhat suggestive of the apex of the right valve of L. abita, but the two groups diff er in all the other characters listed as being unique in the L. abitagroup.In groups VII, VIII, and IX the apex of the valve appears forked because the cucullus is reduced and apically narrow and the digitus forms a second short apical or subapical process.Th e fi rst two of these groups have similar genitalia and feed on conifers as larvae with the L. lepida-group (Group VII) on pines (Pinaceae) and the L. gausapata-group (Group VIII) on various Cupressaceae.In the L. antennata-group (Group IX) the part of the digitus on the inner surface of the valve forms a rounded, ventrally serrated plate.Both the DNA results, and the many peculiarities of the genitalia, demonstrate the isolated position of the Lithophane abita-group within the genus.Th e suspected larval host plant and the reduction of the cucullus in the male genitalia suggest that L. abita is probably most closely related to the conifer-feeding groups (Groups VII and VIII).A phylogenetic analysis using morphological and molecular data would be informative, and may shed some light on the evolutionary relationship of L. abita to its congeners.

Figure 9 .
Figure 9. Phenogram of 39 North American Lithophane spp.based on the mtDNA 'barcode' fragment of COI, constructed using the Neighbor-Joining method with the Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) algorithm implemented in BOLD (Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007).