taxonID	type	description	language	source
274F68490D8A3BA31278678B34CFEBDC.taxon	etymology	Etymology. We name the species after William T. Forbes, North America's premier lepidopterist over a 40 - year period from 1920 to 1960. Forbes' understanding of the species and higher-level taxonomy of eastern Macrolepidoptera was extraordinary, with the vast majority of his taxonomic decisions standing the test of time (and additional data). His four-volume treatise on the Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States remains the definitive work on eastern moths, especially for most Microlepidoptera.	en	Zacharczenko, Brigette, Wagner, David L., Hatfield, Mary Jane (2014): A new cryptic Sympistis from eastern North America revealed by novel larval phenotype and host plant association (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Oncocnemidinae). ZooKeys 379: 93-107, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765
274F68490D8A3BA31278678B34CFEBDC.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Adult. Sympistis forbesi averages slightly smaller than Sympistis chionanthi. The scales over the thorax are smaller, more densely packed. In most individuals there are fewer white scales on the thorax and forewing: e. g., the costal margin, wing base, and orbicular and reniform spots have fewer white scales than most individuals of Sympistis chionanthi. Additionally, the anal dash is often more J-shaped and the fringe is only faintly checkered, lacking the pure white scales seen in many Sympistis chionanthi. In the hindwing, there is a more distinctive terminal line and the apex tends to have more black scales extending onto the fringe. The rami of male antennae through the basal half of the antenna average 0.50 - 0.65 mm in Sympistis forbesi, and 0.55 - 0.70 mm in Sympistis chionanthi. Larva. The larva provides unambiguous morphological characters that allow recognition of this new species. The last instar is mostly green with a reddish dorsum (red coloration is added through mid to late instars); there are no black or brown markings as in Sympistis chionanthi (in particular, the black subdorsal stripe characteristic of Sympistis chionanthi is absent from all instars of Sympistis forbesi). Body smaller, more elongate and modestly tapered at both ends, especially relative to the robust habitus of Sympistis chionanthi. Head width of ultimate instar of Sympistis forbesi 2.5 - 2.8 mm; head width of Sympistis chionanthi 3.0 - 3.2 mm. Spiracular height consistently smaller in Sympistis forbesi compared to Sympistis chionanthi - mean spiracular heights of A 1 - A 6 are 0.30 and 0.36 mm, respectively. Mean crochet number of Sympistis forbesi on A 3 - A 6 and A 10 are 17, 19, 20, 21, and 20; mean crochet number of Sympistis chionanthi on A 3 - A 6 and A 10 are 27, 28, 32, 32, and 33.	en	Zacharczenko, Brigette, Wagner, David L., Hatfield, Mary Jane (2014): A new cryptic Sympistis from eastern North America revealed by novel larval phenotype and host plant association (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Oncocnemidinae). ZooKeys 379: 93-107, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765
274F68490D8A3BA31278678B34CFEBDC.taxon	description	Description of adult. Male. Forewing length: 14.5 - 16 mm (n = 23, reared from wild larvae). Ground color warm gray. Head. Antenna biramous; rami approximately 0.50 - 0.65 mm through basal half of antenna. Forward-facing tuft of scales just above faint black line between eyes. Thorax. Gray, medial prothoracic tuft, edged with black, preceded by conspicuous transverse black line. Black edging of tuft continues laterad to wing base. Tegula steely gray, indistinct thick band of dark scales at back. Legs with mix of dark and light scales. Tarsi dark brown or black. Forewing. Thin, smoothly curved basal and antemedial lines. Thickened antemedial line tapering to inner margin. Orbicular spot gray centrally and pale gray peripherally, thinly edged with black. Medial line ill defined; field proximal to reniform spot with numerous dark scales, forming two dark fascia along costa above orbicular and reniform spots. Black line or open triangle in position of claviform spot. Postmedial line running parallel to medial line, connecting to base of reniform and looping around toward margin, finally connecting to dark fascia along costa. Anal dash usually crisp, occasionally absent, subtended by sharp or diffuse black spot basad, forming J-shape. Subterminal line forming black fascia at costa, but otherwise pale gray, weakly developed to nearly obsolescent. Fringe weakly checkered, without white scaling. Hindwing. Pearly white with thin, crisp terminal line except at apex where diffuse field of black scales extends through fringe. Postmedial line obsolescent in males. Abdomen. Mixture of light and dark scales and hairs. Whitish scales along posterior margin of pregenital abdominal terga. Male genitalia. Valves elongate, nearly parallel sided with flat-topped projection from apex; bulbous clasper with claw-like apex that curves mesad; corona of fine setae of variable lengths. Juxta poorly differentiated. Uncas curved, gradually tapering, apex drawn into fine, curved spine. Saccus V-shaped, drawn into point anteriorad. Aedeagus cylindrical, variously sclerotized with vesica bearing approximately one dozen spines on elbow-bend and numerous longer, narrower spines over bulbous subapical region; terminus armed with single stout spine nearly 1 mm in length (as large as uncus). Female. Forewing length: 14 - 16.5 mm (n = 10, reared from wild larvae). Similar to male, but with substantially more fuscous scaling in submarginal region of hindwing; often with faint postmedial band. Antenna simple, without rami. Female genitalia. Posterior and anterior apophyses slender, elongate, ca. 2.5 x length of sclerotized portion of A 8; lamella antevaginalis sclerotized, winged anteriorally and posteriorally, with posterior part about ostium bursae cleft and thus appearing somewhat flipper-like; anterior end less flared, ca. 1 / 2 width and only shallowly cleft, and more strongly sclerotized. Appendix bursae well developed; ovate corpus bursae ca. 2 x size of appendix bursae with parallel thickenings most evident posteriorad. Description of pupa (Figs 28, 29). 16 - 19 mm long, 4.4 - 5.0 mm wide. Orange brown to deep chestnut brown, mostly smooth except for deeply pitted anterior portion of abdominal segments A 4 - A 7. Primary setae extremely short, difficult to locate. Labial palpus visible, subequal to visible portion of profemur. Foreleg with cuminate apex, ending in abrupt spine. Proboscis extending just beyond antenna and midleg, nearly reaching end of wing. Labrum roughly shovel shaped with truncated apex. Eyepiece and frons ornamented with dense micro-ridging. Spiracular scars elongate, five times longer than wide. Cremaster ending in pair of minute thorn-like spines; cremaster deeply wrinkled and heavily sclerotized at base. Description of living final instar (Figs 31, 32). Ground color sea to mint green with pink to red dorsum and pale longitudinal striping along sides of trunk; A 8 modestly humped. Reddish dorsum composed of pink to pale red middorsal stripe flanked by darker red addorsal stripes; dorsal pinacula white. Mostly broken white pinstripe zigzags through D 1 pinacula. Red dorsal area bounded by pale (green to white) subdorsal pinstripe. Two supraspiracular pinstripes edged below with darker green. Lateral stripe, greenish white, roughly equal to height of spiracles, extending along lower end of spiracles. Prolegs on A 3 and A 4 about half size of those on A 5 and A 6. Head pale to dark brown above, often with pink to reddish flush; labrum greenish white, shallowly rugose frons, gena with three whitish lines that anastamose about stemmata. Description of living early instars (Fig. 30). All instars elongate, smooth, with numerous stripes; A 8 modestly humped. First and second instars reddish brown and white, shiny; middorsal white stripe enlarged over anterior half of A 8. Subspiracular white stripe thickened, enlarged to include each spiracle along trunk. All pinacula distinct, raised, brown black. First instar head width 0.15 - 0.16 mm. Second instar head width 0.40 - 0.56 mm. Third instar green and white, with brown-black pinacula; head width 0.90 - 1.00 mm. Fourth instar with small white pinacula as in final instar; head width 1.50 - 1.80 mm. Description of preserved final instar (Figs 19 - 27). Head. Texture microtuberculate. Width 2.5 - 2.8 mm. Field of brown aggregated spots on vertex, especially between P setae and L 1. Second group of spots caudad of S 3. P 1 2 x length of P 2. A 1 longest seta on head (Figs 20, 21, 24). V-shaped medial cleft about 2 / 5 labral depth (Figs 22, 25). Spinneret short, subequal to labial palpus (Fig. 26). Mandibles simple, inner surface mostly smooth (Fig. 23). Body. Length 34 - 44 mm. Integument smooth; lightly sclerotized prothoracic shield and anal plate. Primary setae short, most approximately 2 x height of spiracle on same segment (Fig. 19). Thorax. SV 1 longest seta on thoracic segments, ca. 3 x height of prothoracic spiracle and 11 / 2 x height of SV 2; spiracular height: 0.30 - 0.32 mm. Prothorax with SD 1 and SD 2 free from shield, positioned above spiracle. L 1 3 x longer than L 2 on T 2 and T 3. Meso- and metathorax with D and SD setae more or less vertically aligned (Fig. 19). Thoracic legs with apical and subapical blade-like setae proximal to claws (Fig. 27). Abdomen. Two SV on A 1, three SV on A 2. L 1 directly behind spiracle on A 1 - A 6 and A 8, displaced ventrad on A 7. D 2 becoming increasingly procumbent towards caudal end of body (Fig. 19). D 2 seta on A 8 and A 9 arising from slightly elevated and pigmented, rearward-facing wart. A 10 with D and SD setae on rearward facing warts. Spiracular height of A 1 through A 6 0.28 - 0.32 mm; height on A 7 0.26 - 0.28 mm; height on A 8 0.32 - 0.35 mm. Crochet numbers on A 3 - A 6 and A 10 as follows: 16 - 18, 17 - 22, 19 - 22, 20 - 23, and 20.	en	Zacharczenko, Brigette, Wagner, David L., Hatfield, Mary Jane (2014): A new cryptic Sympistis from eastern North America revealed by novel larval phenotype and host plant association (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Oncocnemidinae). ZooKeys 379: 93-107, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765
274F68490D8A3BA31278678B34CFEBDC.taxon	distribution	Distribution. Locally common in Midwest, especially prairies. Most commonly found in Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota. Believed to be extirpated from eastern portion of range in New York and New Jersey. Given that the genus Triosteum occurs from southern Canada to Texas and eastward, it is probable that the range of the new species is more extensive than circumscribed here.	en	Zacharczenko, Brigette, Wagner, David L., Hatfield, Mary Jane (2014): A new cryptic Sympistis from eastern North America revealed by novel larval phenotype and host plant association (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Oncocnemidinae). ZooKeys 379: 93-107, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765
274F68490D8A3BA31278678B34CFEBDC.taxon	discussion	Discussion. Sympistis chionanthi was described by J. E. Smith in Abbot and Smith 1797 based on a painting of the adult, caterpillar, pupa, and the host Chionanthus virginica Linn. (fringetree) (family Oleaceae) by Abbot. As is the case for all of taxa drawn by Abbot, there is no type specimen for Sympistis chionanthi. The common name " Grey O Moth " was given for the " O " shaped orbicular spot on each forewing. Abbot's rendering of the larva depicts a robust caterpillar that is pale brown laterally, shaded with darker brown dorsally, and bears a thick black subdorsal stripe, a slight stripe behind the head and a moderately humped A 8 segment. His illustration is undoubtedly a match for the current-day Sympistis chionanthi caterpillars from Fraxinus (Fig. 33). Despite not having any type material for Sympistis chionanthi, we are confident in our assessment that the original species description agrees with the current understanding of Sympistis chionanthi and that Sympistis forbesi represents a distinct species. Sympistis chionanthi was described as being very rare in Georgia (Abbot and Smith 1797). There are no recent reports of Sympistis chionanthi living in Georgia (J. Adams pers. comm.), and even in North Carolina it is an extremely rare mountain taxon (Bo Sullivan pers. comm.). Although the adults of Sympistis forbesi and Sympistis chionanthi are difficult (and sometimes impossible) to distinguish even upon dissection, their larvae are distinct in size, coloration, habitus, and life history. Presumably these coloration and morphological differences reflect, at least in part, the structural differences in their preferred hosts. Triosteum is an herbaceous perennial that dies back to the ground each winter; Fraxinus and Chionanthus are trees. The brown, bark-like coloration of late instar Sympistis chionanthi is suggestive that larvae rest off of foliage by day and perhaps even near the ground along the trunk or off the host in leaf litter. We know of no brown noctuoid larvae that rest on foliage by day, and many, like Catocala Schrank, Melipotis Huebner, and Zale Huebner, may wander far from the foliage when not feeding. The coloration of last instar Sympistis forbesi (Figs 32, 33) is reflective of its preferred resting site: the green stems of feverwort. Likewise, it is our guess that the less robust body, smaller prolegs, and reduced crochet hook number of Sympistis forbesi reflect the fact that larvae rest adjacent to suitable foliage. By contrast, the caterpillars of Sympistis chionanthi on a mature ash or fringetree may well have to traverse meters in search of suitable food each night. Surprisingly, no differences in mandible morphology of the two sister taxa were noted. Despite the differences between the hosts of Sympistis forbesi and Sympistis chionanthi, the plants share secondary metabolites which may elucidate how the ancestral host plant switch was able to occur. Triosteum are members of the Caprifoliaceae, whereas the hosts of Sympistis chionanthi (Chionanthus and Fraxinus) (Troubridge 2008, Robinson et al. 2012) are both Oleaceae. Both families are known to contain iridoid glycosides (Bowers 1991, Seigler 1998, Jensen et al. 2002, Lee et al. 2010). While larval hosts are known for only a small fraction of North American Sympistis (Troubridge 2008), at least among the known hosts, plants with iridoid glycosides figure prominently (Wagner et al. 2011). In western North America, Penstemon, in particular, well known to have iridoids (Stermitz et al. 1988, Krull and Stermitz 1998), supports numerous Sympistis species (DLW unpublished data). Prior to Troubridge's (2008) oncocnemidine revision, Sympistis chionanthi was classified in the monobasic genus, Adita Grote, 1874. Troubridge synonymized the genus into Sympistis and regarded chionanthi to be a highly derived species within Sympistis related to the Sympistis dentata species group. In addition to the species that we describe here, there may be additional cryptic species in collections sorted as " Adita chionanthi. " George Godfrey and Tim McCabe have beaten caterpillars of an " Adita " group species from Symphoricarpos Duhamel in the Upper Midwest. Images taken by Godfrey of these larvae closely approach those of Sympistis chionanthi, but differ in having more gray in the ground color and some brick red over the dorsum. Unfortunately, neither McCabe nor Godfrey reared adults or preserved larvae. John Franclemont collected a large series of " chionanthi " in Montana and reared an ex ova cohort on Fraxinus. Based on the number of pinned specimens, larval photographs, and genitalic dissections it seems likely that Franclemont believed the Montana populations might represent a new species. Adults average larger and brighter than material from eastern North America. Three individuals of " chionanthi " from nearby Alberta, also included in the barcoding dataset, clustered separately from the eastern individuals. Given the above, we caution that our figured male and female genitalic preparations (Figs 15 - 17) for Sympistis chionanthi are from central Canada; without larval or genetic data, we cannot with certainty know that these are nominate Sympistis chionanthi. We were unable to find consistent differences in male or female genitalia in Sympistis chionanthi (representing five states and provinces), or between Sympistis chionanthi and Sympistis forbesi. If our findings about the differences between Sympistis chionanthi and Sympistis forbesi are indicative for other members of the species group, or Sympistis more widely, larvae, life history data, and molecular data will be needed to tease apart the biological species in this complex. Part of our interest in the new species derives from our desire to document instances where rates of phenotypic evolution in Lepidoptera differ markedly among life stages. For example, in Acronicta Oschenehimer and some notodontid genera (e. g., Datana Walker and Schizura Doubleday) larval phenotypes differ substantially among related species that are otherwise difficult to determine using external and genitalic features of the adults. Adults of Acronicta hastulifera (J. E. Smith) and Acronicta dactylina Grote are sometimes impossible to separate by eye or dissection, but each has a distinctive larva that readily distinguishes the second to final instars of both species (Wagner et al. 2011; Schmidt and Anweiler unpublished data). Conversely, plusiine caterpillars are remarkably undifferentiated relative to their adults, and often require microscopic examination even to make generic and tribal assignments (Crumb 1956, Lafontaine and Poole 1991). The adults of Sympistis forbesi and Sympistis chionanthi are mixed in collections that we have examined (under the latter name). By contrast, their larvae, are immediately distinct, with the coloration of each approximating that of the stem-color of their primary hosts: feverwort (Triosteum) for Sympistis forbesi and ash (Chionanthus and Fraxinus) for Sympistis chionanthi. With careful morphological analysis, it may be possible to quantify these differing rates of phenotypic evolution within and between species using newly developed phylogenetic techniques (e. g., Adams 2013).	en	Zacharczenko, Brigette, Wagner, David L., Hatfield, Mary Jane (2014): A new cryptic Sympistis from eastern North America revealed by novel larval phenotype and host plant association (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Oncocnemidinae). ZooKeys 379: 93-107, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.379.5765
