Lasionycta staudingeri

Lasionycta staudingeri (Aurivillius)

Figs 47–49, 163, 219. Map 13

Anarta schoenherri Staudinger, 1861: 373, not Zetterstedt, 1839.

Anarta staudingeri Aurivillius, 1891a: 176. Replacement name for Anarta schoenherri Staudinger.

Lasiestra staudingeri; McDunnough 1938: 71.

Hada staudingeri; Hartig and Heinicke 1973: 193.

Lasionycta staudingeri; Lafontaine et al. 1986: 261.

Anarta zemblica Hampson, 1905: 47, syn. n.

Anarta preblei Benjamin, 1933: 59.

Lasiestra leucocycla preblei; McDunnough 1938: 72.

Lasiestra preblei; Franclemont and Todd 1983: 149.

Lasionycta staudingeri preblei; Lafontaine et al. 1986: 261.

Lasionycta staudingeri sajanensis Kononenko, 1986, in Lafontaine et al. 1986: 263. Extralimital

Type material. Anarta staudingeri: holotype [NHRS, not examined]. Type locality: Dovre, Norway. Anarta zemblica: holotype ♀ [BMNH, examined]. Type locality: Shuberta Bay, Zovaya Zembla, Russia. Anarta preblei: holotype ♁ [USNM, examined]. Type locality: St. Paul Island, Alaska.

Diagnosis. Lasionycta staudingeri is a small arctic species with a mottled dark-gray forewing. Th e hindwing is typical for the sub-group, although those of some specimens are heavily suffused with black. Males of L. staudingeri, L. subfumosa, and L. dolosa differ from other Lasionycta in having a corona comprised of an irregular double row of setae. Th e base of the cucullus is mildly constricted and the digitus is small and shaped like an equilateral triangle. Females have a small corpus bursae with a weak mesial constriction. Lasionycta staudingeri and L. subfumosa are arctic species whereas L. dolosa occurs in Colorado. North American L. staudingeri belong to subspecies preblei (Benjamin) characterized by olive patches on the forewing and dark suffusion on the basal hindwing, features absent in L. subfumosa. Lasionycta staudingeri is also darker gray than L. subfumosa.

Lasionycta staudingeri is similar to L. leucocycla with which it occurs. It can be separated from L. leucocycla without dissection by the absence of an ocellus in the orbicular spot (present in L. leucocycla), and by a more bipectinate male antenna (> 2× central shaft width in L. staudingeri; <2× shaft in L. leucocycla).

Distribution and biology. Lasionycta staudingeri is Holarctic and the nominate subspecies occurs in Eurasia. In North America L. s. preblei is widely distributed north of the 60th parallel. This subspecies also occurs in the eastern Palaearctic (Lafontaine et al. 1986). Lasionycta staudingeri is diurnal and flies over dry scree tundra. Adults have been collected from late June to mid-August.

The larva of L. staudingeri feeds on Empetrum nigrum L. in Finland and was described by Lafontaine et al. (1986). It is polyphagous when reared (Ahola and Silvonen 2008).

Remarks. We follow Lafontaine et al. (1986) in treating North American populations as conspecific with Eurasian populations, although this has not been evaluated by DNA sequencing. Lasionycta subfumosa from Victoria Island and Alaska and L. dolosa from Colorado were previously treated as subspecies of L. staudingeri (Lafontaine et al. 1986).