Noctuidae - Acontiinae

 

Male

Female

 

 

Ponometia exigua (Fabricius)

Bombyx exigua Fabricius, 1793, Entomologiae Systematica, 3(1):462.

Nonagria indubitans Walker, 1857, List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 11:712.

Acontia costalis Walker, [1858] 1857, List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 12:787.

Acontia dimidiata Walker, 1865, List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 33:783.

Ponometia ochricosta Herrich-Schäffer, 1868, Corresp.-Blatt Zool.-Min. Ver. Regensburg, 22:154.

Monodes citrina Druce, 1889, Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Lepidoptera-Heterocera, 1:280, pl. 27, fig. 7.

Heliodora magnifica Neumoegen, 1891, Canad. Ent., 23:125.

Diagnosis: Ponometia exigua is a primarily tropical species and highly sexually dimorphic. The male is a diffuse, orange-brown. The basal area is light orange-brown and the antemedial line is reddish-brown, angled outward from the inner margin and then angled inward to the costa. The medial area is brown and slants outward from the inner margin. The lower three-fourths of the area are reddish-brown, and the upper one-fourth orange-brown except for a reddish-brown line representing the medial line. Both the reniform and the orbicular are usually absent, although in some specimens the orbicular may be small reddish-brown spot. The outer third of the forewing is orange-brown, but duller than the basal area. The hindwing is white, but infuscated with brown along the outer margin. Wing expanse from base to apex in one selected individual 11 mm.

The female forewing is primarily a rich, dark red-brown. However the the costa is a wide rich tan band from the base of the wing to the wing apex. This light band is accented with white along its lower margin.

Distribution: (Based only on material in the USNM) Ponometia exigua is primarily a tropical species occuring from the southeastern and south-central United States southward through the Antilles, Central America, and South America at least to Paraguay.

Identification Quality: Good

Larva: Unknown

Foodplants: Unknown

Distribution map based on specimens in the USNM

 

Ponometia exigua

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