Noctuidae - Acontiinae

 

 

 

Ponometia nigra (Mustelin)

Tarachidia nigra Mustelin, Zootaxa, 1278:8, fig. 2 adult, fig. 27 male genitalia.

Diagnosis: Ponometia nigra is the smallest species of the tortricina species complex. The wings are black to dark brown black without any distinct maculation. Both valves of the male genitalia have projecting points on their lower margins. The corpus bursae of the female genitalia has a wide, heavily sclerotized plate with several stout spines.

Distribution: This species is represented in the USNM only by old material from Riverside and Placer counties. The more extensive distribution reported in the original description of this species needs to be verfied.

Identification Quality: Fair to poor. There are four species in the tortricina species group as here defined; Ponometia tortricina from midwestern North American from the Canadian prairie provinces southward to Texas and westward to the Great Basin region of North America, Ponometia parvula distributed in the southeastern coastal regions of the United States, Ponometia fumata situated in the Pacific Northwestern and southward along the Nevada-California border, and finally Ponometia nigra with an undetermined range in California. Although there appear to be good genitalic differences between these four "species" (particularly in the female genitalia) , more work is need in a revisionary context.

Larva: Unknown

Foodplants: Unknown

Distribution map based on specimens in the USNM

 

Ponometia nigra

 

Similar Species

Ponometia deleta