Noctuidae - Acontiinae

 

Male

Female

 

 

Tarache apela (Druce)

Acontia apela Druce, 1889, Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Lepidoptera-Heterocera, 1:307, pl. 28, fig. 18.

Acontia philomela Druce, 1889, Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Lepidoptera-Heterocera, 1:307, pl. 28, fig. 19.

Diagnosis: The males and females of apela are sexually dimorphic. Both males and females have a swollen front of the head, but lack a frontal process. The male is primarily yellowish tan. The yellowish tan occupies most of the forewing up to the postmedial line. There is a prominent dark brown patch on the costa at the position of the antemedial line. The oribicular is a small, black dot and the reniform is a small circle. The lower half of the postmedial line is a thin, black line surrounded on both sides by brown. The subterminal line is wavey and light brown narrowly surrounded on both sides by yellow-tan. The hindwing is white, but suffused with brown around is outer margins. The female is much more heavily suffused with brown than the male and the overall color is white, not yellow-tan. The basal area of the forewing is white, but usually with diffuse patches of gray. A gray-brown band stretches from the costa and the antemedial line, curving into the middle of the general region of the postmedial line. The hindwing is completely suffused with gray-brown. Forewing expanse from base to apex  9 mm.

Distribution: (Based only on material in the USNM). (Tarache apela is primarily a Mexican species, reaching northward across the border into southeastern and south-central Arizona.

Identification Quality: Good

Larva: Unknown

Foodplants: Unknown

Tarache apela

Identifcation of small, brown acontiines

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