Image of Aristotelia rubidella Clemens 1860

Description:

Aristotelia rubidella (Clemens, 1860), to MV light, Kissimmee, Florida, 1/2 May 2015 This individual was barcoded: www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid... BOLD linked the individual with specimens sharing the same appearance and identical sequences but identified as Aristotelia corallina Walsingham, 1909: www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=... However A. corallina, as presented in MPG and BugGuide has a very different appearance from these BOLD specimens: mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=1733.1 bugguide.net/node/view/336808 The next closest match in BOLD was to A. rubidella but with lower than 96% similarity: www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=... Walsingham's original description of A. corallina is in Biologia Centrali-Americana: biodiversitylibrary.org/page/593172 1. Aristotelia corallina, sp. n. Antennae blackish. Palpi with the median joint somewhat expanded outwardly ; cream-whitish, banded externally with a brownish shade ; terminal joint whitish, with two blackish bands. Head rosy cream-colour ; Thorax the same, but with a stronger reddish tinge, the tegulae blackish. Forewings blackish, the dorsum rich rosy reddish, this colour diffused upward along the termen and over the terminal cilia through which runs a somewhat obscurely reduplicated dark shade-line ; terminal cilia blackish, preceded by three small rosy reddish costal spots. Exp. al. 12 mm. Hindwings dark grey ; cilia brownish cinereous. Abdomen brownish cinereous. Legs brownish cinereous, broadly banded with fuscous externally on each joint. Type ♂ (65760) Mus. Wlsm. (Godm-Salv. GoU.). [PT. (65762) US, Nat. Mus.] Hab. Mexico: GUERRERO : Amula, 6000 ft., VIII-IX. (H. H. Smith). Three specimens. The rosy cream of the head, thorax, and dorsum, contrasted with the blackish forewings, renders this species somewhat conspicuous. This description matches the moths shown in MPG and BugGuide, but not those in BOLD. This suggests that the BOLD specimens represent a presumably undescribed species closely related to A. rubidella and that the identification of these as A. corallina is likely to be incorrect.