Alypiodes species
Alypiodes bimaculata. Collected Miller Canyon, Huachuca Mtns, elev 5000' Cochise Co., AZ, 28 March 1970. Collection of AMNH.
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Agarista bimaculata Herrich-Schäffer, [1853], from Sammlung Aussereuropaischer Schmetterlinge, vol. 1, series 1; plate 29, Figure 26.
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Alypiodes is a genus of Agaristine Noctuid with four named species, two of which are known to occur in the southwestern United States. The US species are Alypiodes bimaculata and Alypiodes geronimo. Alypiodes geronimo is generally restricted in its US distribution to southern Arizona. Alypiodes bimaculata has been recorded from a wider range across Arizona and New Mexico as far east as the Davis Mtns. in west Texas and north to Chafee Co. in central Colorado. The other two named species, recorded from Mexico, are Alypiodes radians and Alypiodes walkeri. Recognized larval host plants for the US species are Mirabilis and Boerhavia in the Nyctaginaceae. Our lab is currently studying the relatedness of Alypiodes species, their native ranges, and variability in the adult and larval forms.
Recent DNA sequencing work in our lab and larval morphology strongly suggest that the species currently recognized as Alypiodes bimaculata includes at least two distinct species. The new species in the genus can generally be recognized by variation in wing markings on the forewings as well as the geographic range and larval form. Alypiodes specimens from the Gila NF in SW New Mexico, from the Sacramento mountains in eastern New Mexico, from northern New Mexico, and most likely those from Colorado and west Texas all will likely be shown to belong to a species distinct from A. bimaculata.
Among the junior synonyms published as species names for A. bimaculata is Alypiodes flavilinguis Grote, 1883 [Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 8: 46]. This name was applied to specimens collected in 1882 by Francis Huntington Snow, taken near a hot spring in Las Vegas, New Mexico, just east of Santa Fe. We have examined one of these specimens in the collection of Cornell University, and find it to conform outwardly to the other examples of Alypiodes in NM that will be separated from A. bimaculata. Consequently, it seems likely that Alypiodes flavilinguis may again be elevated to a species name.
At least one other form of Alypiodes bimaculata from Mexico with a more extensively marked hindwing (described as Alypiodes bimaculata var. dugesii Cockerell, 1895, [Ent. News, 6: 201]) may potentially represent another distinct species in the complex or simply intraspecific variability (see images at bottom), but definitive placement of that form will need to await DNA sequence data and other life history information. This form is also seen in the Titian Peale collection in Peale Box 17 at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Recent DNA sequencing work in our lab and larval morphology strongly suggest that the species currently recognized as Alypiodes bimaculata includes at least two distinct species. The new species in the genus can generally be recognized by variation in wing markings on the forewings as well as the geographic range and larval form. Alypiodes specimens from the Gila NF in SW New Mexico, from the Sacramento mountains in eastern New Mexico, from northern New Mexico, and most likely those from Colorado and west Texas all will likely be shown to belong to a species distinct from A. bimaculata.
Among the junior synonyms published as species names for A. bimaculata is Alypiodes flavilinguis Grote, 1883 [Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 8: 46]. This name was applied to specimens collected in 1882 by Francis Huntington Snow, taken near a hot spring in Las Vegas, New Mexico, just east of Santa Fe. We have examined one of these specimens in the collection of Cornell University, and find it to conform outwardly to the other examples of Alypiodes in NM that will be separated from A. bimaculata. Consequently, it seems likely that Alypiodes flavilinguis may again be elevated to a species name.
At least one other form of Alypiodes bimaculata from Mexico with a more extensively marked hindwing (described as Alypiodes bimaculata var. dugesii Cockerell, 1895, [Ent. News, 6: 201]) may potentially represent another distinct species in the complex or simply intraspecific variability (see images at bottom), but definitive placement of that form will need to await DNA sequence data and other life history information. This form is also seen in the Titian Peale collection in Peale Box 17 at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Alypiodes bimaculata, collected Carr Canyon, Cochise Co., Arizona on August 2, 1971. Collection of AMNH.
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Alypiodes geronimo, adult female. Sexes are sexually dimorphic. Male has additional third white spot on forewing. Specimen collected Pena Blanca Lake, Santa Cruz Co., AZ, 8 August 1971. Collection of AMNH.
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Alypiodes radians (Felder, 1874)
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Alypiodes walkeri (Druce, 1888)
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Alypiodes 'bimaculata' Mexico. Collection CUIC.
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Alypiodes 'bimaculata' Mexico. Collected Pedregal de San Angel, Distrito Federal, MX, 8 July 1917. Collection of AMNH.
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