PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 106(3), 2004. pp. 649-653 A NEW HOLCOCERA CLEMENS (LEPIDOPTERA: GELECHIOIDEA: COLEOPHORIDAE) FROM MOUNTAINOUS SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA David Adamski Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Insti-tution, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 168. Washington. DC 20013-7012, U.S.A. (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract. — Holcocera fergiisoni, new species, is described from two high-altitudinal collecting sites in the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Chiricahua Mountains in south-eastern Arizona. A photograph of the holotype and illustrations of wing venation and male and female genitalia are provided. Key Words: Holcocerini, microlepidoptera, North America, taxonomy Hodges (1983) treated 109 species of North American Blastobasinae. Later Adamski and Hodges (1996) discovered 61 synonomies. reducing the total number of Blastobasinae by more than one half. Al-though this taxon is little known, it is one of the most commonly collected gelechioid groups at light. Moreover, I have observed many undescribed species in institutional and private collections indicating that the Blastobasinae could be a much more spe-ciose group than previously considered. The monophyly of the Blastobasinae has been collaborated from studies by Adamski and Brown (1989) and Hodges (1998). Generally, species are dull gray or brown with few, if any, diagnostic wing patterns, making identification difficult unless the genitalia are examined. I follow the current phylogenetic classification of the Gelechioi-dea proposed by Hodges (1998). In this work, the Blastobasinae {sensu Adamski and Brown 1989) are treated as a subfamily within the Coleophoridae. Thus, the Blas-tobasinae are subdivided into two clades, the Holcocerini and the Blastobasini. The North American Holcocerini include three genera, Asaphocrita Meyrick 1931, Holcocera Clemens 1863, and Calosima Dietz 1910. It contains many of the largest moths in the subfamily yet it is the least speciose of the two tribes within the Blas-tobasinae. Holcocerini can be recognized by the following features: ring support at the base of the aedeagus, anterior margin of the eighth sternum medially emarginate in female, eighth sternum setose in female, and inception of ductus seminalis anterior from posterior margin of seventh sternum. Additional plesiomorphic characters found in Holcocerini that separate them from Blastobasini are listed in Adamski (2002). About a month before Douglas C. Fer-guson's untimely death he gave me six specimens of an undescribed Holcocera that he collected at a high elevation col-lecting site in the Santa Catalina Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Initially, this spe-cies was to be included in a future fascicle on the Blastobasinae in the Moths of Amer-ica north of Mexico series published by the Wedge Entomological Research Founda-tion. However, after Doug Ferguson's death. I was compelled to describe the new moth in a separate paper to honor the life of a fellow colleague and friend.
BioStor
