PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 83(3), 1981, pp. 413^20 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM AND GENITALIA OF XESTIA DOLOSA AND XESTIA ADELA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) Anne Hudson Biosystematics Research Institute, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario KIA 0C6. Abstract. — The spiral fertilization canal of females and the aedeagus of males are described and can be used to identify Xestia dolosa Franclemont and Xestia adela Franclemont in sympatric populations in eastern and southwestern Ontario. Xestia dolosa Franclemont and Xestia adela Franclemont, until recently known as the large and small forms of Amathes c-nigruin (Linnaeus), were described as two new species by Franclemont (1980) on the basis of differ-ences in size, colour, and genitalia of both males and females. The shape of the ostial plate and its excavation in the females of the two species is quite distinct in most specimens, ahhough specimens intermediate in size are often intermediate in this character also, at least in the eastern and southwestern Ontario populations we have examined (Hudson and Lefko-vitch, 1980). Characters of the male genitalia are also difficult to interpret in individuals of intermediate size. During a study of isozyme variation in the two species, Hudson and Lef-kovitch (1980) found that two allozymes of adenylate kinase could be used to distinguish X. dolosa from X. adela in sympatric populations in Ontario; a faster moving band Adk*^ characterized adela, whereas dolosa was distin-guished by a slower band Adk^ Examination of the reproductive systems and genitalia of moths segregated in this way revealed two additional char-acters useful for identification. This paper describes the differences seen between the species in the scler-otized portion of the spermathecal duct (fertilization canal) of the females, and in the extent and number of spines on the sclerotized plate (keel-like carina of Callahan and Chapin, 1960) at the distal end of the aedeagus of the males. Materials and Methods The moths used for this study were collected in light traps set in North Gower near Ottawa, London, and Harrow, Ontario. Genitalia and repro-
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