Alypia octomaculata (Fabricius, 1775) in Louisiana by Vernon Antoine Brou Jr., 74320 Jack Loyd Road, Abita Springs, Louisiana USA email: [email protected]
In the latest checklist (Hodges, et. al., 1983) 26 species of Agaristinae are listed of which ten species of the genus Alypia Hbn. are included. One species, Alypia octomaculata (F.) is known to occur in Louisiana (Fig. 1). This species is active day and night. A. octomaculata has two annual a b broods in Louisiana. At the time of the initial brood which peaks in March, adults fly to Fig. 1. Alypia octomaculata : a. male, b. female. flowers of sweetleaf, Symplocos tinctoria 20 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
10 number of adults 0 Fig. 2. Adult A. octomaculata captured at sec.24T6SR12E 4.2 mi. NE of Abita Springs, Louisiana. n = 335
(Garden) L'Her in bright sunshine much of the day. Heppner (2001) lists octomaculata to range: Nova Scotia to Florida and South Dakota to Texas. Also, Heppner lists Alypia wittfeldii H. Edwards to occur Florida to Texas. Wagner (2005) reports larvae of both species feed on grape, and Heitzman (1987), Wagner (2005) and Covell (2005) report octomaculata on grape and virginia creeper. In Louisiana, octomaculata has two annual broods (Fig. 2). All specimens illustrated in Fig. 2 were captured using ultra-violet light traps. The parish records are illustrated in Fig.3. Two female specimens from St. John the Baptist (May, 1978) (Fig. 4a) and St. Tammany (May, 2004) (Fig. 4b) parishes display markings distinct from octomaculata. Whether these represent variants of octomaculata or two unknown species is unclear.
Literature cited Fig. 3. Parish records for Covell, Jr., C.V. 2005. A field guide to moths eastern North A. octomaculata . America. Virginia Mus. Nat. Hist. spec. pub. No. 12. xv + 496pp., 64 plates. Heitzman, J. R. & J. E. Heitzman. 1987. Butterflies and Moths of Missouri. Missouri Dept. of Conservation, 385 pp. Heppner, J.B. 2003. Arthropods of Florida and neighboring land areas, vol. 17: Lepidoptera of Florida, Div. Plant Industry, Fla. Dept. Agr. & Consum. Serv., Gainesville. x + 670 pp., 55 plates. Hodges, R.W. et al. 1983. Checklist of the Lepidoptera of America north of Mexico. E.W. Classey Ltd. and The Wedge a b Entomol. Res. Found., Cambridge: Univ. Press. xxiv + 284 pp. Wagner, D. L. 2005. Caterpillars of Eastern North America, Fig. 4. Undetermined Alypia females. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton University Press 512 pp. 0 1-Jan 0 0 n = 335 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 1-Feb 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 20 2 1-Mar 0 2 2 0 1 4 3 10 9 1 1 11 4 9 4 9 9 16 8 17 3 3 5 14 14 8 11 4 10 4 20 6 1-Apr 5 5 3 1 2 1 1 5 5 1 5 2 3 4 3 2 3 1 4 1 4 1 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 20 0 1-May 0 2 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 6 2 1 6 1 1 5 2 2 5 3 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 20 0 1-Jun 1 0 0 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 20 0 1-Jul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 1-Aug 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 1-Sep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 Oct. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 1-Nov 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 1-Dec 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0