Pyrrhia aurantiago (Guenée, 1852) (: ) in Louisiana by Vernon Antoine Brou Jr., 74320 Jack Loyd Road, Abita Springs, Louisiana 70420 USA email: [email protected]

The not often encountered Heliothine Pyrrhia aurantiago (Guenée) (Fig.1) was recently addressed by Schweitzer, et.al., (2011) as having a spotty distribution over a large portion of the eastern United States and southern Ontario. These authors specifically mention records of this 'uncommon to rarely captured' a b species from: Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Fig. 1. Pyrrhia aurantiago: male a, female b. 5

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec number of of adults number 0 Fig. 2. Adult Pyrrhia aurantiago captured in Louisiana. n = 36

Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The current series of captured adult aurantiago in Louisiana was taken over the past 43 years of continuous nightly ultraviolet light trapping and most records are from the *Abita Springs Study site.

Until recently, this species was known as (Guenée). Covell (1984) indicates the flight period in northern states to be July to September and in Florida, August to October. Heppner (2003) also states the flight period in Florida to include the months August to October. In Louisiana, aurantiago has a single brood occurring during Fig. 3. Parish records for September and October, peaking the last week of September Pyrrhia aurantiago. (Fig.2). The parish records are illustrated in Fig. 3.

* Abita Springs Entomological Study site: sec. 24,T6S, R12E, 4.2 miles northeast of Abita Springs, Louisiana. Literature cited

Covell, Jr., C.V. 1984. A field guide to eastern North America. The Peterson Field Guide Series No. 30. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. xv + 496pp., 64 plates. Heppner, J.B. 2003. 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. Schweitzer, D.F., M.C. Minno, and D.L. Wagner, 2011. Rare, declining, and poorly known butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) of forests and woodlands in the eastern United States. USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team.