ALG News—Volume 1, Issue 1 Yucca at Onefour February 2005 Greg Pohl Three of yucca moths Schmitt boxes piled in a basement attended the 50th Annual meeting (Prodoxidae) are known in Al- hallway, under a thick layer of in Lethbridge. I tracked down a berta; Tegeticula yuccasella (the dust and rubble from recent reno- phone number and gave him a "yucca ") and Prodoxus vations. In those boxes I found call. He remembered the field trip quinquepuntellus (the "bogus two series of yucca moths. One quite clearly. Long retired now, yucca moth") have long been series (T. yuccasella and P. quin- he was a technician working for known from , but a third, quepunctellus) was labeled sim- R.W. Salt at AAFC Lethbridge at Tegeticula corruptrix (the ply "Lost River 9.7.50", with no the time. Apparently a group of "corrupt yucca moth") is a recent collector name. The other series about half a dozen entomologists, discovery. All three species are led by Dr. Strickland, had gone dependent on yucca plants, and out to the Cypress Hills for a each has its own unique rela- weekend collecting trip in 1950. tionship with the plants, with a On July 9, they had made a day varying degree of cooperation trip to Onefour to collect yucca and/or exploitation. Yucca moths. Mr. Hewitt had no recol- plants are known in Alberta lection of any yucca being found from only two sites near the at the Cypress Hills; he was sure Onefour Research Station in the the specimens had gotten incor- extreme southeastern corner of rectly associated with the Cy-

the province. Yucca moths have press Hills material and had thus only been found at one of these been mislabeled. Besides him- A

T sites, and are currently being self and Dr. Strickland, he evaluated as candidates for pro- thought that probably Stuart R tection under the Species At (Mac) McDonald and Dr. Nor- E Risk Act. man Church were on the trip, as B well as a couple of others. Based L Recently, while checking identi- on the collection dates, I suspect A fications of prodoxid specimens that Kenneth Bowman had gone

in various Alberta collections, I down a week ahead of the oth- E s came across several series of D ers, and likely met them there. H L yucca moths, all collected in He was probably tipped off T I 1950 by several different peo-

about the yucca by someone

U ple. The Strickland Museum at

F working on the Onefour station, w the University of Alberta has a G

O which was (and is) an area

series of specimens collected by

’ where various grazing regimes Dr. E.H. Strickland and K. Yucca Plant near Onefour e

R are studied. S Bowman. Most of the specimens

E (all three species) was labeled T were collected by Kenneth Bow- When I look at these old speci-

T "Cypress Hills Alta., 9.VII.1950, S man, on July 9, but a few are mens I wonder how similar the T

I A. Hewitt". This potentially rep-

N from earlier dates; June 28, June July 1950 trip was to our own E resented a second locality for R 30 and July 2, 4, and 6. All of Dr. collecting adventures, such as the L these rare moths, so I decided to E Edgar Strickland's specimens Biological Survey of trip

S do a little sleuthing. I was assured T were collected on July 9. All three by botanist/entomologist Charley to Onefour in June 2001. What P W species were present in this series. Bird that no yucca plants were would it have been like going out O E G collecting with Bowman and While at the Agriculture and known to exist in the Cypress D N Hills, 75 km North of the Onefour Strickland? Was it all very formal I Agri-Food Canada Lethbridge Site. Then I remembered that a and serious, or were they like L Research Station two years ago, I P excited kids chasing after cool L was going through a stack of old certain Art Hewitt, a founding A E member of the Entomological stuff? I L Society of Alberta, had recently C I A

F Inside this issue: F Alberta Sphinx Moths 2 Special points of interest: O 2 Parnassius smintheus manitobaensis Bryk • New moths for the Alberta E moths in Alberta 3

H List! (pages 2, 3 & 4) Yet Another New Noctuid for Alberta 3 T New Dodia sp. discovered at Holmes Crossing Ecological Res. 3 • A new species to be described! Cardrina morpheus (Hufnagel) the “Mottled Rustic”, “Brungult 4 (page 3) Lövfly” or Ruskonurmiyökkönen.”

Wolley Dod Award Winner for 2005! 4 • What is the ALG? (page 4)

Upcoming Events 4 Page 1 ALG News Volume 1, Issue 1

Alberta Sphinx Moths by Gary Anweiler

Sphinx Moths are rather large beasts. Lloydminster-Wainwright area, but we most common beautiful species, the As Dave Lawrie demonstrated, the lar- have found it from Writing-on-Stone to One-eyed Sphinx ( cerisyi) vae of Big Poplar Sphinx (Pachysphinx Redwater, with both adults and larvae modesta) are probably the heaviest in- found in Edmonton. We have added sects in Alberta. As big they many new localities for the two day- attract a fair amount of attention. Many flying Proserpinus, the Yellow-banded are also among the most beautiful of Day Sphinx (P. flavofasciata) and the our moths, and a number of species fly Juanita Sphinx (P. juanita). And this during the day when normal folks are year for the first time, if I am not mis- up and about. Consequently it is easy to taken, the introduced Spurge Sphinx assume they are a well-known group, (Hyles euphorbiae) has made it up with few surprises to offer. Not so! from the southern grasslands north to Edmonton. In the short time that ALG has been active, we have added four species to Smerinthus cerisyi the list, the Northern Pine Sphinx ( bombycoides), Hog Sphinx is not entirely what it seems either, and (Darapsa pholus), Slender Clearwing it looks like the form found in south- (Hemaris gracilis) and Elm Sphinx “we have added four western Alberta is a second species, S. ( amyntor). We have also ophthalmica. Chris has been looking added new distribution records for a into this. number of species for which there were species to the list “ only one or two records. The Wild Sphinx moths are powerful flyers, and Cherry Sphinx (Sphinx drupiferarum) southern species periodically show up was known from a single old record far to the north of their normal range. Within this small group (24 Alberta This behavior, perhaps in combination from Red Deer; we now have records species to date) there are still several from a number of sites in east-central with global warming, will undoubtedly taxonomic issues needing resolution. result in additional species being added Alberta, with 18 in the traps in a single The form of the Big Poplar Sphinx night at Edgerton last spring. Bowman to Alberta list in coming years. May it found in the southern grasslands region appear in your trap or at your light. In reported a single record of the Waved has been identified as both P. occiden- Sphinx (Ceratomia undulosa) from the my experience it beats the heck out of talis and as P. modesta. One of our finding a new noctuid!

Parnassius smintheus manitobaensis Bryk & Eisner, 1935 - a new race of parnassian butterfly ostensibly described from End Mountain, Mt. Exshaw in by Joe Belicek It was not exactly earth shattering the specimens had proper labels news when Bryk and Eisner de- before they left Canada, identify- scribed another new race of par- ing them as Alberta material. nassian butterfly in 1935, but the In a follow-up article, Can. Ent. event caused few stirrings in Ot- 68: 216-225, J.H. McDunnough tawa. According to the description, wrote a critical review of the there were high mountains in Mani- treatment on North American toba from where this butterfly came Parnassius species by Felix from. And this was news. And, pre- Bryk. viously, as it remains to this day, Parnassius butterflies were not On my European trip this past known to occur this far east! summer I was able to photo- graph the 'Corpus Delictus' as Dominion entomologist James H. one of the co-types in the Mu- McDunnough was tasked to investi- seum of Natural History in Vi- gate this find. In 1936 he writes his Parnassius smintheus manitobaensis enna. From time to time, it is verdict in Can. Entomologist, 68: useful to reflect on the history p.43: - the type locality “End Moun- investigations Mr. McDunnough ...... "They even invented moun- tain, Mt. Exshaw in Manitoba” is in was even able to locate and talk to tains in Manitoba!" fact near Exshaw, Alberta. In his the person who supplied the speci- mens to Bryk. He was assured that

Page 2 ALG News Volume 1, Issue 1

Ethmia moths in Alberta by Greg Pohl Recently Doug Macaulay brought a box www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/ of micromoths to me, that he'd been col- moths/usa/842.htm) looks much paler than lecting in wondrous nooks and crannies the Alberta specimens I've seen. around Alberta. The biggest and brightest of the bunch was a fine specimen of Eth- On first glance, ethmiids look like small Crambidia mia albicostella (Beutenmüller 1889). lithosiine arctiids such as or Eilema This is a handsome moth with a wingspan . They used to be placed in their own of over 2 cm - pretty big by micromoth family, but now are considered a subfamily standards. To my knowledge, Doug's Ethmia albicostella & E. monticola of Elachistidae. In North America, the high- Ethmia specimen is the first one collected in 40 est diversity of species is in the years in Alberta. It came from the Wain- here was pulled off a website entitled Southwest. The only other species known Ethmia monticola wright Dunes, pretty far removed from "Moths of " (http:// in Alberta is ; its wings previous records of Cardston and www.ndsu.edu/ndsu/ndmoths/ are a beautiful steel-blue with black dots, Kananaskis. The host of this species is names/1001.htm); it was taken by Ge- and its abdomen is covered in orange E albicostella reported as Lithospermum; we'll need rald Fauske. The image on Opler's inap- scales. Like . , it has been col- some more records to get a better idea of propriately named "Moths of Western lected in prairie and montane habitats. its ecological requirements. The image North America" website (http:// Yet Another New Noctuid for Alberta by Gary Anweiler

While visiting the Canadian Moths web- of our trips to Redwater a couple of site last week I noted that several species springs ago – and to my surprise it was of that have been listed for neither of the above, but instead L. gro- are not listed for Alberta. tei !! This one had not been found west of Two of them (L. laticinerea and L. uni- . Another moth illustrating how moda) looked a lot like one I had from little work has been done in the boreal Edgerton. They all look a lot like our forest across the prairies, except by ALG common L. georgii, but like nothing else here in Alberta. on the Alberta list. I thought they looked like L. laticinerea and Jim Troubridge Lithophane grotei I received confirmation of my identifica- thought they resembled L. unimoda. The tion from the head office today (the good news is the male genitalia have doptera of and neighboring CNCI), so it is “official”. Check the good characters, and the genitalia of all states. Part III.” So I gutted one I had Lithophane in your collections, and add three are illustrated in Forbes’ “the Lepi- picked off the MV light sheet during one this one to your lists. New Dodia species discovered at Holmes Crossing Ecological Reserve by Doug Macaulay On June 9th, I awoke to go pick up my Anyhow, Chris and I are planning to UV traps from the Holmes Crossing team up and attempt to put a name to Ecological Reserve and to my surprise this new species in the next little the new Dodia species was amongst the while and I encourage anyone else few collected that morning. who lives near pine forest to run a I believe this is the 5th specimen ever trap next June in the suspected habi- collected and is currently an un- tat. There is a definite need for a few described species. Previous locations more specimens. include Harlan, Saskatchewan, the The current localities and number of Caribou Mountains and now in Holmes specimens is as follows: Crossing Ecological Reserve. - 1 from Harlan, Saskatchewan From a conversation with Chris Schmidt, who collected a couple speci- - 3 from Wentzel Lake in the Caribou mens from the Caribous, we both felt U nk now n Dodia s p ecies res ting on g round at Mountains of Northern Alberta H olm es C ros s ing E colog ical R es erv e. that its habitat may be low areas in Pine - 1 from Holmes Crossing Ecological forest that contain mats of blueberry Reserve with overhanging alder. Of course we but I wouldn’t be surprised if it fed on have no confirmed host plant records blueberry.

Page 3 ALG News Volume 1, Issue 1

T HE O FFI CI AL NE WS LE TT ER O F T HE ALBERT A What is the ALG? LE PI DO PT ERI ST S ’ GUI LD The Alberta Lepidopterists' Guild (ALG) is a non-profit society made up of amateur and professional Lepidopterists. Our objective is to support and encourage the study and appreciation of Alberta (butterflies and moths). We coordinate research projects, facilitate the exchange of informa- tion among members, and host events where people can collect and look at Lepidoptera and exchange information and ideas. We have an elected execu- tive, and hold at least one annual general meeting to handle society business.

We also host a members-only electronic bulletin board, and numerous scien- To contact us, you can reach the ALG tific and social events throughout the province. President Greg Pohl at:

Alberta is a province in western Canada which includes a diverse range of [email protected] habitats, including mountains, boreal forest, and prairie. Over 3000 species of butterflies and moths are thought to live here; so far about three-quarters daytime phone: (780) 435-7211 of these are known. We’re on the Web! Visit us at www.biology.ualberta.ca/uasm/alg/index.html morpheus (Hufnagel) the “Mottled Upcoming Events Rustic”, “Brungult Lövfly” or Feralia Festival 2005 John Acorn is hosting this exciting event “Ruskonurmiyökkönen.” by Gary Anweiler once again on March 5th. It is a potluck starting at 5:00 pm and this years theme is First found in Alberta in Edmonton, "dress like a larva." His address is 132 July 2004. This is a European species Walsh Crescent. that has managed to find its way to both the east and west coasts of Can- Waterton Bioblitz ada. We have no idea from which di- rection it arrived, but as it has appar- On July 7-12, the Biological Survey of ently not yet been found in SK or MB, Canada is planning a collecting trip to Wa- BC is the most likely origin. About a terton Lakes National Park and surrounding dozen specimens were taken in the area. A collecting permit will be arranged, Weisgarber-Anweiler back yard be- in exchange for species lists from the collec- tween July 1-21, 2004. Caradrina morpheus tors. All serious collectors are welcome to attend. We will be planning several specific trips to habitats in and around the park over several days. Contact Greg Pohl Wolley Dod Award Winner for 2004! ([email protected]) for details. This year's Wolley Dod Brandon Manitoba (the type 2005 Joint Annual Meeting Award goes to Chris locality is Aweme MB), and From November 3rd to 6th the Entomology Schmidt for his discov- globally from there and two Society of Alberta and the Entomology So- ery of a colony of the sites in Colorado. Schmidt later ciety of Canada are hosting a joint meeting rare, day-flying Flower found an old unidentified in Canmore, Alberta at the Radisson Hotel Moth avemensis specimen of the same critter, and Conference Centre. For more informa- (Gold-edged Gem). caught by Dr. E.H. Strickland tion or for contact and registration informa- Chris found this speci- at Medicine Hat in 1939 - tion visit www.esc-canmore.org. men in a small area of Schinia avemensis thereby proving that they are not new to Alberta - just to our sand blow-outs along the Chief Editor: Doug Macaulay eastern Red Deer River. This was awareness. previously known in Canada only from a Additional Editors: Joe Belicek, Jason The Wolley Dod award is given annually Edwards, Jim Jones & Chris Schmidt single colony in the Spirit Dunes near for the most significant Alberta Lepidop- Page 4 ALG News Volume 1, Issue 1