146 JOURNAL OF THE LEPIDOPTERISTS' SOCIETY

Journal of The Lepidopterists' Society 33 (2), 1979, 146-147

TWO SOUTHERN COSSIDS () IN THE NEW JERSEY PINE BARRENS

I have been collecting in the New Jersey Pine Barrens for over ten years and have been working off and on at a regional list. This area is well known for harboring many unusual species, including more or less disjunct popula­ tions of both boreal and southern coastal plain species. However, my recent discovery of two southern cossids there came as quite a surprise. The first of these, a single male of Givira anna (Dyar) (Fig. 1, above) was collected at a 20W black light by me at Batsto, Burlington Co. on 21 June 1969. It was identified at the American Museum of Natural History in June 1973 with the help of Dr. Alexander B. Klots and later confirmed by Dr. John C. Franclemont in August 1975. It is in my collection. Barnes and McDunnough (1911, Revision of the Cossidae of North America, Decatur, IllinOiS, Review Press) had records of this species only from Florida. Kimball (1965, The Lepidoptera of Florida, State of Fla., Div. of Plant Industry) gave records covering much of the state and indicated the food to be pine. I also have a male of this species from Florence, South Carolina, 14 August 1963, leg. V. M. Kirk. The Peabody Museum collection at Yale Uni­ versity contains at least three males from McClellanville, South Carolina, taken at the Wedge Plantation, 4-14 August 1967, leg. Charles W. Porter. The second species is Inguromorpha basalis (Walker) (Fig. 1, below), a male of which was taken at Batsto on 2 July 1972 in a black light trap operated for me by Annie Carter. The specimen is in my collection. I again encountered this species at the same locality on 20 June 1977 when I took a much larger male in a MV

Fig. 1. Two southern cossids taken in the New Jersey Pine Barrens: above, Givira anna t, Batsto, Burlington Co., New Jersey, 21 June 1969, leg. D. F. Schweitzer; below, Inguromorpha basalis t, same locality, 2 July 1972, leg. A. Carter. Both specimens life-size. VOLUME 33, NUMBER 2 147

Robinson trap. Unfortunately the apical regions of both forewings are badly damaged, probably from flying inside the trap. This specimen is at the Peabody Museum, Yale University. The 1972 specimen was confimled by Dr. Franclemont along with the above Givira. Barnes and McDunnough (op. cit. ) record it only from Florida and Kimball's records (op. cit.) cover much of that state. All of these specimens were collected within 20 m to the north of the Batsto Nature Center, situated on the top of the small hill near the east bank of the Batsto river, just above the dam. The surrounding vegetation includes a woodlot of various oaks and adventive species and extensive areas of essentially natural oak-pine and pine-oak forests extending more or less unbroken for hundreds of square kilometers, especially to the north. The pines are Pinus echinata Mill., and P. rigida Mill., with the former predominating at the im­ mediate area of the captures.

DALE F. SCHWEITZER, Curatorial Associate, Entomology, Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520.

Journal of The Lepidopterists' Society 33(2), 1979, 147-148

A MELANISTIC SPECIMEN OF ANTHERAEA POLYPHEMUS POLYPHEMUS (SATURNIIDAE)

On 2 June 1975, the senior author received a living specimen of Antheraea poly­ phemus polyphemus (Cramer) that was most unusual in coloration (Figs. 1-4). The moth, a female, had eclosed on 1 June from a cocoon found approximately two weeks previously on a fence in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The cocoon had been given

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Figs. 1-4. Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer): l. typical female from Winnipeg, dorsum; 2. typical female, venter; 3. melanistic female, dorsum; 4. melanistic female, venter. (Photos by W. B. Preston).