A Revision of North American Lactura (Lepidoptera, Zygaenoidea, Lacturidae)

Abstract

The Lactura Walker, 1854 fauna north of Mexico is revised. Six species are documented, one new species Lactura nalli Matson & Wagner, sp. n. is described, and two new synonymies are proposed: Lactura psammitis (Zeller, 1872), syn. n. and L. rhodocentra (Meyrick, 1913), syn. n. One new subspecies Lactura subfervens sapeloensis Matson & Wagner, ssp. n. is also described. Adult and larval stages, male and female genitalia, are illustrated, a preliminary phylogeny is presented based on nuclear and mitochondrial data, distribution records provided for verified specimens, and the biology and life history for each species is briefly characterized. Phylogenetic analyses, larval phenotypes, and life history information reveal that much of the historic taxonomic confusion rampant across this group in North America traces to the phenotypic variation in just one species, L. subfervens (Walker, 1854).