Lasionycta phaea species-group The male genitalia of the L. phaea species-group resemble those of the L. skraelingia speciesgroup, but the uncus is broadly flattened and spatulate with a squared-off apex and the digitus is longer, extending below the valve. Females have a distinctly different bursa than those of the L. skraelingia species-group. Th e corpus bursae is ovoid, not rounded, with less sclerotized signa. Th e appendix bursae is attached to the dorsal corpus bursae rather than to the left side and extends dorsally and to the left. Its surface is grooved producing a weak spiral of approximately 1.5 turns. Th e male antenna is beadlike (L. phaea) to biserrate (1.5× as wide as shaft in two Asian species (Lafontaine and Kononenko 1988)). Lasionycta phaea is the only North American member of the species-group. Three additional species, L. alpicola Lafontaine & Kononenko, L. buraetica Kononenko, and L. corax Kononenko, are found in central and western Asia (Lafontaine and Kononenko 1988). The species in this species-group were included in the L. skraelingia species-group by Lafontaine and Kononenko (1988). In addition to the structural differences between the species-groups, L. phaea fails to group with L. skraelingia and L. taigata on CO1 distance analysis, instead clustering near L. secedens (Fig 247).

Published as part of Crabo, Lars & Lafontaine, Donald, 2009, A Revision of Lasionycta Aurivillius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) for North America and notes on Eurasian species, with descriptions of 17 new species, 6 new subspecies, a new genus, and two new species of Tricholita Grote, pp. 1-156 in ZooKeys 30 (30) on pages 15-16, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.30.308, http://zenodo.org/record/576576

{"references": ["Lafontaine JD, Kononenko VS (1988) A revision of the Lasionycta skraelingia Herrich-Schaffer) species complex (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Th e Canadian Entomologist 120: 903 - 916."]}