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Volume 31, Number 2
99
Literature Cited
Evans, W. H. 1951. A catalogue of the American Hesperiidae indicating the classification and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum. Part I. Introduction and Group A, Pyrrhopyginae. London: British Museum, 92 p., pis. 1-9.
----------. 1952. A catalogue of the American Hesperiidae indicating the classification
and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum. Part II. Pyrginae, Sec. 1. London: British Museum, 178 p., pis. 10-25.
ABERRANT ERYNNIS TRITUS TATITUS (HESPERIIDAE)
Although they occur with some frequency in many genera, aberrant specimens appear uncommon in the North American Pyrginae. Burns, in his monograph Evolution in Skipper Butterflies of the Genus Erynnis (Univ. of Calif. Publ. in Entomol., Vol. 37, Berkeley, 1964) made no mention of such in this genus.
In July 1976 while I was collecting in Grant Co., New Mexico, I took an unusual Erynnis specimen which I thought at first was a male horatius (Scudder & Burgess). Upon genitalic examination, it was determined to be an aberrant E. tristus tatius (Edwards), a fairly common species in this region. The specimen was collected along the Gila River at Riverside, 425(y (1295 m), Grant Co., New Mexico on 4 July 76.
Fig. 1 shows the dorsal and ventral views of the aberrant specimen while Fig. 2 illustrates a typical tatius taken on the H-Y Ranch, Mule Creek area, Grant Co., N.M., on 10 August 75. In the aberrant specimen, the ventral HW white spots are reduced in size and replaced by pale brown with a central light dot. The wing fringes are brown rather than white. The forewings resemble normal tatius. A similar aberrant female was taken S of Silver City, Grant Co., N.M. on 26 August 76.
While I have collected many hundreds of Erynnis, including some unusually small and large examples, this is the first aberration that I have encountered.
Clifford D. Ferris, Bioengineering Program, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071.
Figs. 1-2. Erynnis tristus tatius. 1, aberrant, dorsal left, ventral right; 2, normal, dorsal left, ventral right.