Our main study goals and research objectives were focused on a genus of Agaristine Noctuids named Alypiodes. Recent DNA sequencing and some larval morphology indicate that the species known as Alypiodes bimaculata includes at least two distinct species, one known largely from SE Arizona, and one from New Mexico and Texas. Research into historical literature suggests that the moth in SE Arizona will indeed be Alypiodes bimaculata, while the distinct entity in New Mexico and elsewhere will re-establish the name Alypiodes flavilinguis as a valid species originally given to type material from Las Vegas, NM by Grote in 1883. Some images of Alypiodes flavilinguis appear below.
Alypiodes flavilinguis (Grote); adult male with cream white and metallic blue markings on forewings. Little Cherry Creek, N. Pinos Altos, Gila NF, Grant Co., NM, July 2018
Alypiodes flavilinguis male on spreading board. Grant Co., NM, July 2018.
1882 specimen of Alypiodes flavilinguis collected by Francis Huntington Snow on an early field expedition to New Mexico. Snow was one of the original three faculty members of the University of Kansas and served as chancellor there from 1890 – 1901.