Google
WWW Moth Photographers Group website only

Digital Guide to Moth Identification


Bob Belmont's

Geometridae of North America

Photographs © 2005 by Bob Belmont




Hypagyrtis Variants: Three Species or One?

I have a huge series of each of the "species," 6654 - Hypagyrtis unipuncta, One-spotted Variant, and 6655 - Hypagyrtis esther, Esther Moth. The problem with this collection is that it is a "group". I could take 10 photos of one and list them as the other and no one would know the difference. You could take any of them and segregate out what you thought was one group and it will look like a possible separate group, slightly different from the rest -- the variation runs through from one to the other, from males through females. Dr. Doug Ferguson, before he passed away, said that this group needed "more careful examination." He also said that he thought there may be at least one new species within these, possibly the larger solid red-brown to brown individuals. And there may even be more depending upon genitalic differences. He also mentioned that they may just be all one species with high variation. That's why I have one large group under both species. I'll eventually mount and compare genitalia before offering a definite species name on these. When segregated by visual appearance the extreme ends of the resulting spectrum do appear to be mildly different, but I don't feel at all comfortable placing specific names on them at this time.

  6654 -- "unipuncta" group
female - FL
 
male - MD
 
male - FL
 
male - WI
 
male - FL
 
male - WI
 
male - FL - spring
 
male - GA
 
male - MD
 
male - MS
 
male - NJ
 
 
 
  6655 -- "esther" group
female - FL
 
female - AL
 
female - NC
 
female - FL
 
female - FL
 
female - NC
 
female - GA
 
female - MD
 
female - MO
 
female - VA
 
male - AL
 
male - NJ
 
male - NJ
 
male - NJ
 
male - FL
 
male - GA
 
male - NC
 
  6654 -- "unipuncta" group
uni - female - FL
 
uni - male - MD
 
uni - male - MS
 
uni - male - FL
 
uni - male - FL
 
uni - male - WI
 
uni - male - MD
 
uni - male - FL - spring
 
uni - male - GA
 
uni - male - NJ
 
uni - male - WI
 
 
 
  6655 -- "esther" group with 6654 "uni" group inserted
esth - male - NJ
 
esth - female - FL
 
esth - female - AL
 
esth - female - NC
 
esth - female - GA
 
esth - female - MO
 
esth - female - FL
 
esth - male - NJ
 
esth - female - NC
 
esth - female - FL
 
esth - female - MD
 
esth - female - VA
 
uni - female - FL
 
uni - male - MD
 
uni - male - MS
 
uni - male - FL
 
uni - male - FL
 
uni - male - WI
 
esth - male - GA
 
esth - male - FL
 
esth - male - NJ
 
esth - male - NC
 
esth - male - AL
 
uni - male - MD
 
uni - male - FL - spring
 
uni - male - GA
 
uni - male - NJ
 
uni - male - WI
 
 
 







Moth Photographers Group  at the  Mississippi Entomological Museum  at the  Mississippi State University

Send suggestions, or submit photographs to Webmaster -- Moth Photographers Group

BobBelmont/450/VariantSpecies.shtml -- 02/25/2005