Clemensia patella. Clemensia patella (type locality: Jalapa, Mexico) was removed from synonymy with C. albata by Ferguson and Opler (2006: 6) and applied to Pacific Coast populations. It was subsequently put back into synonymy by Schmidt and Opler (2008) because Pacific Coast populations are merely a slightly larger, darker form of C. albata, to which the name C. a. umbrata Packard, 1872 (type locality: California) has been applied at the subspecies level (and which has priority over patella). Examination of some of Ferguson's unpublished manuscripts shows that he had actually initially applied the name patella to southeastern US populations, not to Pacific Coast populations; this error probably crept into the Ferguson and Opler (2006) manuscript after Ferguson's untimely death. Comparison of the figure accompanying the original description of patella, topotypical patella specimens, and specimens of the unrecognized southeastern US taxon show that patella is indeed very similar to, but structurally distinct from C. patella. Accordingly, the US species (Florida and North Carolina specimens examined) are here listed as C. patella of authors, and C. patella, stat. rev. is raised from the synonymy of C. albata for the species in Mexico and Central America.
- Ferguson DC, Opler PA (2006) Check list of the Arctiidae (Lepidoptera: Insecta) of the continental United States and Canada. Zootaxa 1299: 1-33.
- Schmidt BC, Opler PA (2008) Revised check list of the tiger moths of the continental United States and Canada. Zootaxa 1677: 1-23.