Field Guide Descriptions: | Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, GBIF, BOLD | Technical Description, Adults: Sullivan (2010) | |
Adult Markings: A medium-sized, dark brown- and tan-shaded Erebid with a strongly bidentate postmedian line. The ground color of the forewings is a dark, purplish brown. This shade fills the area between the base and antemedian area, and is succeeded by a lighter shade edging the outer side of the antemedian line. Another dark shade fills the inside of the pale postmedian line, which has two strong outward points. The area beyond the postmedian is pale except for a blackish, somewhat bilobed apical dash. Hindwings are brown. Gondysia smithii is essentially identical in color and pattern and can only be identified through dissection or barcoding. |
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Forewing Length: 19–20 mm (Sullivan, 2010) |
Adult Structural Features: Male valves are much narrower and more pointed than those of smithii. The female reproductive structures are also distinct from those of smithii (Sullivan, 2010) |
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable only by close inspection of structural features or by DNA analysis. |
Immatures and Development: A larva of either G. telma or smithii was reared on Styrax americanus in Texas by George Smiley (BugGuide, 2014); however, the identity of the adult was apparently not confirmed. One larva illustrated on BugGuide is dark, purplish-brown, with a pale tan head and spot of the same color located subdorsally on the first abdominal segment. The second is paler tan, with a slightly darker dorsal band. |