









































Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection   2019 Vol 3(2)

Specimen records for North American Lepidoptera (Insecta) in the Oregon State 
Arthropod Collection. Cossoidea: Cossidae Leach, 1815 and Sesiidae Boisduval, 1828

Jon H. Shepard
Paul C. Hammond
Christopher J. Marshall

Oregon State Arthropod Collection, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, 
Corvallis OR 97331

Cite this work, including the attached dataset, as: 

Shepard, J. H, P. C. Hammond, C. J. Marshall. 2019. Specimen records for North American Lepidoptera (Insecta) in the 
Oregon State Arthropod Collection. Cossoidea: Cossidae Leach, 1815 and Sesiidae Boisduval, 1828.  
Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection 3(2)  (beta version)  
http://dx.doi.org/10.5399/osu/cat_osac.3.2.4592

Introduction

These records were generated using funds from the LepNet project (Seltmann et. al., 2017) - a national 
effort to create digital records for North American Lepidoptera. The dataset published herein contains 
the label data for all North American specimens of Cossidae and Sesiidae residing at the Oregon State 
Arthropod Collection as of March 2019. A beta version of these data records will be made available on 
the OSAC server (http://osac.oregonstate.edu/IPT) at the time of this publication.  The beta version 
will be replaced in the near future with an official release (version 1.0), which will be archived as a 
supplemental file to this paper. 

Methods

Basic digitization protocols and metadata standards can be found in (Shepard et al. 2018).  Much of 
the newer material was identified by two specilaists on Sesiidae: Mr. John Vernon and Mr. Benjamin 
G. Thompson.  Identifications were reviewed by Jon Shepard and Paul Hammond using Barnes and 
McDunnough (1911) and the Digital Guide to Moth Identification (Moths Protographers Group,  
2019). Nomenclature follows that of Hodges (1983) and the Moth Photographers Group (2019) and 
was checked again using the species matching tool produced by GBIF (https://www.gbif.org/tools/
species-lookup).  
 
Results

As of March 2019, the collection possessed 181 specimens of North American Cossidae, belonging 
to 8 known species classified into 6 genera: Comadia Barnes & McDunnough 1911, Cossus Fabricius 
1793, Givira Walker 1856, Prionoxystus Grote 1882, Toronia Barnes & McDunnough 1911, and Zeuzera 
Latreille 1804 (Table 1) 
  
The collection’s holdings for Sesiidae are more extensive, including 1954 specimens, belonging 
to 82 distinct species, classified among 17 genera: Albuna Edwards 1881, Alcathoe Edwards, 1882, 
Carmenta Edwards 1881, Euhagena Edwards 1881, Hymenoclea Engelhardt, 1946, Melittia Hübner 1819, 
Palmia Beutenmüller, 1896, Paranthrene Strand, 1916, Pennisetia Dehne, 1850, Penstemonia Engelhardt, 



Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection   2019 Vol 3 (2)

1946, Podosesia Möschler, 1879, Sannina Walker, 1856, Sesia Fabricius 1775, Sophona Walker, 1856, 
Synanthedon Hübner, 1819, Vitacea Engelhardt, 1946, Zenodoxus Grote & Robinson, 1868 (Table 2).

Table 1. Species inventory of OSAC North American Cossidae

Taxon             # specimens
Acossus centerensis Lintner, 1877 4
Acossus populi (Walker, 1856) 65
Comadia bertholdi Grote, 1880 13
Comadia henrici Grote, 1882 1
Comadia undetermined 9
Givira marga Barnes & McDunnough, 1910 2
Givira undetermined 12
Prionoxystus robiniae Peck, 1818 69
Toronia perplexa (Neumogen & Dyar, 1893) 5
Zeuzera pyrina (Linnaeus, 1761) 1

total 181

Table 2.  Species inventory of OSAC North American Sesiidae

Taxon             # specimens
Albuna fraxini Edwards, 1881 14
Albuna pyramidalis Walker, 1856 43
Alcathoe autumnalis Engelhardt, 1946 2
Alcathoe carolinensis Engelhardt, 1925 14
Alcathoe caudata Harris, 1839 11
Alcathoe pepsioides Engelhardt, 1925 2
Alcathoe verrugo (Druce, 1884) 1
Carmenta bassiformis Walker, 1856 11
Carmenta corni Edwards, 1881 11
Carmenta engelhardti Duckworth & Eichlin, 1973 3
Carmenta giliae Edwards, 1881 1
Carmenta ithacae Beutenmüller, 1897 3
Carmenta mariona (Beutenmüller, 1900) 1
Carmenta mimuli (Edwards, 1881) 39
Carmenta prosopis Edwards, 1882 3
Carmenta pyralidiformis Walker, 1856 17
Carmenta tecta Edwards, 1882 1
Carmenta texana Edwards, 1881 2



Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection   2019 Vol 3(2)

Carmenta verecunda Edwards, 1881 1
Euhagena emphytiformis (Walker, 1856) 3
Euhagena nebraskae Edwards, 1881 11
Hymenoclea palmii Beutenmüller, 1902 4
Melittia calabaza Duckworth & Eichlin, 1973 2
Melittia cucurbitae Harris, 1828 23
Melittia gloriosa Edwards, 1880 25
Melittia grandis Strecker, 1881 4
Melittia snowii Edwards, 1882 33
Palmia praecedens Edwards, 1883 1
Paranthrene asilipennis Boisduval, 1829 17
Paranthrene dollii Neumoegen, 1894 7
Paranthrene pellucida Greenfield & Karandinos, 1979 4
Paranthrene robiniae (Edwards, 1880) 51
Paranthrene simulans Grote, 1881 45
Paranthrene tabaniformis (Rottemburg, 1775) 16
Pennisetia marginatum (Harris, 1839) 8
Penstemonia clarkei Engelhardt, 1946 16
Penstemonia pappi Eichlin, 1987 6
Podosesia aureocincta Purrington & Nielsen, 1977 13
Podosesia syringae Harris, 1839 90
Sannina uroceriformis Walker, 1856 5
Sesia apiformis (Clerck, 1759) 3
Sesia spartani Eichlin & Taft, 1988 3
Sesia tibiale (Harris, 1839) 140
Sophona snellingi Eichlin, 1986 1
Synanthedon acerni (Clemens, 1860) 15
Synanthedon acerrubri Engelhardt 22
Synanthedon albicornis (Edwards, 1881) 48
Synanthedon arizonensis Beutenmüller, 1916 1
Synanthedon bibionipennis Boisduval, 1869 277
Synanthedon castaneae Busck, 1913 4
Synanthedon chrysidipennis Boisduval, 1869 56
Synanthedon culiciformis (Linnaeus, 1758) 5
Synanthedon decipiens Edwards, 1881 4
Synanthedon exitiosa Say, 1823 168

Table 2. (continued)  Species inventory of OSAC North American Sesiidae

               Taxon                            # specimens



Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection   2019 Vol 3 (2)

Synanthedon fatifera Hodges, 1963 1
Synanthedon fulvipes (Harris, 1839) 10
Synanthedon geliformis (Walker, 1856) 1
Synanthedon helenis Druce, 1889 12
Synanthedon kathyae Duckworth & Eichlin, 1977 1
Synanthedon mellinipennis Boisduval, 1836 20
Synanthedon novaroensis (Edwards, 1881) 66
Synanthedon pictipes Grote & Robinson, 1868 30
Synanthedon polygoni Edwards, 1881 16
Synanthedon proxima (Edwards, 1881) 9
Synanthedon pyri (Harris, 1830) 7
Synanthedon resplendens Edwards, 1881 232
Synanthedon rhododendri Beutenmüller, 1909 7
Synanthedon rileyana Edwards, 1881 17
Synanthedon sapygaeformis Walker, 1856 2
Synanthedon saxifragae Edwards, 1881 2
Synanthedon scitula (Harris, 1839) 9
Synanthedon sequoiae (Edwards, 1881) 125
Synanthedon sigmoidea (Beutenmüller, 1897) 10
Synanthedon tipuliformis (Clerck, 1759) 8
Vitacea admiranda (Edwards, 1882) 1
Vitacea cupressi (Edwards, 1881) 1
Vitacea polistiformis (Harris, 1854) 29
Vitacea scepsiformis (Edwards, 1881) 8
Zenodoxus heucherae Edwards, 1881 1
Zenodoxus palmii Neumoegen, 1891 1
Zenodoxus rubens Engelhardt, 1946 6
Zenodoxus sidalceae Engelhardt, 1946 4

Table 2. (continued)  Species inventory of OSAC North American Sesiidae

               Taxon                          # specimens

Additional material from outside of North America is present, but was not digitized and catalogued 
at this time.

Label data for these specimens can be accessed via online data portals that serve osac IPT data (e.g., 
www.gbif.org) or by direct download via the archived datasets stored in the supplemental files of this 
paper.



Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection   2019 Vol 3(2)

Discussion: 

In the Pacific Northwest, Cossidae are most common and diverse east of the Cascade Mountains in 
association with their larval food plants that include aspen and willow in riparian habitats.  However, 
one California species, Toronia perplexa, can be found uncommonly in coniferous forests along the 
west slope of the Cascade Range.  Currently the OSAC’s holdings of T. perplexa amount to but 5 
specimens, 4 of which were taken at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest near Blue River, Oregon.  
More surveys of the western Cascades during their flight season could significantly expand the 
known range of this species in Oregon.

OSAC’s holdings of North American Sesiidae are more comprehensive, including nearly 60% of the 
currently known North American fauna (Moths Photographers Group 2019; Hodges 1983).   This is 
largely the result of material placed into the collection by Benjamin Garrison Thompson, who wrote 
his dissertation at Oregon State Agricultural College on clearwing moths (Thompson 1929) as well as 
Mr. John Vernon, an outstanding sesiid enthusiast who gave his collection to the university in 2008.

Minor corrections and other small modifications made in the future to this dataset will be 
accomplished by issuing a new version and providing a file of modified records to the supplemental 
files.  Major additions, such as new records, new data fields, new contributors or other significant 
modifications will be accomplished through the generation and release of new datasets.

Acknowledgments

The records published herein were generated with funds from NSF: DBI#1601888: Digitization TCN: 
Collaborative Research: Lepidoptera of North America Network: Documenting Diversity in the 
Largest Clade of Herbivores. 

References 

Barnes, W., J. H. McDunnough. 1911. Revision of the Cossidae of North America. Cont. Nat. Hist. 
Lepid. N. America. 1(i): [13–35, pls. I-VII, [1].

Hodges R.W. 1983. Check list of the Lepidoptera of America north of Mexico : including Greenland. 
E.W. Classey and Wedge Entomological Research Foundation; Distributors, The 
Foundation c/o National Museum of Natural History, London, Washington, D.C., xxiv, 
284 pp.

Moths Photographers Group. 2019. Digital Guide to Moth Identification. Sesiidae. https://
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species_list.php?plate=06  
[accessed April 1, 2019].

Schoorl J.W. 1990. A phylogenetic study on Cossidae (Lepidoptera: Ditrysia) based on external adult 
morphology. Zoölogische Verhandelingen 263: 1-295.

Seltmann, K. C. et al. 2017.  LepNet: The Lepidoptera of North America Network. Zootaxa 4247 (1): 
073-077. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4247.1.10.

Shepard J.H., C.J. Marshall, P.C. Hammond. 2018. North American Lepidoptera in the Oregon State 
Arthropod Collection: Hesperiidae, Pieridae, Papilionidae. Catalog: Oregon State 
Arthropod Collection 2(2): 1-2 and supplement file.  
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5399/osu/cat_osac.2.2.4480

Thompson BG (1929) Moths of the family Aegeriidae occurring in Oregon, with notes. Pan Pacific 
Entomologist 5: 117-124.


