#3
I am unable to separate the American species of
Gymnosoma. I think I can rule out
G. occidentalis and
G. amplifrons. On average females of the remaining species can be ordered from lightest to darkest abdomen:
G. filiola "red with small, isolated black spots"
G. fuliginosum "abdominal spots small, separated or only narrowly connected"
G. par "abdominal spots broadly triangular and widely connected"
G. canadense "abdomen black with at most the narrow lateral edges reddish"
(Brooks, 1946)
Brooks writes, using an old genus name, "
Rhodogyne par shows a maximum amount of color variation on the abdomen and specimens of either sex may be wholly black, largely black or largely red with small black spots. The species is similar to
fuligionsa but smaller and darker."
Is it an average
par or a dark
fuliginosum or a light
canadense?