Hyposmocoma moopalikea, Schmitz & Rubinoff, 2011

Schmitz, Patrick & Rubinoff, Daniel, 2011, The Hawaiian amphibious caterpillar guild: new species of Hyposmocoma (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae) confirm distinct aquatic invasions and complex speciation patterns, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162 (1), pp. 15-42 : 37-39

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00676.x
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10545688
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039F87D7-FF87-8405-FF30-FA2023BB07D0
treatment provided by	Valdenar
scientific name	Hyposmocoma moopalikea
status	SP. NOV.

Treatment

HYPOSMOCOMA MOOPALIKEA SCHMITZ & RUBINOFF SP. NOV. ( FIGS 13C View Figure 13 , 19 View Figure 19 , 20E View Figure 20 )

Material examined: HOLOTYPE ♂: [1] ‘H[ AWAI]I: Maui, Haleakala N [ational.P[ark]. | Palikea stream, N Delta camp | ‘burrito’ case, on rocks, I-15-[20]04 | em[ergence]. II-4-04 | coll[ector]. D[aniel]. Rubinoff’; [2] ‘ HOLOTYPE | Hyposmocoma | moopalikea | Schmitz and Rubinoff’. Specimen in good condition except for broken antennae. Deposited in the UHIM .

PARATYPES: 3 ♂, 2 ♀, from Maui Island , Hawaii, USA, with same data as holotype except date of emergence: 4.ii.2004 (1 ♂), 16.ii.2004 (1 ♂), 19.ii.2004 (1 ♀), 25.ii.2004 (1 ♀), 7.iii.2004 (1 ♂). Deposited in UHIM .

Description: Male (N = 4) ( Figs 13C View Figure 13 , 19 View Figure 19 ). Wingspan 10.3–11.2 mm (holotype: 10.5 mm). Head mostly adorned with grey-tipped yellowish-orange scales becoming off-white on frons. Haustellum with offwhite and dark-brown scales. Maxillary palpus reduced. Recurved labial palpus mostly dark brown dorsally and off-white ventrally, with dark brown ring on first segment apically. Antennal flagellum dark brown; scape dark brown with rusty ring apically, antennal pecten present with five to seven thin setae. Thorax mostly dark brown, with yellowish-orange scales on tegula; metathorax grey; metascutellum greyish-beige. Foreleg coxa off-white; femur dark brown; tibia and tarsomeres dark brown with offwhite ring at middle and apex of tibia, and apex of tarsomeres I, II, and V. Midleg as foreleg, spurs off-white. Hindleg as midleg, but ground colour more greyish beige. Forewing mostly dark brown with some scattered off-white scales becoming yellowish-orange at base of forewing along midline and on termen, with conspicuous dark brown markings outlined by offwhite scales as pair of spots medially, disconnected from each other along diagonal, and a small spot postmedially in midline; off-white markings as a small notch subapically on costal margin and another opposite on inner margin. Hindwing uniformly grey with greyish-beige fringe. Subcostal brush absent. Abdomen dorsally dark brown; ventrally off-white, with tuft of long greyish-brown scales on each side of genitalia. Sclerotized hook absent. Genital flaps very large, membranous, rounded, broad and thin.

Male genitalia (N = 1) ( Fig. 19 View Figure 19 ). As for H. aumakuawai .

Female (N = 2). Wingspan 11.7–11.9 mm. Frenulum with three acanthae. Antennae slightly thinner than that of male, yellowish-orange scales restricted at jointure of forewing. Otherwise externally like males.

Female genitalia (N = 1) ( Fig. 20E View Figure 20 ). As for H. aumakuawai .

Larval case (N = 9). Burrito-shaped structure, 5.5– 7.0 mm in length, as H. aumakuawai .

Etymology: The name H. moopalikea , from the Hawaiian, moo, water spirit, refers to its aquatic lifestyle, and palikea refers to the name of the reserve and stream where this species was found.

Biology: Adults were reared from amphibious casemaking larvae. Case-bearing larvae were collected during the day on rocks in the Palikea stream on the island of Maui in January, but also seen in late spring, and are likely to be present year-round. Adult moths were observed flying and crawling very quickly across emergent rocks and flying between them in the middle of the stream during the mid and late afternoon. Blacklight traps placed next to the Palikea stream that same night attracted no adults of H. moopalikea , suggesting that they are diurnal in this wet, cool, montane rainforest environment.

Distribution: Known only from the Palikea stream in the Kipahulu valley of east Maui where it is presumed to be endemic.

Remarks: This species appears to occur in allopatry from any other aquatic species. It is rarely abundant, and despite extensive searching, we were unable to collect larvae in large numbers as easily as other species on other islands. As this area represents the most pristine of any area where we collected aquatic species, we doubt that this rarity is a function of severe habitat alteration.