Oidaematophorus andresi Vargas, 2022

Vargas, Hector A., 2022, Plume moths (Lepidoptera, Pterophoridae) reared from the Chilean endemic Stevia philippiana (Asteraceae), Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 94358-94358 : 94358

Oidaematophorus andresi Vargas sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence : sex: male; associatedSequences: GenBank : OP281687 ; Taxon : order: Lepidoptera ; family: Pterophoridae ; genus: Oidaematophorus ; specificEpithet: andresi; taxonRank: species; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; Location : continent: South America ; country: Chile; stateProvince: Parinacota ; locality: About 2 km south of Socoroma village ; verbatimElevation: 3400 m; verbatimLatitude: 18°16 ’42’’ S; verbatimLongitude: 69°34 ’15’’ W; Identification: identifiedBy: Héctor A. Vargas; Event: samplingProtocol: One male adult emerged May 2022, reared from larva collected on Stevia philippiana April 2022; year: 2022; verbatimEventDate: May 2022; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionCode: IDEA; ownerInstitutionCode: IDEA-LEPI-2022-007, genitalia slide HAV-1538; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence : sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank : OP281688 ; Taxon : order: Lepidoptera ; family: Pterophoridae ; genus: Oidaematophorus ; specificEpithet: andresi; taxonRank: species; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; Location : continent: South America ; country: Chile; stateProvince: Parinacota ; locality: About 2 km south of Socoroma village ; verbatimElevation: 3400 m; verbatimLatitude: 18°16 ’42’’ S; verbatimLongitude: 69°34 ’15’’ W; Identification: identifiedBy: Héctor A. Vargas; Event: samplingProtocol: One female adult emerged May 2022, reared from larva collected on Stevia philippiana April 2022; year: 2022; verbatimEventDate: May 2022; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionCode: IDEA; ownerInstitutionCode: IDEA-LEPI-2022-008, genitalia slide HAV-1539; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence : sex: male; Taxon : order: Lepidoptera ; family: Pterophoridae ; genus: Oidaematophorus ; specificEpithet: andresi; taxonRank: species; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; Location : continent: South America ; country: Chile; stateProvince: Parinacota ; locality: About 2 km south of Socoroma village ; verbatimElevation: 3400 m; verbatimLatitude: 18°16 ’42’’ S; verbatimLongitude: 69°34 ’15’’ W; Identification: identifiedBy: Héctor A. Vargas; Event: samplingProtocol: One male adult emerged May 2022, reared from larva collected on Stevia philippiana April 2022; year: 2022; verbatimEventDate: May 2022; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionCode: IDEA; ownerInstitutionCode: IDEA-LEPI-2022-009, genitalia slide HAV-1551; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence : sex: male; Taxon : order: Lepidoptera ; family: Pterophoridae ; genus: Oidaematophorus ; specificEpithet: andresi; taxonRank: species; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; Location : continent: South America ; country: Chile; stateProvince: Parinacota ; locality: About 2 km south of Socoroma village ; verbatimElevation: 3400 m; verbatimLatitude: 18°16 ’42’’ S; verbatimLongitude: 69°34 ’15’’ W; Identification: identifiedBy: Héctor A. Vargas; Event: samplingProtocol: One male adult emerged May 2022, reared from larva collected on Stevia philippiana April 2022; year: 2022; verbatimEventDate: May 2022; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionCode: IDEA; ownerInstitutionCode: IDEA-LEPI-2022-010, genitalia slide HAV-1556; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Male and female (Fig. 1 ). Fore-wing length 13.5-14.1 mm.

Head. Vertex and frons mostly grey with scattered white scales. Occiput with erect, narrow, dark grey scales. Labial palpus with first and second segments white, third segment grey. Antenna filiform, about half the costa length, with grey and white scales.

Thorax. Mostly grey with scattered white, brown and black scales. Fore-leg coxa mostly grey with longitudinal row of black-tipped scales anteriorly; femur and tibia tarsus grey. Mid- and hind-leg grey. Fore-wing cleft origin at about 2/3 from wing base. Dorsal surface mostly grey, with a longitudinal yellowish-brown stripe along the anal margin from near the wing base to the complete second lobe; discal spot black; a black spot before cleft base; two black spots on costa near the middle of first lobe; scattered black scales near anal margin; fringe grey; ventral surface grey. Hind-wing dorsal and ventral surfaces and fringe grey.

Abdomen. Mostly grey with scattered white and brown scales.

Male genitalia (Fig. 2 ). Tegumen bilobed; anterior margin with triangular projection medially. Uncus narrow, slender, curved, apex pointed. Vinculum narrow. Saccus slightly curved in the middle. Juxta asymmetrical, strongly curved to right, left margin more strongly sinuous than right margin, a narrow longitudinal membranous stripe along the middle almost reaching the base of anellus arms. Anellus arms asymmetrical; left arm narrow, slightly curved, with an apical row of small setae; right arm wider than left arm, strongly curved in the middle, with a small subapical projection, a few small setae near and a row of small setae on the opposite side. Valvae asymmetrical, each with a longitudinal fold in the middle and a group of hair-like scales arising basally on external side. Left valva slightly wider than right one; apex rounded; saccular process with a somewhat conical basal section and a slender saccular spine; saccular spine slightly longer than three fourths the costal margin length, basal fourth of saccular spine rounded towards ventral margin of valva, distal three-fourths straight, apex with hooked tip. Right valva with a single dentate process on the sacculus. Phallus cylindrical, curved, acute apex, vesica without cornuti.

Female genitalia (Fig. 2 ). Papilla analis short, posteriorly rounded, mostly slightly sclerotised, with a well-sclerotised band along anterior margin. Posterior apophysis (apex of the left posterior apophysis broken during mounting), narrow, rod-shaped, about four times the length of papilla analis, apex almost reaches the anterior margin of tergum VIII. Anterior apophysis from anterior vertex of tergum VIII, narrow, rod-shaped, about a half the length of papilla analis. Ostium bursae displaced to left. Antrum cup-shaped, wider posteriorly, mostly slightly sclerotised, with an oval-shaped sclerite near the junction with ductus bursae. Ductus bursae membranous, narrow, diameter about half of the widest part of antrum. Corpus bursae membranous, elongated, about three times the length of ductus bursae. Ductus seminalis from near the junction of ductus bursae with corpus bursae, about six times as long as corpus bursae, anterior part coiled.

Diagnosis

Oidaematophorus andresi sp. n. can be distinguished from other Neotropical representatives of the genus by the dorsal surface of the fore-wing mostly grey, with a longitudinal yellowish-brown stripe along the anal margin from near the wing base to the complete second lobe. The male genitalia of O. andresi sp. n. resemble those of O. espeletiae, Hernández, Fuentes, Fajardo & Matthews, 2014 from Colombia ( Hernández et al. 2014) in having a hooked tip on the apex of the spine of the saccular process of the left valva. However, the dorsal surface of the fore-wing of O. espeletiae is mostly grey at base and mostly cream apically. Furthermore, the saccular process of the left valva is straight along a great part of its length with a short curved portion near the base and the right valva has a single dentate process on the sacculus in the male genitalia of O. andresi sp. n. In contrast, the saccular process of the left valva has a great curved portion and the right valva has two dentate processes on the sacculus in the male genitalia in O. espeletiae. In the female genitalia, the posteriorly wider cup-shaped antrum of O. andresi sp. n. contrasts with the anteriorly wider antrum of O. espeletiae. Furthermore, the antrum of O. andresi sp. n. has an oval-shaped sclerite near the junction with ductus bursae, which is absent in O. espeletiae.

Etymology

The name of the species is dedicated to Dr. Andrés Moreira-Muñoz, for his remarkable contributions to the biogeography and systematics of the Chilean flora.

Distribution

Oidaematophorus andresi sp. n. is known only from the type locality, about 2 km south of Socoroma Village, at about 3400 m elevation on the western slopes of the Andes of northern Chile (Fig. 3 ).

Biology

The only host plant currently recorded for O. andresi sp. n. is S. philippiana (Fig. 3 ).

Taxon discussion

Species of Oidaematophorus are recognised by fore-wing venation with R1 absent, R2, R3, R4 and R5 separate, Cu1 from the posterior angle of the discal cell and Cu2 from the discal cell, mid-leg with scale bristles at base of spur pairs and female genitalia with bell- or widened funnel-shaped antrum ( Gielis 2011). Ten described species of Oidaematophorus occur in the Neotropical Region ( Gielis 2011, Gielis 2014, Hernández et al. 2014, Matthews et al. 2019, Ustjuzhanin et al. 2021b), only one of which, O. pseudotrachyphloeus Gielis, 2011, is known from Chile ( Vargas 2021). Although eight species of the genus were recorded from this country earlier ( Gielis 1991), these are currently included in Hellinsia ( Gielis 2011). Accordingly, O. andresi sp. n. is the second representative of the genus confirmed from Chile. The two species from this country are easily recognised, based on wing pattern, as the fore-wing of O. pseudotrachyphloeus lacks the longitudinal yellowish-brown stripe along the anal margin typical of O. andresi sp. n. The genitalia also provide useful morphological characters in this case, as in O. pseudotrachyphloeus the male has the spine of the saccular process of the left valva strongly curved throughout its length and the female has asymmetrical anterior apophyses and ductus seminalis only slightly longer than the corpus bursae, in clear contrast to O. andresi sp. n. Although the host plant ranges of these two species must be explored further, the currently available records suggest that they use different host plants, because O. pseudotrachyphloeus has been reared only from Ambrosia cumanensis Kunth (Asteraceae) ( Vargas 2021).

Figures

Figure 1. Habitus of Oidaematophorus andresi sp. n. Left, male holotype (IDEA-LEPI- 2022 - 007). Right, female paratype (IDEA-LEPI- 2022 - 008).

Figure 2. Genitalia of Oidaematophorus andresi sp. n. A Male genitalia in ventral view, phallus removed. B Phallus in lateral view. C Apex of the saccular spine of the left valva. D Anellus arms. E Dentate process of the sacculus of the right valva. F Female genitalia in ventral view. G Detail of the antrum. Male holotype IDEA-LEPI- 2022 - 007, genitalia slide HAV- 1538. Female paratype IDEA-LEPI- 2022 - 008, genitalia slide HAV- 1539. Scale bar 1 mm.

Figure 3. Habitat and host plant of Oidaematophorus andresi sp. n. A Habitat at the type locality, near Socoroma Village in the Andes of northern Chile; B Stevia philippiana at the type locality.