Telotheta fresei Lindt & Viidalepp

Lindt, Aare & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2014, Two new emerald geometrid species of Telotheta Warren from Ecuador and Bolivia (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae, Lophochoristini), Biodiversity Data Journal 2, pp. 1158-1158 : 1158

Telotheta fresei Lindt & Viidalepp sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: sex: male; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Morona Santiago; verbatimLocality: Plan de Milagro; verbatimElevation: 2080; verbatimLatitude: 03°00'25"S; verbatimLongitude: 78°30'11"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-04-27; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: male; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Morona Santiago; verbatimLocality: Plan de Milagro; verbatimElevation: 2080 m; verbatimLatitude: 03°00'25"S; verbatimLongitude: 78°30'11"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-04-24; Record Level: collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 2 males; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Morona Santiago; verbatimLocality: Gualaquiza; verbatimElevation: 1570 m; verbatimLatitude: 03°17'58"S; verbatimLongitude: 78°33'59"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-04-23; Record Level: collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 1 male; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Pastaza; verbatimLocality: Cuasha; verbatimElevation: 880 m; verbatimLatitude: 01°50'01"S; verbatimLongitude: 77°39'01"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-04-28; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 2 males, 2 females; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Napo; verbatimLocality: Cotundo; verbatimElevation: 1080 m; verbatimLatitude: 00°41'28"S; verbatimLongitude: 77°43'56"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-05-19; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH; collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 2 males, 2 females; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Napo; verbatimLocality: Sarayacu; verbatimElevation: 1900 m; verbatimLatitude: 00°38'51"S; verbatimLongitude: 77°49'00"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-05-20; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH; collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 1 male; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Zamora Chinchipe; verbatimLocality: Zamora; verbatimElevation: 1000 m; verbatimLatitude: 04°06'30"S; verbatimLongitude: 78°57'49"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2007-04-19; Record Level: institutionCode: E;NH

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 2 males, 2 females; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Zamora Chinchipe; verbatimLocality: Los Encuentros; verbatimElevation: 1460; verbatimLatitude: 03°54'40"S; verbatimLongitude: 78°36'39"W; Event: eventDate: 2007-04-21; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH; collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 2 males; Location: country: Bolivia; stateProvince: Cochabamba; verbatimLocality: Naranjitos; verbatimElevation: 630 m; verbatimLatitude: 17°03'32"S; verbatimLongitude: 65°38'44"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2010-10-04; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 2 females; Location: country: Bolivia; stateProvince: Cochabamba; verbatimLocality:., N. P. Carrasco; verbatimElevation: 900 m; verbatimLatitude: 17°06'44"S; verbatimLongitude: 65°33'55"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2010-10-05; Record Level: institutionCode: EMNH

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 1 male; Location: country: Bolivia; stateProvince: Caranavi prov.; verbatimLocality: Caranavi; verbatimElevation: 1200 m; verbatimLatitude: 15°43'19"S; verbatimLongitude: 67°29'07"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2010-11-05; Record Level: collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 1 male; Location: country: Bolivia; stateProvince: Inicua; verbatimLocality: Quiquibei; verbatimElevation: 550 m; verbatimLatitude: 15°30'16"S; verbatimLongitude: 67°11'52"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2010-10-31; Record Level: collectionCode: IZBE

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: sex: 1 male; Location: country: Bolivia; stateProvince: La Paz; verbatimLocality: Sacramento Alto; verbatimElevation: 2000 m; verbatimLatitude: 16°14'44"S; verbatimLongitude: 67°47'09"W; Event: samplingProtocol: UV light sampling; eventDate: 2010-11-08; Record Level: collectionCode: IZBE

Description

Head, thorax and abdomen. Male: Wing span 18-22 mm. Female: 20-25 mm (Fig. 1, right). The frons is of almost rectangular shape (Fig. 2c), slightly bulging and broader than in other species of this genus, being brown with a white line below. The width of frons along its dorsal edge is 0.9-1.0 mm, along the ventral edge 0.7-0.8 mm. The male antennae are bipectinate, the pectinations being up to 0.70-0.75 mm long at the tenth segment, tapering out beyond the middle of the antenna. The female antennae are finely serrated. The haustellum is present, the palpi have a thin 3rd segment, hardly projecting in front of the frons in males, longer in females. The interantennal fillet is white with a green hue, the vertex and thorax are green, the dorsum of the abdomen is green, mottled with white. The venation and structure of the wings as described for the genus ( Pitkin 1996), the hindwing veins Rs and M1 are on a very long stalk and the distal margin of the hindwing is slightly angulate at the end of the vein M3. The discal veins are straight in both wings. The male hind tibia is slender, without the proximal pair of spurs and without a hair pencil, the distal spurs are long. The facies of the moths is similar to that in Telotheta muscipunctata .

Forewings (Fig. 1) are densely scaled with semi-transparent white and green scales as in Telotheta muscipunctata , the transparent scales are mostly pigmented in green to one quarter of their apical part. The hindwings are concolorous, both wings having a large green discal spot. The transverse lines and submarginal line are absent, the fringe is whitish as in Telotheta muscipunctata (greenish in Telotheta unoi ). The forewing costal edge is lined light brown (slightly rosy in Telotheta muscipunctata ).

Male genitalia (Fig. 3c). The male genital armature of Telotheta fresei is similar to that of Telotheta unoi and Telotheta muscipunctata but large (the height of the genital capsule is 1.0 mm for Telotheta unoi , 1.3 mm for Telotheta fresei and for Telotheta muscipunctata ). The aedeagus is about 1.3 mm long. The distal process of the uncus is reduced, the gnathos arms are short hooked. In Telotheta fresei the juxta and the transtilla together constitute a long anellar complex. The juxta is broader than in the two other species. The valva is apically bilobed, the apical lobe as in Telotheta muscipunctata (more slender in Telotheta unoi ). The dorsal margin of the apical lobe bears about 8-10 scattered, stout, curved setae, and about 20 such setae in a row in Telotheta muscipunctata . The ventral margin of the subapical lobe of the valva is straight. Sternite A8 distal projections are flat and triangularly rounded, completely different from the slender, rigid projections in Telotheta muscipunctata and Telotheta unoi .

The female genitalia (Fig. 4a) are composed of a short ductus bursae, a pyriform bursa copulatrix and the signum is a small plate of trapezoidal shape, without any lateral prongs (Fig. 4b). The roundish sclerotization to the ostial region is much weaker than in Telotheta muscipunctata (compare Fig. 223 in Pitkin 1996). The anterior apophyses are much shorter than the posterior apophyses.

Variation. Both males and females of this new species were collected together from three collecting sites in Ecuador (Cotundo, Sarayacu and Los Encuentros) and therefore treated as conspecific. Pitkin 1996 has examined both primary types of the known species. She characterized Telotheta muscipunctata males by the presence of two rod-like processes to the posterior edge of the last abdominal sternite and females by having a large roundish sclerotization in the sterigmal area, a membranous bursa copulatrix, provided with a "small signum with two tapered prongs" ( Pitkin 1996: 408). There was no need to re-examine the types, as the morphological differences between Telotheta muscipunctata and Telotheta fresei are clear.

The series of Telotheta fresei from Ecuador and from Bolivia differ slightly in the shape of the eighth sternite of male abdomen. The sternite has triangular projections to its posterior edge in the populations of Ecuador, and more rounded projections in the populations from Bolivia. This phenomenon requires further investigation: the differences are slight and, possibly, clinal.

Etymology

This new species is named in honour of the former lutherian pastor in Lääne-Nigula, West Estionia, Theodor Alexander Benedict Frese. His insect collection, consisting of several thousands of mounted and labelled local butterflies, moths and other hexapods, was donated in 1864 to the Eestimaa Provintsiaalmuuseum, the precedor of the Estonian Museum of Natural History. The 150th anniversary of the Museum will be celebrated 2014. The gender is masculine.

Distribution

Telotheta fresei is described from Eastern Ecuador and Bolivia.

Ecology

Telotheta fresei is collected in tropical forests between about 500 m and 2000 m elevation.