Apatelodes chalupae, Herbin, Daniel & Beccacece, Hernan Mario, 2018

Herbin, Daniel & Beccacece, Hernan Mario, 2018, Description of three new species of Apatelodidae from the southern neotropical region (Lepidoptera, Bombycoidea), ZooKeys 788, pp. 3-17 : 5-8

Apatelodes chalupae sp. n. Figs 5, 6

Type.

Holotype male. ARGENTINA: Jujuy: Parc National Calilegua Km 22, 1.1 km après El Monolito, 23°40'32.7"S; 64°53'56.4"W, Alt. 1693m, 27/XI/2013, leg. B. Vincent / D. Herbin genitalia prep. H1380/ HOLOTYPE ♂ Apatelodes chalupae Herbin & Beccacece des. / CDH 3.310 / BC-Her4954. (Figs 5, 6). In MNHN. No paratypes.

Etymology.

Apatelodes chalupae is named after Dr. Adriana Chalup (IFML), Geometridae and Noctuidae lepidopterist specialist.

Diagnosis.

Apatelodes chalupae sp. n. is similar to A. navarroi sp. n., but is much lighter in color (see comparison in Figs 10-11), bears two small hyaline spots near apex bordered proximally by black scales. The male genitalia also show structures similar to those of A. navarroi sp. n., but reduced in size, and with less developed socii, including less developed teeth bordering the socii. A distance in COI barcodes of 4.3% is found between these two species, as shown in the tree in Figure 16.

Description.

Male.Antennae: Bipectinate to the tip. Scape, pedicel and antennomeres beige, rami beige brown. Head: beige brown, labial palpi thick, beige brown, slightly ascending and reaching beyond the front. Eyes naked, dark brown. Thorax: ochre brown with longitudinal black central line. Legs: beige brown, tibia appearing thick due to long beige brown scales. Forewing dorsum: Forewing length: 16 mm, wingspan: 32 mm. Triangular, apex acute, outer margin slightly concave below apex. Ground color light ochre brown (RAL8001), maculation similar to previous species with two small hyaline spots near apex, bordered proximally by tiny black marking. A black comma-shaped mark exists between costa and the smaller hyaline spot. A dark brown diffuse marking present basally in antemedian area. Antemedial and postmedial lines faint. Forewing ventrum: Ground color beige (RAL1001). Outer margin copper brown (RAL8004). Postmedial line light brown. Hindwing dorsum: coloration uniform light ochre brown, a faint lighter beige longitudinal line present. Hindwing ventrum: coloration rather uniform copper brown with contrasting beige distal longitudinal line inwardly bent at CuA2 and diffuse brown proximal longitudinal line. Abdomen: a black collar at interface of thorax/abdomen. First two abdominal segments dorsally reddish brown, remaining segments ochre brown. Black spot present dorsally on each abdominal segment. Genitalia (Figure 6).

Uncus heavily sclerotized, wide, bent mesally, with a simple hooked apex. Base of uncus with a pair of medium size socii made of a two folded sclerotized sheet bordered with few small teeth. Valves elongated, rather narrow, not reaching the uncus, with apex rounded and a strongly sclerotized spine at the dorsal base of the valve. Aedeagus short and cylindrical, with no teeth or cornuti. Caecum penis present. Vesica with a ventral finger like diverticulum and a smaller lateral diverticulum. No cornuti on vesica.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution.

A. chalupae sp. n. is only known from the type locality in Argentina.

Remarks.

Initially, we thought that the type specimen of A. chalupae sp. n. was a lighter colored representative of A. navarroi sp. n., however the COI barcodes showed a significant distance between the two species (4.3%), further confirmed by the differences found in the male genitalia.

Figure 7 presents a side-by-side comparison between the genitalia of both species, from a photo taken under a microscope with both male genitalia taken in the same picture, therefore at the same scale. Smaller genitalia size for A. chalupae sp. n., the most striking difference is in the relative size of the socii, and the much stronger teeth present on the edge in A. navarroi sp. n.

In Figure 16, we present the tree built with MEGA6, with the new taxa A. navarroi sp. n., A. chalupae sp. n., and the most similar previously described species: A. schreiteri .