Ethmia similatella Busck

Phillips-Rodriguez, Eugenie, Powell, Jerry A., Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2014, A synopsis of the genus Ethmia Huebner in Costa Rica: biology, distribution, and description of 22 new species (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea, Depressariidae, Ethmiinae), with emphasis on the 42 species known from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, ZooKeys 461, pp. 1-86 : 44-45

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia similatella Busck Figures 42, 87, 132, 167

Ethmia similatella Busck, 1920: 83; Powell 1973: 201.

Diagnosis.

Ethmia similatella is most similar to Ethmia tilneyorum and can be distinguished externally by FW with one dark spot on its base, and abdomen scaling darker.

Description.

Male: FW length 9.4-9.8 mm (n = 3). Head: Labial palpus elongate, exceeding base of antenna; proboscis white, front and crown whitish, an occipital black tuft at mid-dorsum. Thorax: Whitish with five medium black dots, a pair at tegula apices, a pair at scutellum and one at middle notum. FW ground color whitish, the longitudinal line dividing brown and whitish, sinuate. Costal half entirely brown, without apical white patch, posterior half with brown spot at 0.3 × from base. HW ground color dark brown, costal fold present. Abdomen: Dark brown, ventral paler, genital scaling ochreous. Genitalia (Fig. 87) with basal processes elongate, valva with costal sclerotized “plume”, a bunch of apical setae.

Female: FW length 9.8-10.3 mm (n = 3). Head and thorax: As described by male, HW unmodified. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 132) with sterigma narrow; antrum sclerotized; signum with a large deeply notched keel.

Holotype.

Male: Guatemala, Cayuga, [no date], W. Schaus [USNM, examined].

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia similatella has been recorded from western Mexico (Sinaloa) to Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica ( Powell 1973). In Costa Rica (Fig. 167) has been collected in the Pacific slope of Cordillera Volcánica de Guanacaste from 290 to 570 m, in ACG dry forest.

Food plant records.

Ethmia similatella has been reared from larvae feeding on Boraginaceae : Varronia guanacastensis .