Oospila nigripunctata ( Warren, 1909 )

Lindt, Aare, Hausmann, Axel & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2018, Review of some species groups of the genus Oospila Warren, with descriptions of nine new species (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 151-194 : 156-157

Oospila nigripunctata ( Warren, 1909)

(Figs 4, 40)

Leptolopha nigripunctata Warren, 1909: 78 ; Prout 1912: 129; 1932: 52, pl. 6g; Oospila nigripunctata (Warren) : Cook & Scoble, 1995: 10, Figs 3, 80, 148.

Material. 1♂, Peru, Lagunas , 134 m, 05°14'15S, 75°35'44"W, 01– 03.12.2003 (slide 269) ; 1♂, Ecuador, Pastaza prov., Cuasha , 300 m, 28.04.2007, 01°50'01"S, 77°49'31"W (slide 8178) ; 1♂, Ecuador, Morona Santiago prov., Santiago , 370 m, 27.04.2007, 03°01'16"S, 77°56'52"W (slide 8544) (A. Lindt) . 5♂ 3♀, Peru, Huanuco, Panguana, Rio Llullapichis, 260m, E tributary Rio Pachitea , -9.6138° / -74.9353°, 28.09.- 06.10.2000 / 23.09.- 02.10.2004 / 02.- 18.10.2009 / 20.09.– 08.10.2012 / 24.02.– 10.03.2013 (A. Segerer, E.G. Burmeister, G. Riedel, H. Sulak, O. Vasha; ZSM) ; 1♂, Peru, Huanuco, Progresso , 505m, 8°27,3’ S 76°19,3’ W, 22.02.2011, leg. V. Sinyaev & A. Poleschuk; ZSM).

Diagnosis. Medium or apple-green moths with conspicuous dark discal spots on both wings and a blackish streak to fore wing apex which does not reach the fringe ( O. pallidaria , O. agnetaforslundae nom. nov. and O. permagna do not have any or much less conspicuous dark marks at the fore wing apex, and O. loreenae has a conspicuous red-brown fore wing apical spot expanding on fringe. The abdominal tufts are whitish and almost fused to a dorsal line, but thinner and more vague than in O. pallidaria which has similar tufts. The costa and sacculus of male genitalia are connected by a thin membrane while all other Oospila species (except O. poirieri Lévêque & Viidalepp, 2015 and O. falcata sp. nov, described below) have a well-defined valvula in male genitalia.

Description. Wingspan, 14–16 mm, exceptionally up to 18 mm (Fig. 4). The fore wing costa is lined in creamy yellow, and a black apical streak is present. Black cell spots sharp, present on all wings. The frons, palpi and vertex of O. nigripunctata are dark brown, the interantennal fillet contrasting white. The male antennae are bipectinate in the basal two-thirds, the length of the external and inner pectinations reaching 0.5 and 0.38 mm, respectively. The palpi are short in the male, not reaching the frons.

Male genitalia (Fig. 40): The uncus has a triangular distal projection. The costa of valva is reduced to a stub which is connected to the valvula via a thin membrane, the sacculus and valvula are completely fused to a long process. The aedeagus is shorter than the valva and there is a short cornutus on vesica. The sternite A8 is not sclerotized.

Female genitalia: Described by Cook & Scoble (1995: 10, Fig. 148) as with large sterigma and large, sclerotized antrum.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD: AAZ8897 (n=4 from Peru). Genetically nearest species on BOLD: O. loreenae sp. n. (7.8%). Judged from the COI gene (mtDNA), this species seems to be at the end of a long, isolated phylogenetic lineage in the genus Oospila .

Distribution. Peru (locus typicus: Prov. Puno), Bolivia ( Cook & Scoble 1995). Data from French Guiana and Guyana ( Cook & Scoble 1995) refer to O. falcata sp. n. New country record: Ecuador.

Biology. The moths were collected in September, October, December, February, March and April in lowland and mountainous tropical forests on the eastern slopes of Andes.