Dichelopa platyxantha Clarke 1986

Dichelopa platyxantha

Alar expanse 22–28 mm.

Labial palpus light ochraceous buff; second segment with some fuscous suffusion on outer side; third segment tipped with fuscous. Antenna buckthorn brown. Head light ochraceous buff. Thorax buckthorn brown with some light ochraceous buff scales mixed. Forewing ground color light ochraceous buff; basal patch well defined, buckthorn brown with some ground color in center; outer edge of basal patch irregular; from just before middle of costa a buckthorn brown transverse fascia broadens and extends to tornus; before termen, between veins 2 and 6, a transverse buckthorn brown dash, followed in terminal area by a series of ill-defined spots of same color; terminal edge narrowly buckthorn brown; cilia light ochraceous buff except beyond tornus, buckthorn brown; underside strongly mottled grayish fuscous. Hindwing drab, paler basally; cilia drab; underside mottled grayish fuscous. Foreleg light ochraceous buff; tibia and tarsi annulated blackish fuscous; midleg similar; hindleg light ochraceous buff; tarsi spotted light brownish. Abdomen fuscous dorsally, light ochraceous buff ventrally.

Female genitalia slide USNM 25256. Ostium slitlike, transverse. Antrum sclerotized. Inception of ductus seminalis lateral, slightly before antrum. Ductus bursae membranous. Bursa copulatrix membranous. Signum absent.

HOLOTYPE.—USNM 100758.

TYPE-LOCALITY.—Fatu Hiva, Mt. Teoiaua, 2000 ft (610 m).

DISTRIBUTION.—Fatu Hiva.

FOOD PLANT.—Unknown.

Described from the holotype and 17 paratypes as follows: Mt. Teoaiua, 2000 ft (610 m), 22 Mar 1968, 9; Tahuna, 2025 ft (617 m), 27 Mar 1968, 8.

This, and Dichelopa exulcerata Meyrick (1926:273) from Rapa, are the largest species known in Dichelopa.

It is interesting to note that platyxantha and peropaca were collected in the same localities on the same dates, and that all specimens of peropaca are males and all specimens of platyxantha are females. If it were not for the larger size and much paler color of platyxantha I should think these were opposite sexes of the same species, and they may be, but we have no way of knowing at this time.

This is also a variable species, the transverse fasciae of the forewing being obsolete in some specimens and the range of ground color varies from light ochraceous buff to buckthorn brown.

Dichelopa platyxantha is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found on the Marquesas Archipelago in French Polynesia.