Pseudopostega obtusa Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega obtusa

ADULT. Figure 179. Length of forewing 3.4 mm. Small white moth with forewing pattern similar to that of some variations of P. saltatrix, bearing a prominent, oblique, brownish fuscous fascia and 3 dark brownish fuscous, subapical costal strigulae. Male with apex of gnathos strongly upturned dorsally, relatively short and blunt; basal fold narrow, sharply triangular in form (Figures 332, 333). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white. Flagellum yellowish brown dorsally, cream ventrally, ~67-segmented. Maxillary palpus cream; labial palpus white, with suffusion of brownish fuscous laterally.

Thorax: White; anterior margin of tegula fuscous. Forewing white, with prominent fuscous fascia gradually expanding obliquely across wing from basal ¼ of dorsal margin to basal 2/5 of costa; fascia ~3× as broad on costa as at dorsal margin; 3 brownish to fuscous subapical strigulae present; strigula 1 brown, fading halfway to elongate, black apical spot; strigula 2 dark fuscous, extending to apical spot; strigula 3 dark brown, terminating just before apical spot; 2 fuscous tornal stigulae present extending parallel from or near apical spot to tornus; terminal cilia mostly light brown, white at tornus, then becoming light brown along dorsal margin; venter of forewing brownish fuscous except for slender streak of cream near base. Hindwing and cilia grayish brown dorsally, dark brown ventrally. Foreleg mostly grayish brown, white ventrally; midleg and hindleg cream with grayish brown banding on terminal tarsal segments.

Abdomen: Golden brown dorsally, with grayish suffusion laterally on A2–4; white to cream ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 332, 333. Socii a pair of relatively small, rounded, setose lobes, separated by a distance ~0.45× length of cucullar lobe. Caudal rim of uncus moderately concave. Vinculum broadly rounded. Gnathos broad, abruptly constricted caudally to form moderately short, stout caudal lobe; apex of lobe dorsally upturned, bluntly rounded; anterior margin of gnathos convex, triangular; basal fold narrow, sharply triangular in form, tightly appressed to base of gnathos. Valva with a relatively large cucullar lobe ~0.6× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of 47–49 blunt spines; pedicel slightly curved, elongate, slender, width ~0.12× length of cucullar lobe; saccular lobe short, triangular; valva short, length along sacculus <0.6× length of genital capsule; basal process of valva stout, gradually tapering to acute base; costal process of valva slender and elongate, terminating short of apex of basal process. Juxta poorly developed, a short, slender, median extension from vinculum.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; ECUADOR: CARCHí: Maldonado, 2200 m, 9–11 Jan 1993, V. O. Becker, slide USNM 32895 (USNM).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. January (unique record).

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 9) Known only from the type locality in northern Ecuador.

Map 9. Distribution of New World Pseudopostega saltatrix species group.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin obtusus (blunt, dull), in reference to the short, blunt apex of the male gnathos.

DISCUSSION. The male gnathos of this species resembles that of P. colognatha in possessing a stout, dorsally recurved caudal lobe that appears blunt in ventral view. The basal fold of P. obtusa is more narrow and more triangular than in colognatha, with the anterior margin extended as a triangular lobe. The sacculus of obtusa is proportionately among the shortest within the saltatrix group, whose members typically possess the longest valvae in Pseudopostega.

Pseudopostega obtusa is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It was described by Donald R. Davis and Jonas R. Stonis, 2007. It is known from northern Ecuador.

The length of the forewings is about 3.4 mm. Adults have been recorded in January.