Pseudopostega brevifurcata Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega brevifurcata

ADULT. Figure 212. Length of forewing 2.7 mm; female unknown. Small, mostly white moth with white forewings marked with 3 dark brown, subapical costal strigulae and a dark brown apical spot. Male with caudal lobe of gnathos terminating in a pair of short, stout, divergent lobes; basal fold faint, poorly developed (Figure 372). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum light golden brown, 55-segmented. Palpi white; labial palpus with brown suffusion laterally.

Thorax: White; anterior margin of tegula with faint suffusion of brown. Forewing almost entirely white with 3 dark brown, subapical costal strigulae and an elongate, dark brown apical spot; first strigula very short, mostly confined to costal margin; strigula 2 extending halfway to apical spot; strigula 3 curving slightly around apical spot and fading; no tornal strigula evident; dorsal spot very faint, a few light brown scales present at basal third of dorsal margin; terminal cilia mostly white around apex and tornus, with suffusion of cream between strigulae and light brown along dorsal margin; venter of forewing light brown except for basal white area. Hindwing and cilia light brown dorsally and ventrally except for white suffusion at base. Legs mostly white to cream; foreleg with brownish suffusion over lateral and dorsal surfaces, tibia mostly cream; mid- and hindlegs cream with brown bands dorsally on tarsomeres 2–4.

Abdomen: Light golden brown dorsally, white ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 372, 373. Socii a pair of relatively small rounded, setose lobes, widely separated by a distance ~1.1× length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of uncus sinuate, nearly truncate. Vinculum broad, gradually tapering to a narrowly rounded, subacute anterior apex. Gnathos with a moderately broad, oval base that constricts to form a broad caudal lobe; apex of lobe with short, broad, acute furcations; anterior margin of gnathos slightly concave; basal fold faint, poorly developed, closely appressed to base of gnathos. Valva with a moderately long cucullar lobe ~0.35× length of entire genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of ~30 blunt spines; distal apex of cucullar lobe slightly extended as a setose, rounded lobe; pedicel moderately broad, width ~0.15× length of cucullar lobe; valva moderately long, length along sacculus ~0.6× length of entire genital capsule; saccular lobe stout, tapering slightly to broadly rounded apex; basal process of valva moderately long, tapering to subacute apex; costal lobe reduced, slender and short, ~ half the length of basal process. Juxta undeveloped.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; COSTA RICA: HEREDIA: Estación Biologia La Selva (OET), 50–150 m, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, bosque secondario, L/15/402, 18 Jun 1998, slide DRD 4211 (INBIO).

PARATYPE. COSTA RICA: GUANACASTE: Est. Pitilla, 700 m, 9 km S Sta. Cecilla: 1 ♂, Oct 1990, P. Rios & C. Moraga, slide 4179 (INBIO).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. June and October.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 15) Known from the provinces of Heredia and Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica at elevations from 50 to 700 m.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin brevis (short) and furcatus (forked) in reference to the shortened, furcate caudal apex of the male gnathos.

DISCUSSION. The caudal lobe of the male gnathos of this species is similar to that of P. brevivalva in possessing a shortly divided, broadly divergent apex, but differs in having a relatively shorter gnathal base and a more transverse, less developed basal fold. The sacculus of the valva is also proportionately longer in P. brevifurcata than in brevivalva. The wing patterns of the two species are similar in being relatively sparingly marked and in possessing a small dorsal spot, which appears faint in the two specimens available of brevifurcata.

Pseudopostega brevifurcata is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It was described by Donald R. Davis and Jonas R. Stonis, 2007. It is known from the provinces of Heredia and Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica.

The length of the forewings is about 2.7 mm. Adults have been recorded in June and October.