Pseudopostega attenuata Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega attenuata

ADULT. Figure 162. Length of forewing 1.8–2.2 mm. Small, mostly white moth with white forewings marked by 2 dark brown, subapical, costal strigulae and an elongate, slightly darker, fuscous apical spot. Male with conical gnathal lobe and relatively elongate, attenuated vinculum; basal fold well developed, caudal margin slightly arched (Figure 306). Papillae anales of female consisting of a pair of very small, contiguous lobes (Figure 447).

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum light golden brown, ~47–51-segmented. Maxillary palpus white to cream. Labial palpus white, suffused with dark brown laterally.

Thorax: White; extreme anterior margin of tegula grayish brown. Forewing almost entirely white with 2 dark brown subapical costal strigulae, the basal most relatively broad along costa; an elongate, darker apical spot trailing off apically as a short tornal strigula; the area immediately adjacent to spot light brown; terminal cilia light brown beyond strigulae and along dorsal margin, white in between (tornal area); venter of forewing brown except for short, basal white area. Hindwing and cilia light brown dorsally and ventrally except for white suffusion at base. Legs mostly white; foreleg with lateral and dorsal surfaces dark grayish brown; midleg with distal two tarsomeres dark brown dorsally; distal tarsomeres light brown dorsally on hindleg.

Abdomen: Light golden brown dorsally, mostly white ventrally, occasionally with grayish brown suffusion laterally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 306, 307. Socii a pair of relatively long, slender, setose lobes, narrowly separated by a distance ~0.25× length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of uncus narrow, truncate. Vinculum elongate, moderately broad at juncture with tegumen, then tapering anteriorly to narrow, rounded, anterior apex. Gnathos narrow, with well-developed, slightly arched basal fold distinctly set off from caudal half, the latter gradually tapering to subacute apex; anterior margin of gnathos usually strongly convex. Valva with an elongate cucullar lobe ~0.4× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of 54–58 blunt spines; pedicel relatively narrow, minimum width ~0.17× length of cucullar lobe; valva elongate, length along sacculus ~0.7× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe slender, tapering, extending halfway to apex of pedicel; basal process of valva relatively stout, approximately equaling length of costal process. Juxta undeveloped.

Female Genitalia: Figures 446, 447. Abdomen tapering to a slender, slightly cleft apex. Each posterior apophysis fused most of its length, moderately long, slender. Papillae anales a pair of very small, contiguous lobes, each bearing ~6 setae of variable lengths; longest setae about 0.75× length of apophyses; maximum length of lobes ~0.2× width of entire base (Figure 447). Vestibulum relatively narrow, membranous. Ductus bursae slender, moderately elongate, with a dense, elongate zone of pectinations composed of rows of usually 2–5 minute spicules. Corpus bursae elongate, slender, with an extremely dense zone of mostly broad, pectinate to serrate spicules completely lining walls from caudal separation of bursa with ductus spermathecae and extending anteriorly to large oval zone containing irregularly shaped external tubercles near anterior third of bursa; caudal most spicules of bursa commencing as 1–5 minute spines arranged first in rows, which almost immediately become larger and more fused. Ductus spermathecae elongate, ~0.5× length of bursa copulatrix; membranous outer canal short, slender; inner canal sinuate, terminating in 3–4 convolutions; vesicle composed of two, small, rounded lobes. LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; COSTA RICA: HEREDIA: Estación Biológica La Selva, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, 50–150 m, L/17/380, 26 May 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4198 (INBIO).

PARATYPES. BRAZIL: CEARA: Guaramiranga, 1000 m: 2 ♂, 9 Apr 1994, V. O. Becker, slide DRD 4227 (USNM, VOB). COSTA RICA: CARTAGO: Turrialba, 600 m: 6 ♂, 2 ♀, Jul 1981, V. O. Becker, slides: DRD 4197, 4246, USNM 31935, 32780, 32819 (INBIO, USNM, VOB). GUANACASTE: Estación Pitilla, 9 km S Santa Cecilia, P. N. Guanacaste, 700 m: 1 ♂, 31 Mar-15 Apr 1992, P. Rios, slide USNM 32807 (USNM). HEREDIA: El Ceibo, 10 km SW La Virgen, 05/L/00/033, 450–550 m: 1 ♂, A.Kawahara, slide DRD 4315 (INBIO). Estación Biológica La Selva, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, 50–150 m., L/00/191: 1 ♂, 19 Mar 1996, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4187 (INBIO); L/00/197: 1 ♂, 25 Mar 1996, INBio-OET (USNM); L/00/223: 1 ♂, 22 Apr1996, INBio-OET (USNM); L/00/256: 1 ♂, 19 May 1996, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4164 (INBIO); L/07/358: 1 ♂, 22 Apr 1998, INBio-OET, slide: DRD 4166 (INBIO); L/07/370: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 12 May 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4172 (INBIO); L/07/382: 1 ♂, 27 May 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4195 (INBIO); L/07/656: 1 ♂, 3 Jun 1999, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4180 (INBIO); L/09/372: 1 ♂, 13 May 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4192 (INBIO); L/09/634: 2 ♂, 6 May 1999, INBio-OET, slides DRD 4194, 4196 (INBIO); L/10/349: 1 UNK, 7 Apr 1998, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/10/623: 1 ♂, 22 Apr 1999, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/11/350: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 14 Apr 1998, INBio-OET, slides DRD 4197, 4246 (INBIO, USNM); L/11/374: 1 ♂, 14 May 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32803 (USNM); L/13/388: 1 ♀, 3 Jun 1998, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/13/422: 1 ♀, 15 Jul 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32959 (USNM); L/13/494: 1 ♀, 22 Oct 1998, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/07/608: 1 ♀, 30 Mar 1999, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32779 (USNM); L/13/614: 1 ♀, 8 Apr 1999, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/13/650: 1 ♂, 27 May 1999, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/14/639: 1 ♂, 12 May 1999, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/15/306: 1 ♂, 3 Feb 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4283 (INBIO); L/15/390: 2 ♂, 4 Jun 1998, IN-Bio-OET, slide DRD 4269 (INBIO, USNM); L/15/402: 1 ♂, 18 Jun 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32778 (USNM); L/15/496: 1 ♀, 27 Oct 1998, INBio-OET (USNM); L/15/508: 1 UNK, 11 Nov 1998, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/15/652: 1 ♀, 1 Jun 1999, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/17/344: 1 ♂, 1 Apr 1998, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/17/344: 2 ♀, 1 Apr 1998, INBio-OET, slides DRD 4267, USNM 32814 (USNM, INBIO); L/18/535: 1 ♂, 15 Dec 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4280 (INBIO). Estación Biológica La Selva, Lab. Area, 50–150 m, L006: 1 ♂, 10–17 Jan 1993, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32846 (USNM). ECUADOR: 80 km E Guayaquil, Bucay (= Cumanda), 700 m: 1 ♂, 2 ♀, 16–19 Jan 2001, R. Puplesis & S. Hill, slide AD 0576, (VPU).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Records range from February to June in Costa Rica and Brazil, and January in Ecuador.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 7) Probably a rather widespread species in the American, lowland tropics. The species was common at the La Selva Biological Station in northeastern Costa Rica, with records also known for Cartago and Guanacaste Provinces, Costa Rica, Ceara in northwestern Brazil, and near Guayaquil in southwestern Ecuador.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin attenuatus (drawn out, tapered) in reference to the relatively elongate, tapered vinculum characteristic of the male genitalia of this species.

DISCUSSION. Pseudopostega attenuata was the most common species of Opostegidae encountered during the ALAS III survey at the La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. The gnathos of this species resembles that of P. conicula in possessing a well-developed basal fold and in being narrowly triangular (viewed ventrally), but is much more slender in lateral view. The vinculum of attenuata is diagnostic in being strongly tapered and extended anteriorly well beyond the base of the valvae.

Pseudopostega attenuata is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It is probably a rather widespread species in the South American lowland tropics. The species is known from Costa Rica, north-western Brazil and south-western Ecuador.

The length of the forewings is 1.8–2.2 mm. Adults have been found from February to June in Costa Rica and Brazil and in January in Ecuador.