Pseudopostega duplicata Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega duplicata

ADULT. Figures 200, 201. Length of forewing 2.0–2.8 mm. Small white moth with almost immaculate forewings except for black apical spot, 3 light to dark brown, subapical costal strigulae and 1 dark brown tornal strigula. Male with base of gnathos broad, gradually tapering to moderately elongate, slender, attenuate, caudal lobe; basal fold greatly developed to form a relatively large, elongate-conical lobe exceeding the more dorsal, caudal lobe in length and width (Figures 352–353). Papillae anales of female consisting of a pair of elongate, slender, widely divergent, setose lobes (Figure 471).

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white. Flagellum light golden brown, ~38–49-segmented. Palpi white to cream. Labial palpus with suffusion of brown laterally and dorsally.

Thorax: White; anterior margin of tegula suffused with brown. Forewing almost entirely white except for black apical spot, 3 light to dark brown, subapical, costal strigulae and 1 dark brown tornal strigula; costal strigulae 1 and 2 short to moderately long, slanted obliquely toward but often fading well short of small black apical spot; strigula 1 usually lighter brown, relatively broad at costa and tapering posteriorly; strigula 3 long, sinuate, slanted obliquely toward apical spot, then curving around spot to tornus; tornal strigula dark brown, extending from apical spot straight to tornus, sometimes absent; terminal cilia variable, white to light brown between stigulae 2 and 3, light brown around apex, then becoming white around tornus and dorsal margin; venter of forewing brown except for basal patch of white around subhumeral area and along costa. Hindwing and cilia light brown, whitish at base both dorsally and ventrally. Legs white to cream; foreleg with lateral and dorsal margins of coxa, femur and tibia partially suffused with brown; midleg sometimes with apices of tarsal segments brown.

Abdomen: Light to medium brown dorsally, cream to white ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 352–354. Socii a pair of moderately small to large, rounded, setose lobes, widely separated by a distance ~0.65–0.8× length of cucullar lobe; caudal margin of uncus concave. Vinculum broad, tapering slightly to moderately broad, truncate to slightly concave anterior margin. Gnathos broad basally, tapering to slender, moderately long, acuminate apex; anterior margin slightly convex to subtruncate; basal fold greatly developed to form a relatively large, elongate-conical lobe exceeding dorsal, caudal lobe in length and width; apex of basal fold lobe bluntly rounded. Valva with a moderately reduced cucullar lobe ~0.25–3× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of 24–27 blunt spines; distal apex of cucullar lobe slightly extended, irregular; pedicel moderately broad, width nearly 0.2× length of cucullar lobe; valva short, length along sacculus ~0.55–0.7× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe reduced, slender, with irregular, setose apex; basal process of valva relatively short, attenuate, costal process slender, elongate, terminating near apex of basal process. Juxta undeveloped.

Female Genitalia: Figures 470, 471. Abdomen tapering to relatively broad, bilobed, setose apex. Each posterior apophysis fused ~2/3 its length, long, slender, length ~2.3× width of papillae anales. Papillae anales consisting of a pair of elongate, slender, widely divergent, setose lobes; setae moderately short, up to 1.6× length of papillar lobe; lobes arising from inconspicuous, mostly membranous base (Figure 471). Vestibulum moderately broad, largely free of spicules. Ductus bursae with dense, short transverse rows of pectinations consisting usually of 2–3 spicules; rows becoming gradually longer with 4–6 spicules to caudal end of corpus bursae. Corpus bursae moderately inflated, without spicules or external tubercles. Ductus spermathecae elongate, nearly as long as bursa copulatrix; membranous outer canal inflated near junction with ductus bursae, then slender to anterior apex; inner canal sinuate, terminating in 4–6 convolutions, enlarging to form small saccate vesicle.

LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; COSTA RICA: HEREDIA: Estación Biológica La Selva, 50–150 m, L/17/522: 26 Nov 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4201 (INBIO).

PARATYPES. BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: Tortola Island: Mt. Sage National Park, 460 m: 1 ♀, 7–8 Jul 1985, S. Miller et al. (USNM); 5 ♂, 2 ♀, 1 UNK, 13–15 Jul 1987, V. O. Becker & S. Miller, slides USNM 32755, 32757, 32921 (USNM); 2 ♂, 5 ♂, 5 Apr 1958, J. F. G. Clarke, slide USNM 33682 (USNM). COSTA RICA: [CARTAGO]: Turrialba, 600 m: 1 ♂, 1 ♂, Jun 1972, 1 ♂, Jul 1971, 1 ♀, Sep 1971, 1 ♂, 1 UNK, Oct 1971, V. O. Becker, slides DRD 4286, 4290, 4291, USNM 32422 (USNM, VOB). GUANACASTE: Estación Pitilla, 9 km S Santa Cecilia, 700 m: 1 ♂, Nov 1990, C. Moraga & P. Rios, slide USNM 32804 (USNM). Estación Santa Rosa, P. N. Guanacaste, 300 m: 2 ♀, Jul 1990, I Curso MicroLepidopterologia, slide DRD 4169 (INBIO); 2 ♂, 22 Jun 2003, K. Nishida, light sheet, slides USNM 33210, 33211 (USNM). HEREDIA: Estación Biológica La Selva, 50–150 m, L/00/280: 1 ♂, 17 Jan 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32800 (USNM); L/08/477: 1 ♂, 29 Sep 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 33025 (USNM); L/09/442: 1 ♂, 12 Aug 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32783 (USNM); L/09/478: 1 ♂, 30 Sep 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4203 (INBIO); L/11/350: 1 ♀, 14 Apr 1998, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/11/492: 2 ♂, 21 Oct 1998, INBio-OET, slides DRD 4200, USNM 32434 (USNM, INBIO); L/13/662: 1 ♂, 1 Jun 1999, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4188 (INBIO); L/15/484: 1 ♂, 8 Oct 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4186 (INBIO); L/15/520: 1 ♀, 25 Nov 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4202 (INBIO); L/15/544: 1 ♀, 19 Jan 1999, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32169 (USNM); L/15/564: 1 ♀, 4 Feb 1999, INBio-OET (INBIO); L/17/368: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 6 May 1998, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32170 (INBIO, USNM); L/17/474: 1 ♂, 24 Sep 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4312 (INBIO); L/17/534: 3 ♀, 15 Dec 1998, INBio-OET, slides USNM 33026, 33027, DRD 4177 (INBIO, USNM). LIMóN: P. N. Cahuita, Sector Puerto Vargas, 600 m. E La Casetilla, 10 m: 1 ♂, May 2002, L. Chavarria, slide USNM 31801 (USNM); Sector Playa Blanca, 800 m E La Casetilla, 3 m: 1 ♂, Jun 2002, L. Chavarria (INBIO).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Adults have been collected almost throughout the year in Costa Rica and in April and July in the British Virgin Islands.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 13) Currently known only from Costa Rica and Tortola Island in the British Virgin Islands.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin duplicatus (repeat, double), in reference to the characteristic dual lobes of the male gnathos.

DISCUSSION. The apparent disjunct distribution of P. duplicata probably indicates an even broader distribution, perhaps more similar to that of the widespread P. saltatrix or venticola. The wing patterns and both male and female genital morphology closely agree between the Costa Rican and West Indian populations of P. duplicata, thereby suggesting a single species. The anterior margin of the vinculum varies from being moderately narrow and truncate to broader and concave (Figures 352, 354). Both extremes are evident within Costa Rican males. Differences determined in the CO1 sequences between these vicariant populations were between 1% and <2%, which usually indicates some biological significance because this is above the average 0.25% divergence observed among conspecific individuals but well below the 6.5% typically observed for morphologically distinct, congeneric moth species (Hebert et al., 2004). However, percentage sequence divergence between closely related sister species of Lepidoptera sometimes have been found to be highly variable (Landry et al., 1999).

Similar variation of the vinculum is also evident within the small series of males of P. didyma from Ecuador. The two species differ in the smaller valvae, relatively less massive gnathos, and less recurved gnathal lobes of P. duplicata. The papillae anales of female duplicata are remarkable in being among the longest, most slender and divergent of any Pseudopostega.

Pseudopostega duplicata is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It was described by Donald R. Davis and Jonas R. Stonis, 2007. It is known from Costa Rica and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

The length of the forewings is 2–2.8 mm. Adults have been recorded almost throughout the year in Costa Rica and in April and July in the British Virgin Islands.