Pseudopostega apotoma Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega apotoma

ADULT. Figure 149. Length of forewing 3.4–3.7 mm. Small, mostly white moth with white forewings marked with a small, dark brown dorsal spot along basal third of dorsal margin, 2 dark brown to gray, subapical costal strigulae, a small, fuscous apical spot, and a short, faint terminal strigula. Male with caudal lobe of gnathos moderately short and blunt; basal fold broadly transverse, slender (Figures 285, 286). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum brown dorsally, lighter brown ventrally, 54-segmented. Palpi white to cream; labial palpus dark grayish brown laterally and dorsally.

Thorax: White; tegula all white. Forewing white marked with a small, dark brown dorsal spot along basal third of dorsal margin, 2 dark brown to gray, subapical costal strigulae, and a short, faint terminal strigula; strigula 1 broad at costa, tapering to inner edge of dark brown apical spot; inner edge of first strigula lighter brown, nearly forming another distinct strigula; strigula 2 more narrow and diffused, terminating before small, fuscous apical spot; terminal strigula light brown, very faint, short, beginning immediately distad of apical spot and ending near tornus; terminal cilia mostly light brown beyond first strigula, white around tornus, becoming light brown again along dorsal margin; venter of forewing brown except for basal, subhumeral white area. Hindwing and cilia brown dorsally and ventrally except for white suffusion at base. Legs mostly white to cream; foreleg with dorsal surfaces suffused with brown; midleg with brown suffusion dorsally on tarsomeres 2–5; faint brownish tarsal suffusion on tarsomeres 3 and 4 of hindleg; tibiae of mid and particularly hindlegs with elongate, dark brown scales scattered among cream dorsal spines.

Abdomen: Brown dorsally, white ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 285, 286. Socii a pair of small rounded, setose lobes, moderately separated by a distance ~0.5× length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of uncus deeply concave. Vinculum broad; anterior margin subtruncate to concave. Base of gnathos broad, abruptly narrowing posteriorly to short, stout, caudal lobe curved slightly dorsad and possessing a blunt apex; anterior margin slightly concave, with a slender, transverse, basal fold. Valva with an elongate cucullar lobe ~0.5× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of 39–41 blunt spines; base of pedicel broad, ~0.2× length of cucullar lobe; valva moderately long, length along sacculus ~0.65× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe moderately slender, tapering to a rounded to minutely lobed apex extending to apex of pedicel; basal process of valva slender, attenuated, approximately equal to length of slightly stouter costal lobe. Juxta present as a slender, rod-like extension from vinculum.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; BRAZIL: MINAS GERAIS: Nova Lima, 850 m: 1 ♂, 30 Dec 1988, V. O. Becker, slide DRD 4242 (VOB).

PARATYPES. BRAZIL: MINAS GERAIS: Nova Lima, 850 m: 1 ♂, 1–10 Jan 1985, V. O. Becker, slide DRD 4240 (VOB). Unaí, 700 m: 1 ♂, 7 Nov 1982, V. O. Becker, slide DRD 4225 (VOB). PARá: Capitao Poco: 1 ♂, 25–31 Jan 1984, V. O. Becker, slide USNM 32849 (USNM).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Adults collected in January and November.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 5) Reported only from the states of Minas Gerais and Para in southeastern and northeastern, respectively, Brazil.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Greek apotomos (cut off, abrupt) in reference to the blunt, stubby form of the caudal lobe of the male gnathos.

DISCUSSION. The male gnathos of this species resembles that of P. pexa and P. truncata in possessing a stout caudal lobe and narrow basal fold. The lobe is more truncated in the latter, and the socii of pexa are the most developed. Both species possess broader valvae and lack the dark dorsal spot present on the forewing of apotoma.

Pseudopostega apotoma is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It is only known from Minas Gerais and Pará in south-eastern and north-eastern Brazil.

The length of the forewings is 3.4–3.7 mm. Adults are mostly white. Adults have been collected in January and November.