Pseudopostega conicula Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega conicula

ADULT. Figure 163. Length of forewing 2.3–2.6 mm. Small, mostly white moth with white forewings marked with a dark brown, subapical, costal strigulae with internal suffusion of light brown along its length and a usually less prominent dark brown, terminal, costal strigula midway through cilia; dark brown apical spot distinct, usually contiguous with inner margin of strigula 1. Male with gnathos projecting as an elongate conical lobe, basal fold triangular (Figure 304). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum light brown, ~54–56-segmented. Palpi white to cream; labial palpus with suffusion of brown dorsally and laterally.

Thorax: White; tegula entirely white. Forewing white with a dark brown, subapical, costal strigulae with internal suffusion of light brown along its length and a usually less prominent, dark brown, terminal, costal strigula midway through cilia; dark brown apical spot distinct, usually contiguous with inner margin of strigula 1; a few brown scales sometimes present on dorsal margin near basal third; terminal cilia white between strigulae and at tornus, light brown distal of terminal strigula and along dorsal margin; venter of forewing light to medium brown except for basal white area. Hindwing and cilia light brown dorsally and ventrally except for white suffusion at base. Legs mostly white; foreleg with dorsal surfaces brown; midleg with dark brown bands dorsally on tarsomeres 3 and 4; tarsal banding paler on hindleg.

Abdomen: Light golden brown dorsally, white ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 304, 305. Socii a pair of relatively broad, rounded, setose lobes, moderately widely separated by a distance ~0.4 the length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of uncus concave. Vinculum broad; anterior margin rounded. Gnathos relatively narrow at base, gradually tapering to a conical, stout, subacute, dorsally recurved, caudal lobe; anterior margin concave; basal fold triangular, relatively broad at middle, becoming more narrow laterally (Figure 304). Valva with an elongate cucullar lobe ~0.55× length of entire genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of 36–39 blunt spines; length of lobe over 0.8× length of remainder of valva; distal apex of cucullar lobe rounded, not extended; pedicel moderately broad, ~0.2× length of cucullar lobe; valva relatively short, length along sacculus ~0.65× length of entire genital capsule; saccular lobe relatively short, stout, broadly rounded; basal process of valva tapering to an acute apex, slightly less than length of broad, elongate, costal process. Juxta undeveloped.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; COSTA RICA: GUANACASTE: Estación Santa Rosa, P. N. Guanacaste, 300 m: 1 ♂, Jul 1990, I Curso Lepidopterología, slide DRD 4178 (INBio).

PARATYPES. COSTA RICA: GUANACASTE: Estación Santa Rosa, P. N. Guanacaste, 300 m: 1 ♀, Aug 1990, C. Chaves (INBIO); 1 ♂, 21 Jul 1988, M. Scoble, slide USNM 33261 (USNM). Finca Jenny, 30 km N Liberia, P. N. Guanacaste, 300 m: 1 ♂, Jul 1991, R. Espinoza, slide USNM 32257 (USNM).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Adults collected in July and August.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 7) Known only from Guanacaste Province in northwestern Costa Rica in lowland, seasonal dry forests.

ETYMOLOGY. The specific name is derived from the Latin coniculus (conelike, conical) in reference to the conical elongation of the male gnathos.

Map 7. Distribution of New World Pseudopostega triangularis species group.

DISCUSSION. The gnathos of this species and P. triangularis from Argentina is somewhat similar in its basic triangular form but differs with that of conicula in being much stouter as viewed laterally. Pseudopostega conicula is also distinct in possessing broader socii and a more rounded, less extended saccular lobe.

Pseudopostega conicula is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It known only from the Guanacaste Province in north-western Costa Rica in lowland, seasonal dry forests.

The length of the forewings is 2.3–2.6 mm. Adults are on wing in July and August.