Pseudopostega didyma Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega didyma

ADULT. Figure 202. Length of forewing 2.5–2.7 mm. Small white moth with almost mmaculate forewings except for black apical spot, 3 fuscous, subapical, costal strigulae and 1 fuscous tornal strigula. Male gnathos similar to that of P. duplicata, broad, with caudal half abruptly tapered to a strongly curved, spiniform, apical lobe; basal fold, with triangular anterior margin, tapered to form a stout, greatly elongated, apically rounded, median lobe greatly surpassing caudal lobe in size (Figures 355, 356). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white. Flagellum yellowish brown to grayish brown, ~42–44-segmented. Palpi white. Labial palpus with suffusion of gray to fuscous laterally and dorsally.

Thorax: White; anterior margin of tegula slightly suffused with gray. Forewing almost entirely white except for black apical spot, 3 brownish to fuscous, subapical, costal strigulae and 1 fuscous tornal strigula; costal strigula 1 usually lighter brown, short, relatively broad at costa and tapering distally; strigula 2 extending immediately basal to apical spot; strigula 3 long, sinuate, slanted obliquely toward apical spot, then curving around spot to tornus; tornal strigula brownish black, extending from strigula 2 a short distance to tornus; terminal cilia white; venter of forewing yellowish brown except for basal patch of cream around subhumeral area and along costa. Hindwing and cilia light brown, cream at base both dorsally and ventrally. Legs white; foreleg with lateral and dorsal margins of coxa, femur and tibia partially suffused with dark gray; midleg with apices of tarsal segments black.

Abdomen: Color not examined.

Male Genitalia: Figures 355–357. Socii a pair of moderately large, rounded, setose lobes, widely separated by a distance ~0.8× length of cucullar lobe. Vinculum broad, tapering slightly to moderately broad, truncate to slightly concave anterior margin. Gnathos broad, irregularly thickened laterally, with caudal half abruptly tapered to a dorsally curved, slender, spiniform, subacute to acute, caudal lobe; anterior margin of gnathos faint, membranous, smoothly convex; basal fold with thickened, triangular, anterior margin, produced caudally to form a stout, greatly elongated, apically rounded, dorsally curved lobe greatly surpassing caudal lobe in size (Figures 355, 356). Valva with a moderately large cucullar lobe ~0.3× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of about 33 blunt spines; distal apex of cucullar lobe slightly extended, irregular; pedicel well sclerotized, spiniform; valva moderately long, length along sacculus ~0.6× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe broadening in the middle but narrowing to long and slender setose apex; basal process of valva long and slender; costal process slender and very long, terminating near apex of basal process. Juxta undeveloped.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; ECUADOR: GUAYAS: 80 km E Guayaquil, Bucay (=Cumanda), western foothills of Andes, premontane tropical forest and orchards, 700 m: 16–19 Jan 2001, R. Puplesis & S. Hill, slide AD 0478 (VPU). PARATYPES. ECUADOR: Same data as holotype: 2 ♂, slides: AD 0441, 0442 (VPU).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. January.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 13) Known only from the type locality, a moist tropical site located on the western slopes of the Andes of Ecuador.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Greek didymos (double), in reference to the characteristic double lobes of the male gnathos.

DISCUSSION. Pseudopostega didyma is closely related to P. duplicata but differs in the more complex gnathos, which (in contrast to duplicata) possesses well-thickened, irregular, lateral lobes. Both lobes of the gnathos are curved ventrally in didyma, compared to straight in duplicata. Also the valva of didyma differs in possessing a broader saccular lobe, more narrow pedicel, and larger cucullar lobe.

Pseudopostega didyma is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It was described by Donald R. Davis and Jonas R. Stonis, 2007. It is known from a moist tropical site located on the western slopes of the Andes and the Amazonian Oriente Region in Ecuador.

The length of the forewings is 2.5–2.7 mm. Adults have been recorded in January.