Pseudopostega lateriplicata Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega lateriplicata

ADULT. Figure 143. Length of forewing 1.9 mm. Small, mostly white moth with white forewing marked with a small, pale brown, dorsal spot just below middle of dorsal margin, 3 dark brown, subapical costal strigulae, 1 short, dark brown tornal strigula, and a fuscous apical spot. Male gnathos narrowly triangular, with relatively prominent, nearly convergent, lateral folds (Figure 272). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum brown dorsally, light golden brown ventrally; segments missing (broken) distal to 35. Palpi white to cream; labial palpus with light brown suffusion dorsally.

Thorax: White; anterior margin of tegula with faint trace of light brown suffusion. Forewing almost entirely white with a small, pale brown, dorsal spot just below middle of dorsal margin, 3 dark brown, subapical costal strigulae, 1 short, dark brown tornal strigula, and a fuscous apical spot; strigula 1 faintly preserved, narrowly separated and slightly convergent with 2, both fading before dark fuscous apical spot; 3 curving slightly around apical spot then fading at tornus; tornal strigula faint; terminal cilia mostly light brown, white between strigulae; venter of forewing brown except for basal white area. Hindwing and cilia brown dorsally and ventrally except for white suffusion at base. Legs mostly white; foreleg with dorsal surfaces of femur and tibia mostly suffused with brown, less so on basal 3 tarsomeres; mid- and hindleg with lighter brown bands dorsally at apices of tarsomeres 1–3.

Abdomen: Light golden brown dorsally, white ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 272, 273. Socii a pair of moderately small, rounded, setose lobes, widely separated a distance ~0.9× length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of uncus shallowly concave. Vinculum broad; anterior margin ~concave. Gnathos moderately narrow, triangular, elongate, gradually narrowing to form an elongate, subacute, dorsally slanted, caudal lobe; apex of lobe subacute; anterior margin membranous, slightly concave; basal fold modified to form a prominent pair of lateral folds, well separated caudally; length of folds ~0.7× length of entire gnathos (Figure 273). Valva with cucullar lobe reduced, ~0.3× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of a single row of 18–20 blunt spines; distal apex of cucullar lobe moderately extended, slender; pedicel broad, width ~0.33× length of cucullar lobe; valva short, length along sacculus ~0.6× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe tapering to a slender, setose, minutely rounded apex; basal process of valva tapering to acute base, approximately equaling length of slender costal lobe. Juxta undeveloped.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; COSTA RICA: HEREDIA: Estación Biológica La Selva, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, 50–150 m, Bosque secondario, L/17/590, 11 Mar 1999, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4281 (INBIO).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. March (unique record).

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 4) Known only from the La Selva Biological Reserve, a lowland rainforest area in northeastern Costa Rica.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin lateris (side) and plica (fold) in reference to the prominent, lateral folds on the male gnathos.

DISCUSSION. The male of this species can be recognized by having the lateral folds of the gnathos the most developed in the group. The caudal lobe of the gnathos is also the most attenuated and straight of the other three species.

Pseudopostega lateriplicata is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It is only known from the La Selva Biological Reserve, a lowland rainforest area in north-eastern Costa Rica.

The length of the forewings is about 1.9 mm. Adults are mostly white with white forewing marked with a small, pale brown, dorsal spot just below middle of dorsal margin. Adults have been collected in March.