Pseudopostega rotunda Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega rotunda

ADULT. Figure 137. Length of forewing 1.9–2.1 mm. Small, mostly white moth with white forewings marked with an elongate, slender, brown dorsal spot, 3 closely aligned, dark brown, subapical strigulae laying subparallel to costal margin, a curved, dark brown tornal strigula, and an elongate, dark brown apical spot. Male genitalia with apex of gnathal lobe broadly rounded; basal fold well developed (Figures 261, 262). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum light golden brown, ~36–39-segmented. Maxillary palpus cream. Labial palpus white suffused with dark brown laterally; apical segment mostly white.

Thorax: White; anterior margin of tegula light grayish brown. Forewing white marked with a elongate, slender, relatively faint, brown spot located ~midway along dorsal margin; 3 closely aligned, dark brown, subapical strigulae laying subparallel to costal margin; strigula 1 the most pronounced, shadowed basally with dark brown, terminating before elongate, dark brown apical spot; strigula 2 ~half the length of 1 and terminating before or at apical spot; strigula 3 either terminating at spot or passing slightly distad to it; tornal strigula dark brown, curving from spot to tornus; area from basal costal and tornal strigulae sometimes suffused with light brown, terminal cilia grayish brown, abruptly becoming more white around tornus; venter of forewing light brown except for suffusion of white at base and along costal margin. Hindwing and cilia light brown dorsally and ventrally except for white suffusion at base. Legs mostly white; foreleg with lateral and dorsal surfaces dark brown; dorsal surfaces of tarsomeres with scattered mixture of cream and brown areas; midleg with dark brown banding dorsally on tarsomeres 3 and 4; hindleg partially cream with lateral apex of tibia dark brown, tarsal banding paler, more scattered.

Abdomen: Golden brown dorsally, white ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 261, 262. Socii a pair of moderately long rounded, setose lobes, widely separated by distance slightly less than twice the length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of tegumen shallowly concave. Vinculum moderately V-shaped, apical margin subacute. Gnathos a relatively simple, narrow, dome-shaped plate; anterior margin deeply convex; basal fold well developed, ~one-third the length of entire gnathos, slightly separated from longer, posterior section; caudal apex of gnathos broadly rounded (Figures 261, 262). Valva with an elongate cucullar lobe ~0.45× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of a single row of 38–40 blunt spines; pedicel very slender, <0.1× length of cucullar lobe; valva elongate, length along sacculus ~0.65× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe short, stout, rounded, bearing numerous long setae; basal process of valva attenuated, extending beyond apex of shortened costal lobe; connection between costal lobe of valva and base of gnathos elongate and tenuous. Juxta undeveloped.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; COSTA RICA: HEREDIA: Estación Biologia La Selva, (OET), Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Bosque primario, 50–150 m, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, 18 Mar 1998, L/09/336, slide DRD 4248 (INBio).

PARATYPES. COSTA RICA: GUANACASTE: Estación Pitilla, 9 km S Santa Cecilia, P. N. Guanacaste, 700 m: 1 ♂, 19–23 Jun 1993, P. Rios, slide USNM 32806 (USNM). HEREDIA: Estación Biológica La Selva, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, 50–150 m, L/00/217: 1 ♂, 17 Apr 1996, INBio-OET, slide USNM 32816 (USNM); L/00/223: 1 ♂, 22 Apr 1996, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4163 (INBIO); L/04/158: 1 UNK, 19 Feb 1998, INBio-OET, (INBIO); L/09/336: 1 ♂, 18 Mar 1998, INBio-OET, slide DRD 4278 (INBIO); L/11/660: 1 ♂, 9 Jun 1999, IN-Bio-OET, slide USNM 32798 (USNM).

OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. ECUADOR:NAPO: SE Tena, nr. Rio Napo, Jatun Sacha and Misahualli, 400–500 m: 1 ♂, 26–31 Jan 2000, R. Puplesis, slide: AD 0453, (VPU).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Collecting records for Costa Rica extend from mid February to mid June. A single January record is known for Ecuador.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 2) Known primarily from the lowland forest of the La Selva Biological Reserve in northeastern Costa Rica, with solitary records from Guanacaste Province of northwestern Costa Rica and Napo Province of eastcentral Ecuador.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin rotundus (round) in reference to the diagnostic, broad, rounded apex of the gnathal lobe in the males of this insect.

DISCUSSION. On the basis of the broadly rounded apex of the male gnathos and relatively slender, elongate cucullar lobe and valva, this species appears most allied to P. ovatula. Their males are distinguished by the more slender gnathos and V-shaped vinculum of P. rotunda. The forewing of rotunda also bears a small, dark brown dorsal spot that is absent in ovatula.

Pseudopostega rotunda is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It is found known from the lowland forest of the La Selva Biological Reserve in north-eastern Costa Rica, the Guanacaste Province in north-western Costa Rica and the Napo Province in east-central Ecuador.

The length of the forewings is 1.9–2.1 mm. Adults are mostly white with white forewings marked with an elongate, slender, brown dorsal spot. Adults are on wing from mid-February to mid-June in Costa Rica and in January in Ecuador.