Pseudopostega suffuscula Davis & Stonis 2007

Pseudopostega suffuscula

ADULT. Figures 231, 232. Length of forewing 2.4–3.0 mm. Small, mostly cream to light brownish moth with cream forewings variably suffused with light grayish brown, marked with 3 dark brown, subapical costal strigulae, 1–2 light to dark brown tornal strigulae, and a small, dark brown to fuscous apical spot. Male gnathos tapering to a furcate caudal lobe with slender, closely subparallel arms; basal fold extremely slender, arched at middle (Figure 407). Female unknown.

Head: Vestiture cream, variably suffused with light brown. Scape white to cream, often suffused with light brown around outer margin; flagellum light golden to dark brown, 40–56-segmented. Palpi white to cream; labial palpus with suffusion of brown dorsally.

Thorax: Cream suffused with light brown; tegula cream with brownish suffusion along anterior margin. Forewing cream variably suffused with light grayish brown, with basal third of costal margin edged with brown; 3 brown to dark brown, subapical costal strigulae present; basal strigula strongly oblique, joining a moderately large, suffusion of brown before dark brown to fuscous apical spot; strigula 2 dark brown, less oblique, fading into brown subapical area; strigula 3 usually faint, short, directed caudally to apical spot; first tornal strigula very faint, light brown; tornal strigula 2 dark brown; terminal cilia white to cream becoming light brown at apex around dark apical spot, except for a few white scales immediately surrounding spot; tornal and dorsal cilia light brown; venter of forewing brown with basal, subhumeral white area. Hindwing and cilia brown dorsally and ventrally. Legs mostly cream; foreleg with dorsal surfaces suffused with brown; tibiae and tarsi of mid- and hindlegs mostly cream, variably banded with light to medium brown dorsally.

Abdomen: Light golden to dark brown dorsally, light grayish brown suffusion laterally, cream ventrally.

Male Genitalia: Figures 407, 408. Socii a pair of moderately large, triangular, setose lobes widely separated by a distance more than 0.75× length of cucullar lobe; caudal rim of uncus truncate. Vinculum broad; tapering to relatively narrow, slightly concave to subtruncate anterior margin. Base of gnathos broad, abruptly narrowing posteriorly to moderately long, furcate, caudal process consisting of a pair of slender, closely subparallel arms; anterior margin of gnathos concave; basal fold greatly reduced, slender, arched, with margin slightly separated from base (Figures 407, 408). Valva with an elongate cucullar lobe ~0.4× length of genital capsule, bearing a pectinifer consisting of ~38–40 blunt spines; terminal apex of cucullar lobe extended slightly as a tuberculate, rounded lobe; pedicel moderately narrow, width ~0.15× length of cucullar lobe; valva elongate, length along sacculus ~0.7× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe moderately long, broad at base, which extends partially behind cucullar lobe, tapering to moderately slender, rounded apex; basal process of valva tapering to acute apex, approximately equal in length to stouter costal lobe. Juxta undeveloped.

FEMALE, LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; ARGENTINA: SALTA: Quebrada del Toro, 6 km NW Campo Quijano, 30 km W Salta, sta. 56, 1650 m, 28 Jan 1996, Neth. Ent. Exp. N-Arg., slide DRD 4139 (RMNH).

PARATYPES. ARGENTINA: SALTA: 5 km NW Aguas Blancas, Finca Yaculika, 53 km NNW Orán, sta. 16, 500 m: 1 ♂, 24 Nov 1995, Neth. Ent. Exp. N-Arg., slide USNM 31800 (USNM). Parque Nacional El Rey, campsite center of park, 100 km NNE Metán, sta. 48, 850 m: 1 ♂, 22–23 Jan 1996, Neth. Ent. Exp. N-Arg. (RMNH). TUCUMáN: San Javier, 16 km WNW Tucumán, sta. 29, 1010 m: 1 UNK, 18 Dec 1995, Neth. Ent. Exp. N-Arg. (RMNH).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Adults have been collected from November to January.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 18) Known only from the provinces of Salta and Tucumán in northern Argentina.

ETYMOLOGY. The species name is derived from the Latin suffusculus (brownish) in reference to the characteristic cream to light brownish color of the forewings of this species.

DISCUSSION. The forewing color of this species is somewhat diagnostic in being lightly suffused with cream to light brown. The male gnathos of suffuscula is broadly expanded laterally but lacks the lobiform specializations typical of the brachybasis species group. For this reason its position within the group, as well as that of ecuadoriana, are somewhat questionable. The bifurcate anal lobe of the gnathos in suffuscula resembles that of bicornuta, which possesses well-developed gnathos lobes.

Pseudopostega suffuscula is a moth of the family Opostegidae. It was described by Donald R. Davis and Jonas R. Stonis, 2007. It is known from the provinces of Salta and Tucumán in northern Argentina.

The length of the forewings is 2.4–3 mm. Adults have been recorded from November to January.