Paectes asper Pogue

Male. Head – antenna broadly bipectinate to 3/5 length then filiform; eyes large, globular; vertex with broad scales, light-brown mixed with pale- and dark-ferruginous scales; frons with broad scales, projecting slightly beyond anterior eye margin, concolorous with vertex, two small black dots on eye margin; labial palp porrect, mixture of light-brown and ferruginous scales, internal surface white. Thorax – prothorax pale ferruginous, with a thin, black anterior margin, posterior margin pale gray, can be mixed with black or dark-ferruginous scales; patagium pale gray variably mixed with ferruginous and a few black scales, mixed with hairlike scales; pro and mid tibia gray and ferruginous mixed with white scales, apical band present, tarsi ferruginous with white apical bands; hind tibia ferruginous mixed with white scales, lighter than pro or mid tibia, tarsi white mixed with ferruginous scales, apical bands not distinct; underside with white hairlike scales; forewing length 9.4–12.9 mm; costal area dark gray and ferruginous; ovate basal spot distinct; antemedial line black, sharply angulate basally, continues around ventral margin of ovate spot, arrowhead shaped; reniform a pair of small ferruginous spots, vertically oriented; interior of wing a variable mix of white, pale- ferruginous, and ferruginous scales, always lighter than costa and subterminal area; postmedial line black, black and ferruginous, or ferruginous, a double line from posterior margin to below M vein, then a single line to M1 vein; black horizontal dash between R5 and M1 vein continuing to outer margin; apical spot white; subterminal area gray, distal border ferruginous and dentate; terminal area with irregularly shaped tan patch near tornus; terminal line a series of dark-ferruginous spots between wing veins; fringe pale gray becoming white at apex; hind wing white, marginal shading dark gray, veins highlighted dark gray, anal fold with a white and dark-gray striped pattern; fringe white. Abdomen – dorsum variable from pale gray to dark gray mixed with ferruginous scale patches, distal margin of segments usually with a darker line that can be ferruginous or black, obscure cream-colored dorsal band from middle to antemedial segment; venter variable from white to tan to ferruginous, medial line black to ferruginous flanked by paler, wider, lateral lines variable in color and intensity from black to gray, or can be represented by a thin medial line; male eighth segment membranous with a pair of short, sternal, sclerotized bars and a pair of longer, slightly wider, dorsal sclerotized bars; a pair of lateral coremata bearing numerous, fine, elongate setae. Genitalia (Fig. 33) – Uncus triangulate, apex sharply recurved and pointed, 0.62–0.64 × length of subscaphium; subscaphium, triangulate, decurved, apex pointed; valve membranous, elongate, narrow, covered with broad, curved setae; costa sclerotized, deeply recurved, apex rounded or truncate, sparse hairlike setae dorsally and at apex; sacculus well developed, proximal half fused with valve, distal half free, elongate, broad, curved inward, longer than valve, apex with roughened surface; saccus V-shaped; aedeagus straight; vesica ovate, large bulbous lateral diverticula just above vesica base; adjacent to basal diverticulum a second bulbous diverticulum with an irregular sclerotized patch bearing elongate somewhat flattened cornutus; thumblike diverticulum opposite sclerotized patch; ventral cornutus at base of vesica, stout, elongate, pointed caudally. Female. As in male except:antenna filiform; forewing length 9.2–12.5 mm; medial area of forewing white, suffused with pale gray scales and less contrasting than in male. Genitalia (Fig. 40) – Papillae anales ovate, soft, fleshy, covered with numerous setae; venter of eighth segment covered with minute spicules; anterior apophyses fused with eighth sternite; posterior apophyses present; ventrolateral corners of eighth sternite produced into small, outwardly curved projections; ostium bursae crescent shaped, sclerotized plate bearing minute spicules; ventral to ostium bursae, base of ductus bursae rectangular and fused to eighth sternite, short membranous section of ductus bursae at juncture of appendix bursae and ductus bursae, ductus bursae striate and gradually enlarges into corpus bursae; appendix bursae emerges from ductus bursae just ventral to rectangular part of ductus bursae, consists of two sacs, one at junction of ductus bursae then a constriction and a second, enlarged, membranous sac; corpus bursae tear-drop shaped, covered internally with numerous thornlike signa.

Paectes asper is distributed from southern Florida and Bahamas to the Greater Antilles (except Puerto Rico), and the British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Dominica in the Lesser Antilles (Fig. 51). A specimen in the BMNH is labeled Costa Rica, St. Andrews I. This specimen was interpreted to be from San Andrés Island in the western Caribbean, which is now part of Colombia.