Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis, 1825

Vargas, Héctor A., Vargas-Ortiz, Marcelo & Gielis, Cees, 2020, A new species of Stenoptilia Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) associated with Neobartsia peruviana (Orobanchaceae) in the Andes of northern Chile, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20190028) 64 (2), pp. 1-8 : 2-5

Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7BFF1CE4-CB9F-437A-BD76-7F6F6AF7A1FC

( Figs. 1-3 )

Type material. Holotype, male, preserved pinned and dried: CHILE. Chile, Parinacota, Socoroma , emerged June 2017, H.A. Vargas coll., ex-larva Neobartsia peruviana, collected May 2017, genitalia slide HAV-1319 ( MNNC) .

Paratypes: Adults preserved pinned and dried. One male, genitalia slide HAV-1074, two females, genitalia slides HAV-1073, HAV-1303; same data as holotype ( MNNC) . Two males, genitalia slides HAV-1302, HAV-1305, one female, genitalia slide HAV-1306, same data as holotype ( IDEA) .

Diagnosis

Stenoptilia socoromaensis is recognized by the morphology of the genitalia. The male has a short, narrow uncus whose apex surpasses the excavation of the tegumen, juxta somewhat semicircular with thickened dorsal margin and phallus with narrow cornutus in the vesica. The female has a cone-like antrum with slightly sinuous sides and broadly excavated postero-ventral margin.

Description

Male ( Figs. 1 and 2 ). Forewing length: 11.3-11.8 mm (n = 4). Head. Vertex and frons mostly brownish grey, laterally flanked by a creamy white stripe with a few brownish yellow scales anteriorly. Antenna filiform, shortly ciliated, mostly creamy white, brownish grey scales scattered. Labial palp; first segment mostly creamy white, brownish grey dorso-apically; second segment mostly brownish grey, creamy white ventrally; third segment mostly brownish grey, creamy white dorso-apically.

Thorax. Dorsally mostly brownish grey, a slightly differentiated creamy white transverse stripe in the posterior margin of mesothorax; metathorax brownish yellow, laterally mostly brownish yellow.Foreleg mostly creamy white with brownish grey scales scattered, excepting brownish yellow coxa. Midleg and hind leg mostly creamy white with brownish grey scales scattered, one and two pairs of tibial spurs, respectively. Forewing dorsal surface mostly brownish grey with creamy white and dark brown scales scattered; a dark brown circular spot before the base of cleft; a narrow longitudinal dark brown stripe on the basal two thirds of the first lobe; a somewhat broad longitudinal brownish yellow stripe on anal margin, well differentiated basally, gradually obscured towards the base of the second lobe; fringe with brownish grey, creamy white and dark brown scales, one small dark brown blotch on anal margin of first lobe, two on distal margin of second lobe; ventral surface mostly brownish grey with creamy white scales on distal portion of the two lobes. Hindwing dorsal surface brownish grey; fringe brownish grey; ventral surface mostly brownish grey, first lobe with abundant creamy white scales scattered, third lobe mostly creamy white; two longitudinal rows of reddish brown venous scales, the anterior row longer, without scales in the medial third.

Abdomen. Mostly yellowish brown dorsally, narrow longitudinal creamy white stripe on lateral margins of terga I-VIII, slightly differentiated creamy white transversal stripe on distal margin of terga III-VII, two dark brown spots on distal margin of terga II-VII. Mostly brownish grey latero-ventrally, slightly differentiated creamy white longitudinal stripes, creamy white and dark brown scales scattered.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 2 )

Tegumen bilobed, excavated sub-terminally, posterior portion folded. Uncus triangular basally, cylindrical distally, a few short setae on the two parts, apex of uncus surpasses the excavation of the tegumen. Saccus narrow, slightly thickened ventrally. Juxta somewhat semicircular, ventral margin straight, dorsal margin thickened. Anellus slightly sclerotized, lateral margin slightly differentiated; anellus arm finger-like, about 1.5 times length of uncus, a few setae at apex. Valvae symmetrical; costa straight basally, down curved distally; long hair-like setae from a small lobe near base of costa; cucullus as a downward-curved projection with narrow, rounded apex; sacculus bilobed, basal lobe triangular, short hair-like setae near proximal margin, ventral margin convex, distal lobe semicircular, about a third of basal lobe length, a small blister-like lobe on distal half bearing a few setae. Phallus strongly curved, coecum small, cylindrical, width about half that of base of phallus, vesica with narrow cornutus, length about half that of phallus.

Female. Similar to male in coloration and size.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 3 )

Papillae anales slightly sclerotized, long hair-like setae mostly apically, short hair-like microtrichia basally. Posterior apophyses about four times the length of papillae anales. Anterior apophyses absent. Antrum cone-like, slightly sinuous laterally, length about two thirds that of posterior apophyses, tubercle-like ornamentation, postero-ventral margin broadly excavated, a sclerotized lateral tab on each side of ostium. Ductus bursae membranous, slightly shorter than antrum, narrow sclerite longitudinally on central third. Corpus bursae membranous, sub-spherical, slightly elongated, finely scobinate, two horn-like signa with mesal margin serrated.

Geographic distribution ( Fig. 4 )

Stenoptilia socoromaensis is known from the type locality in the neighborhood of Socoroma , Parinacota Province, northern Chile.

Host plant ( Fig. 4 )

The larvae of S. socoromaensis feed on buds, flowers and unripe fruits of Neobartsia peruviana (Walp.) Uribe-Convers & Tank ( Orobanchaceae ).

Neobartsia is a South American genus of hemiparasitic plants mainly associated with the Andes highlands ( Uribe-Convers and Tank, 2016).

Etymology

The specific epithet is derived from Socoroma, the type locality of S. socoromaensis.

DNA barcodes and phylogeny ( Fig. 5 )

Pairwise distances of the DNA barcode sequence of S. socoromaensis (GenBank accession MN847778) with congeneric species ranged from 9.1 to 12.6% (K2P). The lowest interspecific divergence was between Stenoptilia mengeli Fernald, 1898 and Stenoptilia islandicus (Staudinger, 1857). The BMCMC analysis separated the sequences of the species of Stenoptilia into two groups; the sequence of S. socoromaensis was placed at the base of one of them.

Figures

Figure 1 Male holotype of Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis sp. nov.in dorsal view. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figure 2 Male paratype genitalia of Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis sp. nov. A) Male genitalia in ventral view, phallus removed. B) Phallus in lateral view. C) Uncus in detail, ventral view. D) Lobe indicated by closed arrow in A).E) Detail of the cornutus, lateral view. F) Lobe indicated by open arrow in A).G) Apex of the processes of the anellus. Scale bars: 0.2 mm.

Figure 3 Female genitalia Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis sp. nov.A) Female genitalia in ventral view.B) Ornamentation of the papillae analis.C) Ornamentation of the distal part of the antrum (indicated by closed arrow in A). D) Ornamentation of the corpus bursae (indicated by open arrow in A).E) Apex of the right signum. F) Sclerotized plate of ductus bursae. G) Basal part of the right signum. Scale bar: 0.2 mm.

Figure 4 The habitat and host plant of Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis sp. nov. A) Habitat of S. socoromaensis in its type locality, near Socoroma village, Parinacota Province, at about 3400 m elevation on the Andes of northern Chile.B) The host plant Neobartsia peruviana at the type locality. C) Flower in detail.

Figure 5 Bayesian tree of the sequences of the DNA barcode fragment (658 bp) of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of Stenoptilia socoromaensis Vargas & Gielis sp. nov. (highlighted in red) and congeneric species.Numbers indicate node support (posterior probability) of branches.