Chlamydastis christhompsoni Phillips and Brown, 2021

Phillips-Rodríguez, Eugenie, Brown, John W., Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2021, Chlamydastis Meyrick of Costa Rica: barcodes, biology, and descriptions of 36 new species (Lepidoptera: Depressariidae), Insecta Mundi 2021 (868), pp. 1-96 : 23-24

Chlamydastis christhompsoni Phillips and Brown , new species

Figures 19 , 66 , 104 , 128

Holotype. Male, Costa Rica, Guanacaste, ACG, Sector Del Oro, Tangelo , 410 m, 28.i.2009, R. Moraga, 09-SRNP- 20126, GenBank accession code GU649223 ( USNM).

Paratypes (22♂, 18♀). See Appendix 1.

Diagnosis. Chlamydastis christhompsoni is superficially most similar to C. phytoptera . The two can be distinguished by the position of the white spot in the FW, which is more crescent-shaped and basal to the dark brown blotch in C. christhompsoni rather than more rounded and apical to the brown blotch in C. phytoptera . In the male genitalia, the shape of the distal portion of the valva is truncate in C. christhompsoni and round in C. phytoptera .

Chlamydastis christhompsoni is also very similar to C. scutellata ( Meyrick, 1916) from French Guiana, but the two can be distinguished by differences in the shape of the projections from the dorsum of abdominal segment 8, and a more rounded, wider valva in the male genitalia of C. christhompsoni .

Description. MALE ( Fig. 19 ). Head. Frons whitish; vertex brownish, collar brownish; labial palpus pale brown with scattered white scales; antenna with sensory setae ca. 1.5 times width of flagellomere. Thorax. Anterior band adjacent to collar and base of tegula brownish, greenish posteriorly. FW length 10.1–12.0 mm; FW dark brown with mossy green overscaling, especially dense along hind margin; a distinct, dark brown, circular blotch near middle of termen with a smaller white to cream crescent-shaped spot adjacent to its inner (basal) margin, sometimes extending along apical and terminal margin of dark brown blotch; hind margin densely overscaled with green. HW brown. Abdomen. Externally pale brown; a pair of elongate-triangular projections from last segment (visible on descaled abdomen) ( Fig. 66a ). Genitalia ( Fig. 66 ) with uncus long, slender; gnathos with an angulate dilation near middle; valva subovate, with somewhat square apex, weakly veined, with dense cluster of specialized setae from costa subapically; sacculus short, elongate-triangular, with a free distal end, confined to basal 0.3 of valva; lateral lobes of juxta long; phallus weakly curved with long sclerite in vesica.

FEMALE. Head and Thorax. Essentially as described for male, except sensory setae of antenna short, sparse; FW length 13.1–15.1 mm. Abdomen. Genitalia ( Fig. 104 ) with papillae anales diverging and rounded distally, together weakly chordate; ductus bursae slender, 10–12 times as long as width at middle, slightly longer than corpus bursae; corpus bursae ovoid with an irregularly ovoid, spiny signum.

DNA barcodes. The 69 barcode sequences of C. christhompsoni form a uniform BIN (BOLD:AAA11184) with an average distance of 0.11% among sequences, and a distance of 9.22% to its nearest neighbor, C. phytoptera .

Distribution. Chlamydastis christhompsoni has been collected in ACG from 130 to 1450 m in cloud forest, rain forest, and rain forest-dry rain forest lowland intergrade.

Biology. Chlamydastis christhompsoni has been reared from larvae feeding on Pouteria reticulata (Engl.) Eyma (n = 124) and Pouteria campechiana (n = 1) (both Sapotaceae ) ( Table 1).

Immature stages ( Fig. 128 ). Head pale orange; prothorax pale green; T2–T3 with large, irregular, reddish blotch dorsally, T2 with irregular yellow band posterior to reddish blotch; A1–A7 with red shield covering most of segments, with irregular yellow band posterior to red blotch on A1, A4, and A5; A8 pale green with a few red dots and a central yellow spot; A9 and A10 pale green.

Parasitoids. Hymenoptera : Braconidae : Microgastrinae : Hypomicrogaster Whitfield 21 (n = 4, e.g., DHJPAR 0039649), Hypomicrogaster Janzen 27 (n = 3, e.g., DHJPAR0049864), Hypomicrogaster Janzen 01 (e.g., DHJPAR 0057747); Diptera : Tachinidae : Exoristinae : Hyphantrophaga Wood 15 (e.g., DHJPAR0050501).

Etymology. The specific epithet christhompsoni is a patronym for the late Christian Thompson, a noted U.S. dipterist, in recognition of his taxonomic contributions to the national biodiversity inventory of Costa Rica.

Figures

Figures 16–22. Adults of Chlamydastis from Costa Rica – Mendoron and Phytoptera Species Groups. 16) C. carlosviquezi, holotype, male, 09-SRNP-107366. 17) C. christerhanssoni, holotype, male, INBIOCRI000844209. 18) C. phytoptera, male, 12-SRNP-105632. 19) C. christhompsoni, male, holotype, 09-SRNP-20126. 20) C. paulhansoni, male, holotype, INB0004269422.21) C. elenaulateae, female, paratype, 03-SRNP-10412.22) C. gladysrojasae, female, paratype, 06-SRNP-109148.

Figures 65–69. Male genitalia (phallus detached) of Chlamydastis from Costa Rica – Phytoptera Species Group. 65) C. phytoptera, 10-SRNP-101654 (65a = last abdominal segment). 66) C. christhompsoni, paratype, INBI- OCRI000543326 (66a = last abdominal segment). 67) C. paulhansoni, paratype, INBIOCRI0004269421. 68) C. elenaulateae, paratype, 10-SRNP-1458. 69) C. gladysrojasae, paratype, 09-SRNP-101325.

Figures 103–110. Female genitalia of Chlamydastis. 103) C. phytoptera, INBIOCRI000650708. 104) C. christhompsoni, paratype, INBIOCRI002553979. 105) C. elenaulateae, paratype, 03-SRNP-10412. 106) C. gladysrojasae, paratype, 08-SRNP-102184. 107) C. powelli, paratype, 06-SRNP-3185. 108) C. isidrochaconi, paratype, INB00151483. 109) C. jimlewisi, paratype, INB0073276. 110) C. jimmilleri, paratype, INB003326762.

Figures 124–129. Chlamydastis immature stages. 124) C. vividella, 09-SRNP-1964. 125) C. bernardoespinozai, 09-SRNP-114.126) Cocoon of C. marianofigueresi, 08-SRNP-36402. 127) C. carlosviquezi, 07-SRNP-40631. 128) C. christhompsoni, 09-SRNP-71014. 129) C. elenaulateae, 09-SRNP-2109.