Oospila ecuadorata ( Dognin, 1892 )

Lindt, Aare, Hausmann, Axel & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2018, Review of some species groups of the genus Oospila Warren, with descriptions of nine new species (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 151-194 : 179-180

Oospila ecuadorata ( Dognin, 1892)

(Figs 31, 34, 65, 85)

Comibaena ecuadorata Dognin, 1892: 186 ; Auophyllodes ecuadorata (Dognin) : Prout 1912: 131; Racheolopha sarptata ecuadorata (Dognin) : Prout 1932: 54; Oospila ecuadorata (Dognin) : Cook & Scoble 1995: 32, Figs 32 (fig. 107 referring to the following species); Racheolopha sarptaria ruboris Prout, 1932: 54 . Lectotype specimen of Comibaena ecuadorata illustrated in: http://entomology.si.edu/ Lepidoptera /geos/ (visited 31.03.18), and on USNM website: http://n 2t.net/ark:/ 65665/3b06e7681-abbe-4acf-b4f1-d90b6a6f99c0 (visited 18.6.2018); raw photographs of its genitalia have been provided by the courtesy of Harald Sulak.

Material. 1♂, Ecuador, Ecuador, Zamora-Chinchipe, S. Ramon, 1600 m, rio San Francisco, 14.12.1993 (B. Mery, S. Attal; ZSM /Herbulot) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 58863; genitalia slide ZSM G 17209); 4♂ 1♀, Ecuador, Zamora-Chinchipe, Estaciòn biològica San Francisco, 1 / 8 / 30 / 38 / 106, 1800–2157 m, ca. 03°58’ S, 79°05’ W, 26.– 28.11.2008 / 25.03.2011 / 15.10.2003 / 0 7.02.2013 (F. Bodner, Y. Matsumura, N. Hilt, C. Ramenda, G. Brehm; coll. G. Brehm) ( DNA barcodes ID 20090, 44313, 22237, 17782, 17196; genitalia slide ZSM G 17497; 3♂ 1♀, id., 29.– 30.10.1999, 1800–1875 m (D. Süssenbach, G. Brehm; ZSM) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 05011; genitalia slide ZSM G 13157); 1♂, Ecuador, Napo Prov., Papallacta, Rio San Pedro, 3010 m, 0°22’56” S, 78°07’27” W, 13.02.2012 (V. Sinaev; ZSM /Brechlin; abdomen brushed). 1♂ Ecuador, Zamora Chinchipe prov., Zamora, 19.04.2007, 1000 m, 04°06'30"S, 78°57'49"W (A. Lindt); 1♂ Ecuador, Zamora Chinchipe prov., Los Enquentros, 21.04.2007, 1460 m, 03°48'47"S, 78°36'39"W (A. Lindt); 3♂ Ecuador, Zamora Chinchipe prov., Los Enquentros, 21.04.2007, 1460 m, 03°48'47"S, 78°36'39"W (I. Renge) (slides 504, 505).

Diagnosis. Somewhat larger than the other species of the miccularia group. Green moths with large orangebrown and orange blotches on wings, with bold white and grey-brown perimeters. Usually differing from the other species of the miccularia group by more reddish blotches and more conspicuous, thicker borders between ground colour and marginal blotches and conspicuous discal spots. In male genitalia differing from all other species by two separate patches (rows) of spines on the valva. The underside of fore wing base is darker in O. ecuadorata than in O. bifida and O. absaloni .

Description. Wingspan, males 17–19.5 mm, females 19–24 mm (Fig. 31). Frons red brown, interantennal fillet broad, white, vertex narrow, reddish brown. Length of external and inner pectinations on the tenth antennal segment in males 0.7 and 0.5 mm long, respectively, in females 0.55 and 0.4 mm. The labial palpi are short, slightly exceeding diameter of eye. Wings: Fore wing costa narrowly pale brown and speckled greyish. Discal spots on wings usually conspicuous. The blotches to the distal margin of wings are orange-brown with dark brown spotting and with cream-coloured and brown-grey perimeters. The apical blotch of the fore wing is broad, reaching the fore margin of the wing. The tornus blotch of fore wing is large, reaching to ½ of inner margin. The marginal line is contrasting, the fringe is pale brown at vein endings chequered darker.

Male genitalia (Fig. 65): The uncus is reduced, the socii are large, roundish, and the gnathi hooked. The anellar complex has large dorsolateral parts and ventrolateral projections towards the sacculi. Valva distally slender, at centre slightly dilated dorsally (bulbed extension only slightly exceeding width of valva). Valva with 3–4 blackish spines at the centro-ventral edge, and—well separate—3–6 smaller ones at the tip. The projection of the sacculus is rectangularly curved, tough and long. The aedeagus is pointed distally, tip of aedeagus sclerotized cornutus-like. The sternite A8 is smoothly bilobed to its distal edge. The configuration of male genitalia is similar to that in O. brehmi , O. moseri and O. euchlora . O. ecuadorata and O. absaloni are the only species in this group with a very long and narrow tip of valva, whilst O. ecuadorata is characterized by two separate patches of spines on the valva and a small central extension of valva (larger in O. absaloni ). Cook & Scoble (1995) apparently figured, under the name of “ O. ecuadorata ” the genitalia of a Bolivian male ( O. brehmi , see above) which shows a much more extended patch of spines in the distal half of the valva. In Ecuador, the number of spines is subject of larger variation, maybe caused by loss of spines during mating and/or preparation. The genitalia slide of the lectotype of O. ecuadorata shows exactly the same shape of valva as figured here.

Female genitalia (Fig. 85): Sterigma (lamella antevaginalis) sclerotized, furrowed. Ductus bursae very short, length approx. 0.5 mm. Corpus bursae pyriform. Signum trapezoid with rounded edges, similar to that of O. moseri , but smaller at base.

Genetic data. BIN BOLD: AAI1664 . Intraspecific variation low (0.0%; n=7 from Ecuador). Nearest neighbour: O. pipa (7.4%).

Distribution. Ecuador (locus typicus of ecuadorata : southern Ecuador, Zamora-Chinchipe, Zamora), Panama, Colombia ( Cook & Scoble 1995; locus typicus of ruboris : Colombia, Muzo). The records for Bolivia (Cook & Scoble) refer to the sister species O. brehmi sp. n. (see above), those from Brazil, at least partly, to O. moseri sp. n.

Biology. The specimens were collected in montane to high-montane rainforest, from 1600 m up to 3000 m, from October to December, and from February to March.

Remarks. The synonymy of ruboris with ecuadorata is currently based on the analysis of Cook & Scoble (1995), requiring confirmation. The genitalia slide of the lectotype specimen in the Smithsonian Institution (Washington) shows the shape of the valva exactly matching to the description above.