Ethmia perpulchra Walsingham

Phillips-Rodriguez, Eugenie, Powell, Jerry A., Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2014, A synopsis of the genus Ethmia Huebner in Costa Rica: biology, distribution, and description of 22 new species (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea, Depressariidae, Ethmiinae), with emphasis on the 42 species known from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, ZooKeys 461, pp. 1-86 : 9-10

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia perpulchra Walsingham Figures 6, 51, 96, 149

Ethmia perpulchra Walsingham, 1912: 146; Powell 1973: 132.

Diagnosis.

Similar externally to species matching the Exornata species-group FW pattern, but coppery blotch restricted to posterior area of FW.

Description.

Male: FW length: 9.5-9.8 mm (n = 3). Head: Front smooth, dark brown reflecting metallic blue; crown white. Thorax: Dorsal scaling white; paired, conspicuous dark metallic blue spots at bases of tegulae, between tegulae and on scutellum. FW ground color white, a well-defined reddish coppery blotch in posterior half from before middle to end of cell, termen broadly golden ochreous. HW with costal hair pencil elongate, gray, enclosed in a subcostal fold. Abdomen: Brown, genital scaling bright ochreous. Genitalia (Fig. 51) with uncus broad; gnathos broad and dentate posteriorly; basal processes moderately broad and sclerotized; valva broad, with costa developed into a large notch.

Female: FW length 11.7-12.0 mm (n = 3). Head and thorax: As described for male. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 96) with papillae anales sclerotized; anterior apophyses short; sterigma broad with elongate, pointed lateral lobes; ductus basally with a dentate patch; signum narrow, dentate.

Holotype.

Female: Mexico, Veracruz, Orizaba, [no date], W. Schaus. USNM Type No. 68205 [USNM, examined].

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia perpulchra has been collected from Mexico (Veracruz) to Guatemala (Cayuga), Honduras (Lancetilla, Tela) and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica (Fig. 149), it has been found on the Caribbean side of the Cordillera Volcánica de Guanacaste and Tilarán from 700 to 950 m. Ethmia perpulchra occurs in ACG rain forest. Food plants and immature stages are unknown.