Hagnagora mortipax (Butler, 1872)

Brehm, Gunnar, 2015, Three new species of Hagnagora Druce, 1885 (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Larentiinae) from Ecuador and Costa Rica and a concise revision of the genus, ZooKeys 537, pp. 131-156 : 143-144

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Geometridae

Hagnagora mortipax (Butler, 1872) Figs 23-25

flavipectus (Warren, 1897): Type locality. [Colombia], Bogotá.

Type locality.

Costa Rica.

Remarks.

Hagnagora mortipax is one of the earliest described species in the genus and among the smallest Hagnagora species. Together with Hagnagora luteoradiata it also has the largest known geographical range. The taxon flavipectus remains in synonymy because it falls within the confirmed geographical range of mortipax and shows no significant deviations from the type specimen of mortipax . In comparison to the type specimen, the extension of the large white blotch on the forewing is smaller in Ecuadorian specimens, where it does not reach the costal margin. Since the barcode sequences of Costa Rican and Ecuadorian populations are nearly identical, all respective specimens are treated as members of the same species, and slight differences in wing patterns are regarded as geographical variability.

Distribution.

Recently sampled and barcoded material is either from Costa Rica (Fig. 24) or Ecuador (Fig. 25), from elevations ranging from 540-2180 m a.s.l., and additional material from Ecuador falls within the same elevational range ( Brehm 2002).

Diagnosis.

The upper side of the wing in Hagnagora mortipax has a dark brown base colour with a large cream-white blotch on the forewing. This blotch almost reaches the outer margin, also either reaching the costal margin (Costa Rican specimens), or scantily not (Ecuadorian specimens). The white blotch is narrower in Hagnagora jamaicensis (Fig. 27), and significantly smaller, and separated from the outer margin, in Hagnagora acothysta from Brazil. All three species are significantly larger than Hagnagora guatica .