Paromphacodes alticola Lindt, Tasane, Õunap & Viidalepp, 2017

Lindt, Aare, Tasane, Tõnis, Õunap, Erki & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2017, Five new species of the genus Paromphacodes (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae) from High Andes in Ecuador, Zootaxa 4303 (3), pp. 395-406 : 398-401

Paromphacodes alticola Lindt, Tasane, Õunap & Viidalepp sp. nov.

(Figs 2, 8)

Holotype: ♂, Ecuador, [Cotopaxi prov.], Cotopaxi, 3560 m, 16.iv.2007, 00°38’59”S, 78°30’41”W (the Holotype ID: IZBE 0122051 , DNA voucher 33v, BIN: BOLD: ACZ 1306 (slide 8324). The holotype is deposited in the collection of IZBE, Tartu , Estonia. Paratypes: 10 ♂, Ecuador, [ Cotopaxi prov. ], Cotopaxi 3560 m, 16.iv.2007, 00°38'59”S, 78°30'41”W, (slides 357, 358) ; 3 ♂, Ecuador, [Carchi prov.], El Angel 3430 m, 05.v.2007, 00°38’49”S, 77°53’33”W (slide 202) (A. Lindt) ; 1♂, Ecuador [Chimborazo prov.], Alao , 3560 m, 17.iv.2007, 01°52’55”S, 78°28’31”W, DNA voucher 31v, BIN: BOLD: ACZ 1306, (slide 204) ; 2♂, Ecuador, [Imbabura prov.], Carolina 1200 m, 09.v.2007, 00°41’28”N, 78°12’10”W (A. Lindt) (slide 209 (A. Lindt) . 1 ♂, “ Ecuador / Vorbach 2/6 29 ” (slide 6707) (coll. ZMUC, Copenhagen). The paratypes are deposited in the collections of IZBE, ZMUC and EMNH, and in the private collection of A. Lindt. One paratype will be analysed in addition by G. Brehm , for his global project on phylogeny of Geometridae .

Diagnosis. Moths with straight distal margins of forewings, with straight row of postmedial spots or streaks and marginal line on forewings contrasting with white hind wings. This species, P. alpha sp. nov. and P. onae sp. nov. are similar one to another in their wing shape and markings. P. alticola has forewing vein-spots and marginal line red-brown, P. alpha sp. nov. and P. onae sp. nov. have their markings darker, blackish brown, and P. onae sp. nov. has discal spots on hindwings, while discal spots are lacking on hindwings of P. alticola sp. nov. and P. alpha sp. nov., which are described below. The male genitalia are characterized by the broad, bidentate costal expansion to valva and heart-shaped sclerotization to the posterior edge of the last abdominal sternite.

Description. Wing span 25–26 mm (Fig. 2). The frons is white in the lower three-fourths, red in the upper onefourth; the interantennal fillet is white, the vertex green, a red-brown line in between. The palpi are red-brown, slightly projecting beyond the frons. The pectinations of male antennae are 2.5 times longer than the diameter of the shaft. The thorax and dorsum of abdomen are green, the abdomen mottled reddish anteriorly, a white spot at the tergite A1 is edged dark brown, while the white spots at tergites A2 and A3 are surrounded light brown. The forewings are deep green, the hind wings white. The costal edge of the forewing is white, lined with yellowish, while the marginal line, the discal and postmedial spots are red-brown. The postmedial spots on veins are in a straight row. The fringe is dark red-brown basally, shining white distally, chequered with reddish against vein ends; the tornus and nearby fringe bear a green patch.

Male genitalia (Fig. 8): The uncus is thin filiform, the socii triangular, tapering to the tips, almost a half-length of the uncus. The gnathos is a loop with a distal process (cochlear) tapered and hooked. The valva is provided with a broad, flat, dorsally bidentate costal plate. The ventral margin of the costal plate is slightly raised as a fold. The juxta is a small roundish plate. The aedeagus is pointed distally, with a rounded anellar plate. The last abdominal sternite is markedly shorter than the corresponding tergite, roundly bilobed and sclerotized distally, with the midrib tapering towards the anterior edge of the sternite.

Female and preimaginal stages unknown.

Genetic data. Two analysed specimens barcode sharing. Nearest neighbour on BOLD P. alpha (KP2 minimum pairwise distance 14.6%). Genetic difference from P. summita 14.7%, from P. spina 15.5%.

Derivatio nominis. alticola = living in high altitude.

Discussion. The male genital armatures of P. alticola sp. nov., P. onae sp. nov. and P. alpha sp. nov. are similar to that in P. perpulchra figured by Pitkin (1996: fig. 116) but the costal plate of the valva is dilating proximally in P. alticola sp. nov., P. onae sp. nov. and P. alpha sp. nov., while it is the broadest distally in P. perpulchra . The posterior edge of the sternite A8 is shallowly emarginated in P. perpulchra , and more deeply heart-shaped in P. alticola sp. nov. and P. alpha sp. nov.; the emargination of the sternite is the broadest in P. onae sp. nov.

Biology. The type series was collected in April and early May. Most collecting sites are located above the timberline, in the grass-parámo belt (following the vertical zonation of the Andean vegetation by Sklenař & Jørgensen, 2004; Morrone, 2014), but two specimens appeared at light in Carolina site at 1200 m altitude. The last site is probably a secondary one for a high altitude species on burned and grazed slopes (Suarez & Galo Medina, 2001), or a relict of Holocene vertical shifts of forest and parámo vegetation belts (Van der Hammen, 1995). On the other hand, Sklenař & Jørgensen, 2004 have shown that the species with the widest geographical ranges also have a wide altitudinal distribution.

Distribution. The species was collected in four sites of western Andes, between 0–3° S. The Cotopaxi, El Angel and Alao collecting sites are characterized by a parámo vegetation above the timberline, the Carolina site by a secondary vegetation. The specimen illustrated by Piñas (1996) as fig. 149, " Nemoria sp? 1" is probably P. alticola collected on " Cotopaxi " in January, and the specimen collected by Vorbach lacks detailed data. Genetically homogenous, DNA barcode sharing; nearest neighbour on BOLD Paromphacodes alpha sp. nov. described below (KP2 minimum pairwise distance 14.5%).

PLATE 1. Figs 1 –6. Paromphacodes moths. 1, P. perpulchra Warren ; 2, P. alticola sp. nov. (Paratype); 3, P. alpha sp. nov. (Holotype), 4, P. onae sp. nov. (Holotype); 5, P. spina sp. nov. (Holotype); 6, P. summita sp. nov. (Holotype). Scale bar, 10 mm.

PLATE 2. Figs 7–12. Paromphacodes , male genitalia: armature, aedeagus and sternite A8. 7, P. perpulchra Warren ; 8, P. alticola sp. nov.; 9, P. spina sp. nov.; 10, P. summita sp. nov.; 11, P. alpha sp. nov.; 12, P. onae sp. nov. Scale bar, 1 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Neighbour-joining tree for the Paromphacodes species from Ecuador, and Lissochlora latuta (Dognin, 1898) as the outgroup species.