Ethmia nigritaenia Powell

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 : 31-32

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia nigritaenia Powell Figures 28, 73, 118, 161

Ethmia nigritaenia Powell, 1973: 172.

Diagnosis.

Ethmia nigritaenia is characterized by a black stripe through the middle of the FW from base to apex and can be distinguished from Ethmia laphamorum , its most similar species, by its larger size and by the valva with a conspicuous apical plume and a large distal spine in male genitalia.

Description.

Male: FW length 12.8-14.5 mm (n = 3). Head: Labial palpus curved, long, exceeding base of antenna, proboscis, front and crown white, occipital tufts dark brown at mid-dorsum. Thorax: Pronotum whitish with seven small black spots. FW whitish with indistinct light brown markings except by a median black streak from base to apex. HW whitish; broad costal fold reaching end of cell, enclosing a thick brush of elongate hair scales from base. Abdomen: Dark brown, genitalia scaling pale ochreous. Genitalia (Fig. 73) with uncus elongate, moderately sclerotized; valva apex with broad “plume”; sacculus with long wide projection just bellow apex.

Female: FW length 14.5-15.3 mm (n = 3). Head and thorax: As described for male, except HW unmodified. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 118) with sterigma simple; base of ductus with long sclerotized sleeve; signum a large fold, emarginated at one side.

Holotype.

Male: Mexico, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Feb., 1956, E. C. Welling [EME, examined].

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia nigritaenia distribution ranges from southern Mexico to northwestern Costa Rica. In Costa Rica (Fig. 161) it has been collected on the Pacific side of Cordillera Volcánica de Guanacaste from 20 to 570 m in ACG dry forest.

Food plants records.

Ethmia nigritaenia has been reared from larvae feeding on Boraginaceae : Cordia gerascanthus L.