Reinmara occidentalis, Laurent, Ryan A. St, Herbin, Daniel & Mielke, Carlos G. C., 2017

Laurent, Ryan A. St, Herbin, Daniel & Mielke, Carlos G. C., 2017, Revision of the genus Reinmara Schaus, 1928 (Lepidoptera, Mimallonoidea, Mimallonidae) with the descriptions of four new species from South America, ZooKeys 677, pp. 97-129 : 106-108

Reinmara occidentalis sp. n. Figs 12, 26, 27, 36

Psychocampa nocturna ‡ in Piñas 2007, fig. 215 ♂, nomen nudum

Type material.

Holotype, ♂. ECUADOR: El Oro: ECUADOR, El Oro prov. 10km NW PIÑAS, 3°38'51"S, 79°45'52"W, 12.04.2012; H=750 m, leg. R. Brechlin & V. Sinyaev, Museum Witt/ Genitalpräparat Heterocera Nr. 29.218 Musuem WITT München / HOLOTYPE male Reinmara occidentalis St Laurent, Herbin, & C. Mielke, 2017 [handwritten red label]/ (MWM). Type locality: Ecuador, El Oro, 10 km NW of Piñas.

Paratype.

ECUADOR: El Oro: 1 ♂, Road Piñas-Saracay, 3°39'52"S, 79°45'26"W, 800 m: 6.XII.2012, Sinyaev & Romanov, expedition Ron Brechlin leg., genitalia prep. 30.813 (MWM).

Diagnosis.

Reinmara occidentalis is one of most obscurely colored species in the genus. This new species is recognizable by the lack of a well-defined notch on the forewing tornus, which is instead smooth, and by the dark brown submarginal coloration with an almost complete absence of gray/pink shading in the medial region. On the ventral surface of the wings, the postmedial line is more continuous and less intermittently notched than in R. enthona , R. atlantica , or R. andensis . The male genitalia are also unique in this species because the gnathos extensions are quite long and deeply divergent, and the phallus is somewhat twisted, noticeably bent, and broadened distally unlike any other in the genus. This species is so far the only Reinmara known from the western slopes of the Andes.

Description.

Male.Head: As for genus, but dark brown in color. Thorax: Coloration as for head but slightly lighter brown. Legs: Coloration as for thorax, vestiture thick, long. Forewing dorsum: Forewing length: 22.5-23.5 mm, avg.: 23 mm, wingspan: 40-42 mm, n=2. Triangular, outer margin weakly concave below apex; tornus smooth, unnotched, apex somewhat falcate. Ground color brown, sparsely scattered with dark brown, tiny petiolate scales. Ante- and medial areas lighter brown than darker, chocolate brown submarginal area, lighter gray scales present near costa on both sides of postmedial line. Antemedial line light brown but darker than surrounding area, wavy. Discal mark ovoid, surrounded by pale gray scales. Fringe coloration lighter brown than submarginal area. Forewing ventrum: Similar to dorsum but more homogenously brown overall, pale gray shading more evident near apex and submarginally. Antemedial line absent, postmedial line as on dorsum but fainter. Hindwing dorsum: Anterior margin without notch, but edge flatter than mesal wing margin. Patterning as for forewing dorsum, but antemedial line absent, discal mark and postmedial line weakly defined. Hindwing ventrum: Following same pattern as forewing ventrum but postmedial line outwardly bent mesally. Abdomen: Coloration as for thorax. Genitalia: (Fig. 26, 27) n=2. Typical of genus, differing in the more robust gnathos mesal extensions with particularly elongated fingerlike tips, phallus twisted, bent mesally, and distally broadened. Female. Unknown.

Distribution

(Fig. 36). Reinmara occidentalis is known from only two locations separated by a little over 2 km in the El Oro province of western Ecuador, on the western slopes of the Andes mountains from 750-800 m in elevation.

Etymology.

This new species is named for the western ( occidentalis Latin) Andean distribution.

Remarks.

We are only aware of two specimens of this new species. Although data is still lacking in regards to the extent of the distribution of R. occidentalis , the distribution as well as the external morphology of this species are quite distinct from all others in the genus.

A specimen that may represent this new species was figured (fig. 215) in the plates of Piñas (2007) with the unavailable name Psychocampa nocturna ‡ Piñas assigned by the author. As per information available in Thöny and Piñas (2015, 2017), all names proposed by Piñas in his works "Mariposas del Ecuador" are unavailable and must be regarded as nomina nuda since they do not satisfy ICZN requirements for taxonomically available name (e. g. no description is provided). Thus, we above treat this name as nomen nudum. While the specimen figured in Piñas (2007) closely resembles R. occidentalis by the obscured coloration, there is a weak notch present at the tornus of the forewings, thus we cannot say for certain if it is indeed this species. Furthermore, locality information is not available, so we are not able to verify if the locality for this particular specimen satisfies our understanding of the west Andean distribution of R. occidentalis . The listed wingspan of 44 mm is greater than that of either specimen that we have examined.