Ethmia delliella (Fernald)

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 : 6

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia delliella (Fernald) Figures 1, 46, 91, 136, 147

Psecadia delliella Fernald, 1891: 29

Ethmia delliella Meyrick, 1914: 27; Powell 1973: 114.

Diagnosis.

This species is distinct from any other in Costa Rica by having the white FW crossed by black lines and a bright gold terminal margin.

Description.

Male: FW length 9.5-9.8 mm (n = 3). Head: Labial palpus short without reaching antennal bases. Thorax: Pronotal scaling white, two transverse black lines, one between the tegulae and one across scutellum. FW white, crossed by black lines and a bright golden terminal margin. HW ground color white, becoming brownish toward apex; costal area with an exposed, thin hair pencil. Abdomen: Dorsal scaling of second segment bright ochreous, scaling of remainder gray-brown with pale posterior and lateral; genital scaling ochreous. Genitalia (Fig. 46) with uncus broad, hood-like; basal processes elongate, 1.5 × uncus length; spines of anterior portion of gnathos thin, distal part of valva with apical notch at 0.25 × length of valva.

Female: FW length 10.9-11.3 mm (n = 3). Head and thorax: As described for male. HW unmodified. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 91) with anterior apophyses slender; sterigma a bilobed fig; ductus bursae slightly sclerotized basally; signum a thin fold covering half of diameter of bursae with a row of short teeth.

Holotype.

Female: Texas, USA. [USNM, examined].

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia delliella has been collected from southern Texas and Mexico to El Salvador and Costa Rica ( Powell 1973). In Costa Rica (Fig. 147) it is a common species in the dry forest of ACG and has also been collected at 1005 m in the Cordillera Volcánica de Guanacaste at the interface between ACG dry forest and cloud forest.

Food plants records.

Ethmia delliella was reared from Boraginaceae : Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken in Parque Nacional Santa Rosa, Guanacaste (Sector Santa Rosa, ACG). Powell collected caterpillars of this species there in June 1988; adults emerged in June and July one year later, from pupae held at Berkeley, California.

Immature stages

(Fig. 136). Dorsum: Head capsule and prothoracic shield orange with black dots, thorax and abdomen dorsum yellowish with black dots. Lateral: Blackish with white and yellow irregular marks.

Remarks.

Powell (1973) mentioned that specimens from the southern part of the range tend to be larger and possess darker HW color. The general morphology of adult and genitalia do not show major differences between specimens from Costa Rica and Texas.