Oospila similiplaga similiplaga Warren, 1900

Lindt, Aare, Hausmann, Axel & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2018, Review of some species groups of the genus Oospila Warren, with descriptions of nine new species (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 151-194 : 163-164

Oospila similiplaga similiplaga Warren, 1900 stat. n.

(Figs 13, 49, 74)

(= arpata: sensu Prout, 1932 (partim) nec Schaus, 1897; = mionophragma Prout, 1932 )

Racheolopha similiplaga Warren, 1900: 137 (synonymized with O. arpata by Prout 1932), lectotype and corresponding genital slide no. BMNH Geom. 15792 examined. Racheolopha arpata: sensu Prout 1932 (partim): 54 (nec Schaus); Oospila arpata sensu Cook & Scoble 1995 (partim): 28, Figs 27, 102?, 162 (nec Schaus); Racheolopha mionophragma Prout, 1932: 53 , 8h; synonymized with O. arpata by Cook & Scoble (1995), holotype and corresponding genital slide no. BMNH Geom 15790 examined.

Material. 1♂ ♀, Ecuador, Sucumbios prov., Panayacu riv., Jarrin expeditiones Lodge , 13– 19.10.1999, 210 m, 0°23'S, 76°11'W (T. Kesküla) (slides 294, 342) ; 1♂, Ecuador, Morona Santiago prov., Santiago , 26.04. 2007, 300 m., 03°02'29"S, 77°59'50"W (A. Lindt) (slide 8179) ; 1♂ 1♀, Ecuador, Pastaza prov., Arajuno , 0 2.05. 2007, 690 m, 01°04'08"S, 77°31'11"W (I. Renge) ; 1♂, Ecuador, Pastaza prov., Arajuno , 0 9.02. 2008, 540 m, 01°17'26"S, 77°30'28"W ; 1♂, Ecuador, Napo prov., Cotundo , 1280 m, 14.02.2008, 00°42'46"S, 77°44'27"W (A. Lindt) ; 1♂, Ecuador "1–4" (T. Kesküla) (slide 6613) ; 6♂ 3♀, Ecuador, Orellana prov., Rio Shiripuno , 27– 31.10.2002 (slides 304, 307) (A. Selin & T. Armolik & I. Renge) ; 4♂, Ecuador, Napo prov., Puerto Misahualli , 5– 9.11.2002, (A. Selin & T. Armolik) (slide 306) ; 2♂ ♀, Bolivia, Buena Vista , 350 m, 10.10.2010, 17°32'54"S, 63°44'55"W ; 1 ♂, Peru, Tingo-Maria , 25.11.2003, 09°20'07"S, 76°01'26"W (A. Lindt) . 1♂, northern Ecuador [Sucumbios], Station de pompage de Lumbaqui , 850 m, 04.– 05.02.1975 (C. Herbulot; ZSM / Herbulot) (slide ZSM G 17482) ; 182♂ ♀, Peru, Huanuco, Panguana, Rio Llullapichis, 260m, E tributary Rio Pachitea , -9.6138° / -74.9353°, 21.07.2015 / 28.09.– 0 6.10.2000 / 13.11.– 13.12.2008 / 15.– 18.04.2003 / 18.09.– 03.10.2005 / 23.09.– 02.10.2004 / 02.– 18.10.2009 / 24.– 30.04.2011 / 01.– 30.04.2012 / 20.09.– 08.10.2012 / 24.02.– 10.03.2013 / 26.09.– 21.10.2014 (A. Segerer, E.G. Burmeister, G. Riedel, H. Sulak, O. Vasha, A. Moser; ZSM) ( DNA Barcodes BC ZSM Lep 0 5548, 0 5562, 0 5563, 0 5584, 24821, 24822, 24831, 25854, 25855, 25863, 66258, 89720, 89733, 89873; genitalia slides ZSM G 15001, 15002, 15005, 15006, 15007, 15008, 15009, 15049, 15060, 15116) ; 9♂♀, id., 0 5.2013, 0 7.2013 (leg. H. Thöny, coll. Greifenstein); 2♀, Brazil, Rondonia, Umg. Cacaulandia, Rancho Grande , 350 m, 01.– 26.03.1999 / XI.1999 (H. Thöny, ZSM / Sommerer) (slide ZSM G 17480).

Diagnosis. Oospila similiplaga has a continuous red-brown marginal band on both wings but the fore wing apex remains green (the marginal band reaches the fore wing costa in O. ehakernae sp. nov. described below, in O. rufilimes and O. fimbripedata . The posterior edge of the sternite A8 is broadly chitinized as in O. arpata , with a Vshaped notch over 1/4 to 1/3 length of the sternite (deeper in O. arpata ).

Description. Wingspan, 14.5–17.5 mm, females up to 19 mm (Fig. 13). The frons and the palpi are brown, the interantennal fillet is white. The male antennae are bipectinate, with the external and internal rami the longest on the fifth antennal segment, reaching 0.5 and 0.34 mm in the male, and 0.25 and 0.1 mm in the female, respectively. The thorax is green dorsally and the abdomen greenish, the crests are dark brown. The wings are green with a sparse and thin brown striation and a red-brown marginal band from just below the fore wing apex to the hind wing tornus. The band is the broadest from the opposite of the discal cell to the tornus on the fore wing, and darkest or blackish to the apex of the hind wing (but not cut straight at M2). For forms with isolated blotches see diagnosis, one extreme form from northern Ecuador (dissected: ZSM G 17482) without any marginal band or blotches, just with a very slight dilatation of the terminal line at the fore wing tornus. The discal spots are small, blackish on both wings. The costal edge of the fore wing is lined in light brown. The male hind tibiae are strongly hairy.

Male genitalia (Fig. 49): The posterior edge of the sternite A8 is broadly chitinized, with a V-shaped notch over 1/4 to 1/3 length of the sternite. The valva is provided with a long, straight harpe, the ventral margin of the valva is concave below the harpe, with the apex of the sacculus straight-edged and well sclerotized. The aedeagus has a pointed dorso-distal cornutus (sclerotized crest) reaching the tip of aedeagus, and a strong antero-ventral process (caulis). The dorsal cornutus is often spinulose in Ecuador, in Peruvian populations usually naked (also in the slides of the type specimens of similiplaga and mionophragma ), it is on average shorter in O. s. bolarpata but similarly short also in the slide of the lectotype specimen of similiplaga .

Female genitalia (Fig. 74): The apophyses anteriores are reduced to two triangular processes of the tergite, the ductus bursae is chitinized, long, and the bursa copulatrix is of oval shape, there is a bicornute signum. The female specimen is associated with a male collected the same night in the same locality.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:AAC7789 (n=17 barcodes from Ecuador and Peru) including both forms with isolated brown blotches and with continuous terminal fasciae, without any difference in DNA barcodes. Nearest neighbour: O. arpata (6.0%).

Distribution. Peru (locus typicus of mionophragma : northern Peru, Amazonia: Huambo), Ecuador, westernmost Brazil, Bolivia.

Biology. The material was collected in lowland tropical forests and on cultivated areas with forest fragments, in July, from October to November and from February to May.

Remarks. The species is quite variable in extension and shape of the terminal fascia, the extreme forms (which are the nominotypical forms) coming very close to the wing pattern of O. arpata . The latter, however, has very small, or entirely absent, discal spots. DNA barcodes strongly diverging. These forms with clearly isolated blotches were found in 10/182 Peruvian specimens (5%) but not rarely there are transitional forms to the more common form of O. similiplaga with wings having a continuous red-brown marginal band but the fore wing apex remaining green. The wing pattern of this common form is hardly distinguishable from that of O. fimbripedata , dissection or brushing of the abdomen is needed for correct identification. Male genitalia (Fig. 46): the straight, stick-shaped harpe and the cornutus are on average longer than in O. s. bolarpata . Although the type locality is unknown for „R. similiplaga Warren “, the wing pattern of the lectotype more closely matches that of the Andean populations than the Brazilian O. arpata and the genitalia more closely match those of the Andean populations (cf. diagnosis above and remarks to subsp. bolarpata ).