Dicepolia vaga, Hayden, James E., 2009

Hayden, James E., 2009, Taxonomic revision of Neotropical Dicepolia Snellen (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), Zootaxa 2237, pp. 1-33 : 26-27

Dicepolia vaga sp. nov.

Figures 12, 27, 43, 56

Material examined: Holotype 3 ( MCZ): Barro Colorado / C.Z. 25-XII / M. Bates coll. // [red label] HOLOTYPE Dicepolia vaga Hayden // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 241 3. Dissected. MCZ type no. 33566. Paratypes: Ecuador: 13: Paramba, / Ecuador. / Jan. to May 97. // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1. // [yellow label] PARATYPE / Dicepolia / vaga / J.E. Hayden // BMNH (E) #846392. 13: Paramba. / 3500'. VI-97. / dry season. / (Rosenberg). // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1. // B.M. Pyralidae / Genitalia slide / No. 22133 male // [yellow label] PARATYPE / Dicepolia / vaga / J.E. Hayden // BMNH (E) #846393. 1Ƥ: Paramba, / Ecuador. / Jan. to May 97. // Rothschild / Bequest / 1939-1. // [yellow label] PARATYPE / Dicepolia / vaga / J.E. Hayden // BMNH (E) #846394 (all NHM). Jamaica: 13: JAMAICA: St. Cath. Par. / Mt. Diablo, Hollymount / 2754ft, 21–24 April '73 / Don & Mignon Davis // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 230 3 ( USNM). Panama: 1Ƥ: Barro Colorado / C.Z. IV-7-35 / A. Friedman // J.E. Hayden SLIDE No. 517 Ƥ. 2ƤƤ from type locality with same label data except date: one “Barro Colorado / C.Z. 28-I / M. Bates coll.,” one “… 31-I-35 ...” (all MCZ).

Diagnosis: Dorsum uniformly dark brownish-reddish orange, nearly brick red. Forewing transverse lines dark gray, clearly visible ventrally as well as dorsally. Hindwing PM from Sc to 1A. A8 pleural androconium reduced, faintly visible. Male S8 posterior margin nearly straight or a very shallow “V,” with small median spine. Phallus twisted compactly like a spring. Sclerotized, tubular appendix of cervix bursae absent. Signum of corpus bursae very long and smooth.

Description: Dorsal aspects of head, mouthparts, thorax and wings all concolorous brownish orange unless otherwise noted. Frontoclypeus not very prominent, projecting 0.20 ± 0.06 mm (n = 6), frontoclypeus an obtuse rounded arch. Frons very slightly rounded. Frons and vertex rose. Eye 0.84 ± 0.06 mm long (n = 6). Antennae orange-brown, scape white. Male antennae cilia not longer than width; female cilia much shorter. Labial palpi 1.8–2.4 mm (mean 2.1 ± 0.1 mm, n = 5). Mean palpi:eye ratio 2.6. Haustellar scales white. Cervical scales cream. Dorsal thorax reddish orange. Ventral thorax and legs entirely white, except male foreleg tibia and dorsal edge of midleg tibia. Male foreleg without femoral androconia. Outer: inner spur ratios: midleg, 0.5; hindleg, 0.7.

Forewing length 8.6–10.8 mm (mean 9.6 ± 0.2 mm), width 4.2–5.2 mm (mean 4.8 ± 0.2 mm), mean length:width ratio 2.0 (n = 6) (fig. 12). Color uniformly brownish orange. Transverse lines faint but continuous, marked by darker orange and black scales, with more numerous black scales where AM and PM cross anal fold; reniform line present. Antemedial line bent distad on anal fold; meeting posterior edge halfway. Postmedial line parallel to termen, bent smoothly basad 1.2mm on 1A. Marginal fringe basally pale gray, longer scales white along whole distal edge. Distinct scale-tooth absent from posterior edge, but marginal fringe of orange scales present whole length of wing. Forewing underside pale brown basally, dark orange distally, and white below anal fold; reniform and PM line marked by brown scales between veins (more noticeably so than lines on dorsal aspect). Hindwings bronzy. Postmedial line complete from Sc to 1A, dark brown scales. Terminal area completely colored rose-orange from the dark PM line to edge; concolorous scales also present in anal area and along veins basad of PM.

Abdomen dorsally pale yellow with pale gray scales on anterior of each tergum; ventrally cream. Male genitalic scales yellow, except T8 fringe with orange scales and valvae off-white. S7 tuft small.

Male genitalia (figs 27, 43): S8 anterior emargination triangular. S8 posterior edge nearly straight, in very shallow V, with small medial spine. A8 pleural androconium faint, linear. Lamelliform structures on sloping shoulders with bases laterally parallel or slightly convergent. Vinculum broadly concave. Gnathos arms converging at 80-degree angle; gnathos lateral arms not very robust; median element as long as arms. Costal flutes present. Valva not much longer than deep, due to relatively large sacculus. Phallus with 2.5 spirals. Cornutus single, long.

Female genitalia (fig. 56): S9 length:depth ratio, 1. Ductus bursae moderately elongate from ostium bursae to colliculum. Colliculum 1.5 times longer than wide. Spur of colliculum wide, broadly based from middle of colliculum. Corpus bursae oblong, length about 2.5 times width. Appendix of ductus bursae absent.

Appendix of corpus bursae present, large, globular, membranous. Signum of corpus bursae long, narrow, smooth, extending longitudinally from near colliculum to 2/3 length of corpus bursae. Field of granules absent from corpus bursae.

Etymology: Latin vagus, wandering, referring to the disjunct distribution.

Distribution: Ecuadorean Andes, Panama, and montane Jamaica.

Flight period: Jan.–May and June, “dry season” ( Ecuador), Dec.–Jan. and April (BCI, Panama), April ( Jamaica).

Similar species: D. cuiabalis has yellowish brown forewings, and the forewing PM line is more strongly curved basad on 1A and more obviously broken on the veins. The forewing and hindwing PM lines of D. roseobrunnea are not strongly marked gray-black, and the phallus in all other species is not strongly twisted like a spring. Sympatric females of this species and D. roseobrunnea from Barro Colorado Island, Panama, are very similar, but in addition to having black, well-defined forewing PM lines on both upper and lower sides, the female genitalia of D. vaga lack the sclerotized, tubular appendix of the cervix bursae (having only the globular, membranous appendix), have a very long, smooth signum, and lack a field of granules on the corpus bursae. Somewhat like D. artoides in forewing color, but more orange, not as glossy, and body size much larger.

Remarks: The distribution is disjunct, but the specimens agree in all external and genitalic characters except the slightly smaller eye and shorter wing of the Jamaican individual. The last has more black scales in its transverse lines, which either variation or its better preservation can explain. It is the only Dicepolia known from the Antilles, not including the singletons of D. roseobrunnea and D. rufitinctalis from Trinidad. The female genitalia of the April BCI specimen are strikingly different from sympatric D. roseobrunnea , but the species can be distinguished externally only by the PM lines, especially on the forewing underside. The long, smooth corpus bursae signum resembles resembles that of D. rufeolalis of Madagascar.