Oospila miccularia (Guenée, 1858)

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 : 173-174

Oospila miccularia (Guenée, 1858)

(Figs 25, 59, 81)

Racheospila miccularia Guenée, 1858: 374 ; Oberthür, 1916: pl. 85, Fig. 3242; Racheolopha miccularia (Guenée) : Prout 1912: 129; Prout 1932: 54. pl. 7a; Phorodesma sarptaria Möschler, 1881: 402 , pl. 17, Fig. 12) (digital image of the primary type examined); Prout 1912: 129; Prout 1932: 54, pl. 7a; (synonymized with O. miccularia by Cook & Scoble); Oospila miccularia (Guenée) : Cook & Scoble 1995: 31, Figs. 30, 105, 163. Comibaena sarptaria (Möschler) : Dognin, 1892: 186; Auophylla sarptaria (Möschler) : Warren, 1900: 132; Prout, 1912: 131; Racheolopha sarptaria (Möschler) : Prout, 1932: 54; Cook & Scoble, 1995: 31 (synonymized with Oospila miccularia (Guenée)) ; Lévêque 2015 (as synonym of O. miccularia ).

Material. 1♂, French Guiana, " Belizon Road " [ Montagnes Torture , 115 m, 4°15,007'N, 52°21,512'W, 04.01.2003] (V. Soon ) ; 1♂ 1♀, French Guiana, Kaw Mts , Amazone Nature Lodge, 300 m , 13–20.X.2006, J.&V. Viidalepp & K. Sarv (gen. 7905, 447). 1♂ 1♀, French Guiana, RN 2, PK 62, 20. – 23.02.1993, (J. Lalanne Cassou; ZSM/Herbulot) (DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 69643; genitalia slide ZSM G 17490); 1♀, French Guiana, Route Regina, PK 32,5, Piste de Nancibo, PK 6, 0 8.02.1986, (H. De Toulgoet, J. Lalanne Cassou, C. Gibeaux ; ZSM / Herbulot ) ; 2♂, French Guiana, St. Jean de Maroni, „ April “ ( Le Moult ; ZSM / Herbulot ) ; 1♂, French Guiana, Route de Kaw, PK 39, 18.01.1985 (J. Lalanne-Cassou; ZSM / Herbulot ) (slide ZSM G 17492).

Diagnosis. Green moths, distinguished from other species of the group with broad blotches on wings, by the fore wing apical blotch slender at fore margin of the wing, by slender perimeters of the blotches and by weakly marked discal dots on wings. O. imula (Dognin) is darker green, smaller in measurements, with slender marginal band and dark green discal marks on wings. Other similar species usually have a fore wing tornal blotch even broader, covering distal one-third to a half of the hind margin of fore wing but this character revealed to be quite variable in dissected and barcoded O. miccularia .

Description. Wingspan, males 14.5–16 mm, females 17–19 mm (Fig. 25). The frons and vertex are brown, the interantennal fillet is white with a slight greenish tint. The antennae are thinly bipectinate, the length of the external and inner rami on the tenth antennal segment reaching 0.5–0.6 mm and 0.35–0.4 mm in length, respectively. The palpi project ahead of the frons about 0.25–0.3 mm. The thorax is dark green; the abdomen is green with a broad, beige dorsal stripe and dark brown crests. The wings are green, the blotches to the apex and the tornus of wings are yellowish brown, proximally paler, with dense brown irroration. The perimeters of blotches are white and browngrey. The fore wing apical blotch broadly reaches the fore margin of the fore wing. The marginal line is brown, disrupted at vein ends. The discal spots are lineary, small and vague on both wings.

Male genitalia (Fig. 59): The uncus has a short triangular distal process, the valva apex is rounded and bears a dense row of black spicules along its distal edge. The sacculus bears a slender, long process projecting beyond the dorsal edge of a valva. The juxta has a pair of leaf–shaped dorsal parts. The aedeagus is slender, without any sclerotizations. The sternite A8 is smoothly bilobed at its distal edge. Male genitalia are slightly smaller than those of O. imula despite the larger wingspan; the ornamentation of genitalia being similar to that in O. imula but differing in the tips of saccular processes which, reaching beyond the costa of valva, are sclerotized black in O. miccularia . The apex of valvula is edged by black spicules which are longer and arranged less regularly than in O. imula .

Female genitalia (Fig. 81): Sterigma slightly sclerotized, with concentric folds around ostium bursae, ductus bursae comparatively short, length 0.75 mm, corpus bursae oval, length 1.5 mm, signum very large (width 0.6 mm), bilobous at base.

Genetic data. BIN BOLD:AAG7368 (n=5 from French Guiana). Intraspecific variation at medium level (0.6%). Nearest neighbour: O. pipa sp. n. (1.3%). Despite both belonging to the same BIN, the latter is described here, as the genetic distance is constant and well correlated to some differential features in genitalia.

Distribution. French Guiana (type locality of miccularia : ’[French] Guiana: Cayenne?’), Surinam (type locality of sarptaria : Surinam: Paramaribo), Guyana, Costa Rica, Venezuela ( Cook & Scoble 1995, the last two countries awaiting verification). Replaced by sister species O. pipa in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia (see below).

Biology. The moths were collected at light in wet tropical rainforest from January to April, and in October.

Remarks. The primary type of O. miccularia is examined and genitalia figured by Cook & Scoble (1995: 31, Fig. 105). There are three small-sized species of Oospila known from Guyana district as delimited by J. Morrone (2014): O. miccularia Guenée, 1858 , O. imula Dognin, 1911 with multicolour blotches on wings, and O. extensata Warren, 1906 (a junior synonym of O. rufilimes ), the latter having an unicolourous, dark marginal band on the fore wing. The synonymy of sarptaria with miccularia is confirmed after detailed study of the original description and digital image of the holotype from the ZMHU collection (by the courtesy of W. Mey).