Oospila brehmi, Lindt & Hausmann & Viidalepp, 2018

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 : 177

Oospila brehmi sp. n.

(Figs 28, 62, 83)

Oospila ecuadorata: sensu Cook & Scoble (1995 partim) nec Dognin, 1892: Bolivian material and Fig. 107. Oospila miccularia: sensu Cook & Scoble (1995 partim) nec Guenée, 1858: Bolivian material.

Holotype: ♂, Bolivia, Chapare region , upper Chipiriri river, 400m, 27.10.1953 (W. Forster; ZSM; genitalia slide ZSM G 20339).

Paratypes: 6♂1♀, id., 27.10.– 6.11.1953 (slide 17498, female); abdomens of all males brushed); 1♂, Bolivia, Mapin , 620 m, 27.10.2010, 15°17'51"S, 68°16'45”W, (slide 8753) ; 1♂, Bolivia, Inicua , Quiquibei, 555 m, 31.10.2010, 15°30'16"S, 67°11'52"W (slide 335; DNA barcode LepNeotr 00652_NGS) (A. Lindt).

Diagnosis. Small green moths with large orange-brown and orange blotches on wings, with bold white and grey-brown perimeters like in O. pipa and O. moseri . Differing in male genitalia which have the entire distal part of valva spiny while O. bifida sp. n. has two long subapical spines to valva apex, and O. pipa sp. n. has an irregular cluster of spines to its valva apex. The distal part of the valva is slenderer than in O. euchlora described below.

Description. Wingspan, males 17–19 mm, female 21 mm (Fig. 28). The frons is light brown, the interantennal fillet broad, white, and the vertex slim, brown. The external and inner pectinations on the tenth antennal segment are 0.55–0.6 and 0.35–0.4 mm long, respectively. The labial palpi are short, projecting about 0.1 mm beyond the eye. Wings: The costal edge of the fore wing is light brown and speckled greyish. Discal spots small or absent. The blotches at the distal margin of wings are orange-brown with dark brown spotting and with cream-coloured and brown-grey perimeters. The apical blotch of the fore wing is broad, reaching the fore wing costa. The marginal line is not contrasting, grey, the fringe is pale brown, darker at vein endings.

Male genitalia (Fig. 62): The socii are large, rounded, and the gnathi hooked. The anal complex has large dorsolateral parts and ventrolateral projections towards the sacculi. The distal part of the valva is slender and bears a large patch of long blackish spines covering the distal half. The projection of the sacculus is slightly curved Sshaped, tough and long. The aedeagus is pointed distally, without cornutus. The sternite A8 is smoothly bilobed at its distal edge. The shape of valva and its spinose ornamentation in male genitalia are reminiscent of those in O. moseri and O. euchlora . The spined apical part of the valva is comparatively short and broad in O. brehmi , the socii are slightly narrower.

Female genitalia (Fig. 83): Sterigma (lamella antevaginalis) strongly sclerotized, very broad (1.6 mm) but flat, furrowed. Ductus bursae very long, approx. 2.0 mm. Corpus bursae elongate, narrowly oval, length approx. 1.6 mm, near the anterior end laterally furrowed longitudinally. Signum broad (0.4 mm), but flat, bicornute.

Genetic data. BIN BOLD:AAG7368. One Bolivian specimen barcoded with NGS technique, revealing a haplotype just differing in one basepair (0.15%) from that of O. pipa (the latter however strongly differing in genitalia). Since sequencing or editing errors are not excluded, the question of genetic distances requires further data and investigation.

Distribution. Bolivia.

Biology. The specimens were collected from August to November in rainforests at lower and medium elevations, from 400 m up to about 800 m (cf. Cook & Scoble 1995) in Bolivia.

Etymology. The name refers to Gunnar Brehm, who collected and barcoded valuable material of the sister species ( O. ecuadorata ) which led to the detection of this new species, for his great merits in the study of neotropical geometrids.

Remarks. O. pipa and O. brehmi show a very similar coloration and wing pattern.