Oospila euchlora ( Prout, 1932 )

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 : 178-179

Oospila euchlora ( Prout, 1932)

(Figs 30, 64)

Leptolopha euchlora Prout, 1932: 54 ; Oospila euchlora (Prout) : Cook & Scoble 1995: 32, Figs 31, 106.

Material. 3♂ 1♀, Paraguay, Amambay, Parque nac., Cerro Cora. 240–280 m, 1–6.02.2006, 22°37'54"S, 56°01'34" (slides 7608, 322) (B. Garcete) . 1♂, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Imbarie , 50 m, 0 5.01.1956 (H. Ebert; ZSM; abdomen brushed).

Diagnosis. Plain green moths without blotches on the wings merely showing a slender white marginal line with pink scales. Fore wing distal margin is roundish, not straight as in O. leucostigma and O. delacruzi . Male genitalia are similar to those in O. brehmi but the distal part of valva is broader and its dorsal margin slightly concave. In male genitalia hardly distinguishable from O. moseri , but in wing pattern strikingly different in absence of blotchrs.

Description. Wingspan, 16–19 mm (Fig. 30). Head: The frons is light brown and the interantennal fillet whitish; the vertex is slim, light brown. The antennae are pectinate with the length of external and inner rami reaching 0.5 mm and 0.4 mm in males, accordingly, 0.4 and 0.3 mm in a female. The thorax is faded brown, the abdomen being pale greenish. The abdominal crests are blackish brown. The ground colour of wings is green (faded pale brown in part due to moistening); the costal edge of the fore wing is tinged light brown. The discal spots are dark in fore wings, while there is a small dark spot and an anterior cream-coloured line along the discal vein on the hind wing. The marginal line is contiguous, blackish on both wings. The blotches are reduced to a creamy white line (pink, in the original description), edged proximally by an interrupted row of sparse blackish scales. This line is broken on fore wings, at the ends of veins M1–M3, and thicker in hind wings. The fringe is unicolorous, light brown with rosy tinge.

Male genitalia (Fig. 64): The uncus is reduced, the socii are slender, of oval shape, and the gnathi are slender and hooked. The anellar complex has large dorsolateral parts and ventrolateral projections towards the sacculi. The distal part (2/3) of the valva is slender and bears long blackish spines. The projection of the sacculus is tough, S– shaped, long. The aedeagus is pointed distally, the cornutus lacking. The sternite A8 is smoothly bilobed at its distal edge. The configuration of male genitalia is similar to that of O. moseri and O. brehmi . The spined apical part of the valvula is longer and more slender and the socii are broader than in O. brehmi .

Female genitalia are unknown.

Genetic data. Not yet DNA barcoded.

Distribution. Paraguay, southern Brazil (locus typicus: Brazil, Matto Grosso, Burity, 30 miles NE of Cuyaba).

Remarks. One male specimen from central Colombia, Meta, Restrepo (ZSM) in the external appearance very similar to O. euchlora but in genitalia showing an intermediate shape between those of O. euchlora and O. pipa (Fig. 68). Requiring further research.