Ethmia sandra Powell

Phillips-Rodriguez, Eugenie, Powell, Jerry A., Hallwachs, Winnie & Janzen, Daniel H., 2014, A synopsis of the genus Ethmia Huebner in Costa Rica: biology, distribution, and description of 22 new species (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea, Depressariidae, Ethmiinae), with emphasis on the 42 species known from Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, ZooKeys 461, pp. 1-86 : 28-29

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia sandra Powell Figures 25, 70, 115, 160

Ethmia sandra Powell, 1973: 166.

Diagnosis.

This species can be easily identified externally by the scaling of its abdomen, which is entirely ochreous, the FW pattern composed of a few short black dashes over a whitish background, and the spines on the valva being evenly spaced in male genitalia.

Description.

Male: FW length 10-11.4 mm (n = 2). Head: Labial palpus long, strongly curved; proboscis whitish, front and crown grayish, with a large black, median spot posteriorly. Thorax: Pale brownish; seven black spots, three pairs at sides of notum and scutellum and a small median spot preceding scutellum. FW ground color whitish with longitudinally elongated spots. HW ground color whitish, costal fold present with a white hair brush. Abdomen: Dorsal ochreous, venter paler; first tergum with a patch of specialized scales. Genitalia (Fig. 70) with anterior margin of valva with three evenly spaced long spines at apex.

Female: FW length 12.7 mm. Head and thorax: As described by male, HW unmodified. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 115) with sterigma broad; antrum with sclerotized band; signum large, dentate.

Holotype.

Male: El Salvador, 13 km N San Salvador, 4 February 1965, S. S. & W. D. Duckworth [USNM, examined].

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia sandra has been recorded from Mexico to El Salvador and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica (Fig. 160) has been collected in rain forests near Turrialba, Cartago. The food plant and immature stages are unknown.

Remarks.

The abdomens of female specimens captured at lights are covered with pollen, suggesting that oviposition occurs into flowers of a plant that blooms in the dry season ( Powell 1973).