Leucosigma poolei Goldstein

Goldstein, Paul Z., Janzen, Daniel H., Proshek, Benjamin, Dapkey, Tanya & Hallwachs, Winnie, 2018, A review of Leucosigma Druce, 1908: a newly discovered case of fern-feeding and descriptions of three new species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), ZooKeys 788, pp. 87-133 : 103

Leucosigma poolei Goldstein sp. n. Figs 17, 18, 27, 28; Male genitalia: Figs 59, 60, 83, 84; Female genitalia: Figs 102, 103; Larvae: Figs 147-154

Material examined.

Type material. (6♂, 2♀). COSTA RICA: HOLOTYPE: ♀ Voucher: D.H. Janzen & W. Hallwachs DB: http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, COSTA RICA, Sector Pitilla: Quebradona, 10.99102, -85.39539, el. 475m, larva on Microgramma percussa : 02/09/2010, Ricardo Calero, collector, 10-SRNP-70737, ♀ USNM Dissection 148073, USNMENT01370296.

PARATYPES (5♂, 1♀): Sector Pitilla: Estacion Quica, 10.99697, -85.39666, el. 470m, larva on Microgramma percussa : 10/02/2010, ecl. 11/10/2010, Ricardo Calero, collector, 10-SRNP-73038, ♀ USNM Dissection148074, USNMENT01438839; Ibid, ♂ [abdomen missing]; Sector Pitilla: Sendero Rotulo, 11.01355, -85.42406, el. 510m, larva on Elaphoglossum doanense : 07/10/2010, ecl. 08/17/2010, Manuel Rios, collector, 10-SRNP-31675, USNMENT01438823; COSTA RICA: Turrialba 22-28.II.65 SS & WD Duckworth, ♂ USNM Dissection 148147, USNMENT01370290; Ibid, ♂ USNM Dissection 148149, USNMENT01437186; Ibid, 1-6.III.65, ♂ USNM Dissection 148150, USNMENT01437330; Ibid, ♂ USNM Dissection 148148,USNMENT01438829. Types at USNM.

Diagnosis.

Forewing comparable in size but slightly larger on average than that of L. chloe , smaller than L. solisae ; upperside pattern intermediate between the two in several respects, sharing the Ч /μ-shaped stigma of L. solisae rather than the straight/squared reniform of L. reletiva and L. chloe , but with the stigma narrow as in those latter species and not as swollen as in L. solisae . Likewise the overall appearance is more granular than L. solisae but with less conspicuous black edging or black wedges at the postmedial line than in L. chloe or L. reletiva . Hind wing underside with pronounced discal spot, ringed in black in both sexes. Male genitalia: Cucullus terminates in a rounded point, less acutely curved apically than in L. uncifera or L. solisae ; inner edge distal to its fusion with finger-like dorsal process curving more gradually beginning in its basal half, the part distal to its articulation with the dorsal lobe the shortest among these three species.

Description.

Head. Antennae setose-ciliate, bifasciculate in males, scaled above with alternating bands of gray (basal) and tan (apical). Frons, vertex and labial palpi scaled with an admixture of white, brown and black, tipped with paler scaling. Eyes smooth.

Thorax. Thoracic vestiture chocolate brown. Wings. Forewing length 10.9 mm (holotype, male), average 11.4 mm (males, n = 4), 11.0 mm (females, n = 2). Forewing dominated by chocolate-brown coloration. Hind wing underside with pronounced discal spot ringed in black in both sexes. Legs. Scaling predominantly grayish brown or purplish gray with an admixture of green especially on the hind femora; a single pair of striped mid-tibial spurs, two pairs on hind-tibiae; three rows of tibial spines on all legs.

Abdomen. Vestiture uniformly tannish gray, paler than on thorax.

Male genitalia. Similar overall both to L. uncifera and L. solisae . Uncus elongate, widest subapically, upwardly curved with a very small apical point, and bearing ventral setal crest. Tegumen dome-shaped, except its dorsal edge deformed at the base of the uncus. Vinculum a wide V-shape; saccus bluntly rounded. Juxta pentagonal, dorsal edge horizontal; annellar arms fused, hoop-like. Sacculus (1) densely setose, tapered; saccular extension without sclerotized point. Cucullus (2) appears chelicerate, the sclerotized part occupying ~1/3 the overall length, widest medially and arcing gently before tapering to a sharply pointed apex with a subapical tuft of reëntrant spinelike setae. Dorsal process (3) coequal in width to cucullus, setose apically. Clasper (4) finger-like, gently curved. Uncus with ventral setal crest along distal half. Vesica with small basal secondary lobe. Aedeagus with an elongate sclerotized band of raised granules. Vesica without cornuti; paired and medial subbasal diverticular lobes nipple-like.

Female genitalia. Posterior apophyses less than twice as long as anterior apophyses. Lamella antevaginalis invaginated. Colliculum undeveloped. Ductus elongate, narrow as in L. albimixta . Corpus bursae oblong.

Immature stages. Known only from images (Figs 147-154). Young caterpillars sparsely setose, particularly on dorsal pinacula; A1 with a medial white spot flanked by a pair of yellowish or cream-colored subdorsal spots that are echoed on A8 but all of which vanish in later instars; mature larva rusty brown above to the lateral line, mottled green below; dorsal markings a series of medial blackish triangles narrowed caudally, each narrow end “cupped” in a lightly mottled mossy green; the effect is one of a series of v-shaped wedges, tapering caudally and enclosed at the narrow/caudal end with green mottling; diffuse brown subdorsal coloration darkens laterally to form an undulating line with each lighter brown abdominal “trough” enclosing a spiracle; the wavy black line separates the brown spiracular triangles from their complementary, dorsally directed green counterparts, continuous with the green venter and expanding with the increasingly distended posterior segments; head capsule brown with two black facial stripes on either side of the frons; antennae yellow.

Etymology.

The name poolei is given in gratitude to Dr. Robert Poole, noctuidologist and former curator at USNM, who first identified this and other species from among the reared Costa Rican material.

Biology.

Caterpillars found feeding on foliage of Elaphoglossum doanense ( Dryopteridaceae ) and Microgramma percussa ( Polypodiaceae ). Two reared male and female specimens (10-SRNP-31675 and 10-SRNP-73038) required 22 and 30 days, respectively, from the onset of the pre-pupal stage to adult eclosion.

Distribution.

Costa Rican rain forest.

Remarks.

Although the female genitalia are distinctive in the configuration of the ductus, the three recently reared specimens of L. poolei , comprising two females and a male with a dissociated abdomen, appear conspecific with four male specimens collected by S.S. and W.D. Duckworth in 1965, and cluster closely with both Leucosigma solisae , known only from two males, and the two specimens referred to L. reletiva .