Dunama janecoxae Chacon

Chacon, Isidro A., Janzen, Daniel H., Hallwachs, Winnie, J. Bolling Sullivan, & Hajibabaei, Mehrdad, 2013, Cryptic species within cryptic moths: new species of Dunama Schaus (Notodontidae, Nystaleinae) in Costa Rica, ZooKeys 264, pp. 11-45 : 31-34

Dunama janecoxae Chacon sp. n. Figs 39-46, 71-73

Type material.

Holotype male: 05-SRNP-36040 (Dissected, COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Toma Agua 10.92847, -85.46680, 1140 m, 12 June 2005, Manuel Pereira (INBio). Paratypes: 6♂ 3♀. Male: 03-SRNP-3122 (Dissected), Costa Rica, Prov. Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular, 10.92714, -85.46683, 1185 m, 20 February 2003, Freddy Quesada. Male: 03-SRNP-3121, Costa Rica, Prov. Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular, 10.92714, -85.46683, 1185 m, 20 March 2003, Freddy Quesada. Female: 05-SRNP-36044 (Dissected, COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Toma Agua 10.92847, -85.46680, 1140 m, 12 March 2005, Manuel Pereira. Female: 03-SRNP-3125, Costa Rica, Prov. Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular 10.92714, -85.46683, 1185 m, 19 February 2003, Freddy Quesada. Female: 03-SRNP-3223 (Dissected, COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Guanacaste, Sector Cacao, Sendero Circular 10.92714, -85.46683, 1185 m, 21 February 2003, Freddy Quesada.

Other material examined:

Barcoded: 22 specimens that segregated into four haplotypes with differences from the most common haplotype from Alajuela (14 specimens) of 0.1% for a single haplotype from Alajuela, 1.1% for four specimens from Puntarenas, and 1.4% for three specimens from Cartago. The Cartago and Puntarenas specimens differed by 0.6%. Musem specimens: (14 specimens) 2♂ 1♀ Alajuela, 8♂ Cartago, 2♂ Puntarenas. Dissections: 1♂ Alajuela, 2♂ l♀ Guanacaste, 3♂ l♀ Cartago, 2♂ Puntarenas. INBio specimens: Male:INB0004298089(COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INB0004298088 (COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INB 0004298087(COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INB0004298086(COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. MaleINB0004298089(COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INB0004298088 (COI Barcoded),Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INB0004298087(COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INB0004298086(COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Altamira, Cerro Biolley 9.039314, -83.009966, 1700-1800 m, 10 August 2004, R. Delgado. Male: INBIOCRI002010968 (Dissected,COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas,Est. La Casona, Monteverde 10.298429, -84.792544, 1520 m, 30 January– 18 February 1995, K. Martinez, Male: INB0003058436 (Dissected, COI Barcoded), Costa Rica, Prov. Cartago, A.C.L.A.P, Paraiso, Pque Nal Tapanti, Sect La Represa, del Puente del Rio Porras 300 m S. 9.695214, -83.781156, 1660 m, February 2000, L. Chavarria.

Etymology.

This species is named in honor of Ms. Jane Cox, mother of Jessie Hill of Philadelphia and Hawaii, and in emphatic recognition of Jessie Hill’s contribution to saving and inventorying the conserved ACG rain forest in which Dunama janecoxae breeds.

Diagnosis.

St8 wide, short, anterior margin simple, posterior margin densely sclerotized with a rectangular shape lacking any processes; phallus simple, thin at base, heavily sclerotized distally part, with a pair of small triangular projections subopposite on each margin. The medial projection from the costa of the male genitalia is unique among species of Dunama .

Description.

Male (Figs 39, 40, 43-45). Head - Antenna pectinate in basal 4/5, rami moderately long, reddish brown, distal fifth of shaft simple, gray brown with a mix reddish-brown scales, scape with scale tuft cream; frons with cream scales mixed with blackish-brown scales; labial palpus upcurved, blackish brown with a few scattered cream-colored scales; ocelli absent; vertex blackish brown, cream colored laterally; patagium blackish brown near midline, blackish brown laterally, margins cream colored. Thorax and abdomen - Tegula cream colored at base, a mix of cream and blackish-brown scales distally; mesoscutum blackish brown anteriorly, cream and blackish brown posteriorly; mesoscutellum mostly creamy white; thoracic pleuron cream colored; legs mostly blackish brown on outer surfaces, cream colored on inner surfaces. Abdominal dorsum light gray, venter cream colored. Wings - Dorsal ground color a mixture of gray-brown and beige scales; veins lined with gray, especially distally; anal fold and cubitus blackish brown; orbicular spot diffuse blackish brown; reniform spot small, blackish brown; M-line blackish brown, a wide, vaguely-defined beige band beyond it; PM-line thin, blackish brown, poorly defined; subterminal (St) line marks light brown, AD-line with spots ligth brown, fringe gray brown. Dorsal hindwing dirty gray brown, lighter near base. Ventral surfaces of both wings gray brown (Figs 39, 40). (WL 16.1-17.4 mm). Male genitalia (Figs 43-45) - St8 wide, short, anterior margin simple, posterior margin densely sclerotized with a rectangular shape lacking any process (Fig. 43). Uncus lobule-like with pubescent, thin socii prominently hooked. Valvae with smooth costal margin with a sclerotized, spine-like process near middle. Saccular margin slightly sclerotized at base with a notch in middle (Fig. 44). Phallus thin at base, expanding medially and heavily sclerotized distally, with a pair of small triangular projections, subopposite on each margin; vessica small and without cornuti (Fig. 45). Female (Figs 41, 42, 46) - Antenna filiform, shaft cream with a mix of reddish- brown scales; body color and wing pattern similar to male but wings longer (Figs 41, 42). (FW 18.3-18.7 mm). Female genitalia (Fig. 46) - Segment 8 forming a heavily sclerotized capsule; anterior apophyses acute; posterior apophyses tiny, CB small and rounded, signum absent; DB short; ostium recessed in St8. Ovipositor lobes acute and setose.

Natural history

(Figs 71, 72, 73). 61 rearing records from ACG. Sector Cacao (n=35) only. Food plants: Arecaceae , Chamaedorea costaricana (n=35) only. Geonoma sp. ( Arecaceae ). Four males RDR00153 reared by Roberto Delgado, Cerro Biolley, Puntarenas Province. Elevational distribution 1090-1185 m.

Parasitoids.

Braconidae : Microgastrinae , Parapanteles paradoxus DHJ03 (n=10), shared with three species of Tithraustes Druce (n=4) ( Notodontidae : Dioptinae ) feeding on the same Arecaceae in the same habitats.

Distribution.

Dunama janecoxae is the upper elevational species of Dunama on the Cordillera Volcanica de Guanacaste, and the eastern slope of Cordillera de Tilaran and Talamanca, occurring from 1090 to 1185 m elevation (Fig. 85).

Remarks.

Dunama janecoxae seems to offer the classic conundrum of isolated populations in the upper elevations of isolated mountains. Each population has a unique and slightly different barcode (Fig. 86), but the genitalia differ only slightly among populations and far less than that displayed among most other species of Dunama in Costa Rica. In as much as we have life history data for only the ACG population, we elect to leave these mountaintop populations as one species, even though their morphological and barcode differences are of the same degree as other ACG sympatric/parapatric pairs of species with distinct but similar barcodes (e.g., Janzen et al. 2005; Neoxeniades luda (Hewitson) and Neoxeniades pluviasilva Burns ( Burns et al. 2007); four sympatric/parapatric species of Perichares Scudder ( Burns et al. 2008)). Additional material will be needed to determine the extent of separation of these different montane populations.