Ethmia miriamschulmanae Phillips

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 : 43-44

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia miriamschulmanae Phillips sp. n. Figures 41, 86, 131, 167

Diagnosis.

This species can be discriminated easily from Ethmia similatella and Ethmia tilneyorum externally by the broad black band on the pronotum.

Description.

Male: FW length 10.3-10.5 mm (n = 3). Head: Labial palpus surpassing base of antenna, II segment brown basally, III segment brown basally and apically; proboscis and front brown before base of antenna, crown yellowish with middorsal occipital brown tuft. Thorax: White, base of tegula brown narrowly; pronotum with a middle wide brown band between tegula apices, scutellum with a brown spot. FW costal half dark brown from base to termen except apex which is white enclosing two dots on terminal line, longitudinal sinuated line separating dark costal half from paler posterior half, base with a brown spot at premedial line, torsum white. HW ground color whitish, getting dark towards apical margin, costal fold with double hair-brush present. Abdomen: Brown with ochreous genital scaling. Genitalia (Fig. 86) with uncus and gnathos absent; basal process broad, sinuated; valva with a pair of distal hooks, a cucullus “plume” present.

Female: FW length 10.5-10.7 mm (n = 3). Head and thorax: As described for male, HW unmodified. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 131) with antrum sclerotized; signum with a small notched keel.

Holotype.

Male: 11-SRNP-103729, DNA Barcoded, Costa Rica: Guanacaste, Sector Santa Rosa, Luces 575 m, 1.vi.2011, H. Cambronero & R. Franco. Deposited in INBio. Paratypes: Costa Rica: Guanacaste: ACG: Sector Maritza, Casa Rafa 579 m, 1M 1.vi.2011, R. Franco & S. Ríos, 2F 4/5.vi.2011, H. Cambronero & R. Franco; Sector Mundo Nuevo, Manta Canon 700 m, 1M 1F 17.x.2009, F. Quesada & R. Franco; Sector Murciélago, Mirador Murciélago 87 m, 1M 1F 22/23.xi.2011, H. Cambronero & S. Ríos, Mirador Nance 133 m, 1M 1F 25/26.xi.2011, H. Cambronero & R. Franco; Sector Santa Elena, La Angostura 300 m, 2F 26.v.2009; Sector Santa Rosa, Luces 575 m, 1F 31.v.2011, H. Cambronero & R. Franco, Manta Naranjo 25 m, 2F 21/22.ix.2009, F. Quesada & R. Cambronero (BMNH, INBio, EME, USNM).

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia miriamschulmanae has been collected in Costa Rica (Fig. 167) in the dry forests of the Pacific side of Cordillera Volcánica de Guanacaste (ACG) and Península de Nicoya from 25 to 700 m.

Food plant records.

Ethmia miriamschulmanae has been reared from larvae feeding on Boraginaceae : Varronia guanacastensis (Standl.).

Etymology.

Ethmia miriamschulmanae is named in honor of Miriam Schulman of Los Angeles, California, for her early and continuous support of ACG germination and growth, for being a major friend of ACG and its philosophy, and for irrationally caring about caterpillars and spiders.