Ethmia ungulatella Busck

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 : 13

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Depressariidae

Ethmia ungulatella Busck Figures 11, 56, 101, 152

Ethmia ungulatella Busck, 1914: 34; Powell 1973: 139.

Diagnosis.

Ethmia ungulatella can be distinguished from Ethmia elutella and Ethmia janzeni by the ochreous genital scaling of Ethmia ungulatella .

Description.

Male: FW length 8.3-9.7 mm (n = 3). Head: Proboscis white, front dark gray, crown white. Thorax: White, tegula gray basally, pronotum with 2 pairs of large dark gray spots. FW ground color white, blue-gray round markings, a conspicuous pair at the base in the posterior half. A large rounded purplish coppery blotch at posterior half from 0.5 × from base nearly to tornus. HW whitish, costal fold with a dense group of whitish scales. Abdomen: Brown, genital scaling ochreous. Genitalia (Fig. 56) with uncus broad hood-like; gnathos dentate from base; basal process broad; valva without small notch distally, concave.

Female: FW length 9.5-10.1 mm (n = 3). Head and thorax: As described for male, HW unmodified. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 101) with sterigma bearing lateral lobes; signum, an elongate fold without dentate margin.

Holotype.

Female: Panamá, Cabima, May 1911, A. Busck. USNM Type No. 16696 [USNM, examined].

Distribution and biology.

Ethmia ungulatella has been collected from eastern Mexico (Tamaulipas) to Panamá. In Costa Rica (Fig. 152) it has been found in the lowlands of Pacific and Caribbean slopes ranging up to 600 m. Ethmia ungulatella is a common species in ACG dry and rain forest. The food plant and immature stages are unknown.