Oospila arpata ( Schaus, 1897 )

Lindt, Aare, Hausmann, Axel & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2018, Review of some species groups of the genus Oospila Warren, with descriptions of nine new species (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 151-194 : 162-163

Oospila arpata ( Schaus, 1897)

(Figs 12, 48)

Racheospila arpata Schaus, 1897: 161 ; Auophyllodes arpata (Schaus) : Prout 1912: 131; Racheolopha arpata (Schaus) : Prout 1932: 54; Urucumia semicaudata Prout, 1933: 71 , pl. 8g; Oospila arpata (Schaus) : Cook & Scoble 1995 (partim): 28, Figs 27, 102?, 162. The type specimen is illustrated on USNM website: http://n 2t.net/ark:/65665/3641818ea-31de-478f-a703- 3d461001c011 (visited 18.6.2018).

Material. 2♂, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Boca do Mato, Cachoeira de Macau , 800 m, 20.– 30.11.1997 (H. Thöny, ZSM) ; 1♂, Brazil, Bahia, Umg. Camacan , 15°25’ S, 39°34’ W, 800 m, 0 9.2011 (H. Thöny; coll. Greifenstein) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 89723) ; 1♂, Brazil, Bahia, near Camacan , 15°23’ S, 39°33’ W, 750 m, 0 5.2011 (H. Thöny; ZSM / Brechlin) ; 1♂, Brazil, Bahia, Camacan Res. Serra Bonita , 750 m, 30.10.2010 (leg. et coll. A. Moser) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 88270) ; 2♂, Brazil, Espirito Santo, Rte. Vitoria—Belo Horizonte , km 118, 850 m, 05.– 06.03.1981 (D. Bertrand, ZSM / Herbulot) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 69641; genitalia slide ZSM G 17200).

Diagnosis. Typical O. arpata has conspicuous, blackish, isolated blotches at fore wing tornus and hind wing apex. Most O. simuiliplaga similiplaga , O. ehakernae sp. nov described below, O. rufilimes and O. fimbripedata have red-brown marginal bands, continuous from fore wing apex to hind wing tornus. In male genitalia the cornutus is spinulose and forked at tip, the sternite A8 deeper notched than in O. similiplaga , in the former to half length of the sternite, in the latter to one third. DNA barcode diagnostic (see genetic data).

Description. Wingspan, 15.5–19 mm (Fig. 12). Type specimen of O. arpata and examined Brazilian specimens (see above) with conspicuous, isolated blotches at fore wing tornus and hind wing apex. Fore wing sometimes with a small subapical blotch at termen, hind wing tornus spot minute. Discal dots minute or absent (e.g. in the type). The frons and the palpi are brown, the interantennal fillet is white. The male antennae are bipectinate, with the external and internal rami the longest on the fifth antennal segment, reaching 0.6 and 0.4 mm in the male. The thorax is green dorsally and the abdomen greenish, the crests are dark brown. Ground colour of the wings green. The fore wing bears a rounded, dark brown blotch from the vein CuA2 to the tornus, edged yellowish. In some specimens (e.g. those collected in Espirito Santo, Brazil) there is an additional small subapical blotch at the termen (between veins M1–M2). The hind wing has a rounded, dark brown apical blotch reaching the vein M2, and a tiny tornal blotch. The marginal line is brownish grey, disrupted, the fringe is yellow, chequered with brown at the vein ends. The male hind tibiae are strongly hairy. Female unknown.

Male genitalia (Fig. 48): The posterior edge of the sternite A8 is strongly sclerotized, with a very deep Vshaped notch, ½ length of the sternite. The valva is provided with a long, straight and strongly sclerotized harpe, with the apex of the sacculus slightly sclerotized. The aedeagus has a strong antero-ventral process (caulis) and a spinulose dorso-distal cornutus forked at tip and exceeding the tip of aedeagus.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:ACL6785. Three DNA barcodes from Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro (type locality). Nearest neighbour: O. similiplaga (6.0%). Populations from central America, currently identified as " O. arpata ", are strongly diverging (10.6%!), clustering to a separate BIN (BOLD:AAA0851), not conspecific and awaiting description, see O. ehakernae below.

Distribution. Brazil (locus typicus of arpata : Rio de Janeiro, locus typicus of semicaudata : Espirito Santo).

Biology. The specimens have been collected at medium elevation in montane forests of the Mata Atlantica, in March, May, September and November.

Remarks. The type specimen is illustrated on USNM homepage. The populations of „ Oospila arpata “ which were recorded from central America (e.g. on BOLD from Costa Rica and in Cook & Scoble 1995) are not conspecific and are described below as O. ehakernae , sp.nov. (see genetic data). It is likely that Cook & Scoble (1995) partly or entirely based their descriptions and diagnoses on (misidentified) material from the Andes rather than from Brazil.