Dichelopa canitia Clarke 1986

Dichelopa canitia

Alar expanse 18–22 mm.

Labial palpus buffy brown; extreme apex of third segment pale ochraceous tawny. Antenna pale ochraceous tawny, each segment marked with a narrow fuscous bar. Head buffy brown. Thorax olive brown. Forewing ground color buffy brown; basal patch outwardly oblique from basal fifth, olive brown, with outer edge nearly straight, terminating on middorsum; at outer edge of basal patch, near middle, a slender black line; from middle of costa an ill-defined olive brown fascia extends almost to tornus; at outer edge of this fascia a slender black line; midway between this fascia and apex, a slender, oblique, black line; whole surface of forewing irrorate with ochraceous-tawny scales; cilia buffy brown. Hindwing pale grayish strongly mottled darker gray. Foreleg femur and tibia buffy brown; tarsal segments olive brown marked with light ochraceous tawny; midleg similar but tarsal segments not so strongly marked; hindleg buff. Abdomen buffy brown.

Female genitalia slide USNM 24521. Ostium small, round, membranous. Anterior apophyses dilated anteriorly. Papillae anales very broad anteriorly, bluntly pointed posteriorly. Antrum narrowly sclerotized. Inception of ductus seminalis well before antrum. Ductus bursae membranous. Bursa copulatrix membranous; accessary bursa membranous. Signum absent.

HOLOTYPE.—USNM 100766.

TYPE-LOCALITY.—Nuku Hiva, Tapuaooa, 2500 ft (762 m).

DISTRIBUTION.—Nuku Hiva.

FOOD PLANT.—Unknown.

Described from the holotype (30 Jan 1968) and 5 paratypes as follows: 2 same data as holotype and 3, Nuku Hiva, Tunoa Ridge, 2900 ft (884 m) 23 Jan 1968.

This species is strikingly similar to argema, new species, from Fatu Hiva but lacks the whitish costal spots on the undersides of fore- and hindwings of that species. Dichelopa canitia is also related closely to argosphena but that species has a series of small white spots around termen of forewing that canitia lacks.

Dichelopa canitia is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found on the Marquesas Archipelago in French Polynesia.