Pyramidobela compulsa Meyrick 1931

Pyramidobela compulsa Meyrick, 1931b:399.–Clarke, 1955a:97

A pale grayish Chilean species which was not examined during the present study. The following is based on the original description.

MALE.–Length of forewing about 9.5 mm. Head: Whitish-ochreous, face whitish. Labial palpus second segment ochreous-whitish speckled light brownish, with roughly expanded whitish hairs at apex beneath, terminal segment short, very slender, whitish, a blackish median band. Thorax: Pale grayish-ocherous, two blackish marginal dots posteriorly. Forewing: Elongate, rather narrow, costa slightly arched (apex injured), termen very obliquely rounded. Ground color whitish ochreous irregularly suffused brownish, darker brown toward median area of costa, a streak of dark fuscous suffusion along costa from one-fourth to two-thirds; stigmata represented by small blackish-gray raised dots, discal remote, plical near and somewhat before first discal, an additional dot before and above first discal. Fringe whitish ochreous tinged brownish. Hindwing: Thinly scaled, gray-whitish; fringe ochreous-whitish; veins 5–7 near together, 5 arched upward toward base. Abdomen: Genitalia not examined.

FEMALE.–Unknown.

TYPE DATA.–South Chile, Llanquihue Province, Casa Pangue, December; unique male type stated to be in the British Museum but not located by Clarke (1955).

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.–Known only from the type locality.

FLIGHT PERIOD.–December (a single record).

FOOD PLANT.–Unknown.

Ethmia Hübner

Ethmia Hübner, 1819:163.

Psecadia Hübner, 1825:412.6

Anesychia Hübner, 1825:413.

Disthymnia Hübner, 1825:413.

Melanoleuca Stephens, 1829:202.

Aedia Duponchel, 1836:305.

Chalybe Duponchel, 1836:343.

Azinis Walker, 1863:541.

Tamarrha Walker, 1864a:816.

Ceratophysetis Meyrick, 1887:1044.

Theoxenia Walsingham, 1887:506.

Babaiaxa Busck, 1902:95.

Wiltshireia Amsel, 1949:317.

TYPE.—Ethmia pyrausta Hübner, 1819:163 (not Pallas), [=aurifluella Hübner, 1825]; monobasic (Europe) (Figure 74).

DESCRIPTION.–Small to moderately large moths, forewing length 4–18 mm. Head: Front normal. Maxillary palpus 1–4-segmented, minute to moderately elongate, scaled and folded over base of proboscis. Labial palpus short to elongate, thin, evenly tapering; segment I short, II elongate, III 0.5 to 1.1 as long as II. Antenna of male often broader than in female. Forewing: Moderately broad to narrow, length 2.8–4.2 times width; termen usually not strongly angled back, tornal angle evident. Vein Cu2 from slightly before lower corner of cell. Smooth scaled. Hindwing: Costal area of male often modified: elongate scale brush (“hair-pencil”) from base, free or enclosed in costal fold or pinch-fold between Sc and R, rarely with a second hair pencil free of fold. Termen moderately to strongly angled back, tornal angle not always evident. Vein M2 distinctly nearer to M1 to slightly nearer M3; M3 and Cu1 short-stalked or connate. Male genitalia: Uncus well developed to absent; gnathos well developed to absent; basal processes present; valva divided below costa or before cucullus, without accessory lobe. Female genitalia: Apophyses short to elongate, sterigma simple or ornate; antrum absent to well developed; ductus bursae usually membranous, coiled; corpus bursae membranous, signum a crease on dorsal half of bursa.

REMARKS.–A worldwide genus of about 240 described species. There are 125 species described from the New World.

Section I

ADULT.–Eye small to moderately large (index 0.7–1.0, rarely 1.1). Male with uncus well developed, hoodlike or strongly sclerotized, narrow; gnathos with either posterior or anterior portion, or both, present, joined (single); valva without modified scalelike setae that are bifid apically and differentiated, enlarged, distal setae (“distal seta-bunch”). Female with posterior apophyses usually short, anterior apophyses short, broad or narrow.

MATURE LARVA.–Head capsule somewhat flattened, not strongly sclerotized (mottled); adfrontal sutures usually reaching or nearly reaching cervical triangle. Secondary setae in SV group: 0–2 on abdominal segments 1, 2, 7, 8; 0–18 on abdominal segment 9; none on abdominal prolegs; 0–3 on anal proleg. Crotchets arranged in a mesal penellipse or mesoseries.

PUPA.–Dorsoventrally flattened; integument smooth, moderately sclerotized. Appendages extending to posterior margin of abdominal segment 5. Segments 6–7 movable by lateral condyles. Anchoring by means of hooked setae on anteriorly directed extensions of the segment 9 (“anal legs”).

COCOON.–Dense, opaque, tightly closed; resistant to desiccation.

The Albitogata Group

Eye index 0.7–0.8. Maxillary palpus rudimentary, one or two tiny, subequal segments. Labial palpus short to moderately elongate, II segment index 0.5–1.6, vestiture rough or bristled. Antenna of male dilated, shaft index 0.22–0.40. Forewing moderately broad to narrow; pattern longitudinal, sometimes costal-dorsal, usually with a white spur at end of cell. Hindwing of male with or without costal hair pencil, fold lacking. Genital scaling red, orange, or undifferentiated. Uncus hoodlike, gnathos dentate anteriorly and posteriorly, basal processes membranous, broad or rudimentary, valva, fultura-manica, and vesica without armature. Papillae anales heavily sclerotized, setate or bare; posterior apophyses not elongate; anterior apophyses broad, sterigma simple; antrum not developed; ductus bursae membranous, coils tight or loose, 3–8; signum a dentate bar or lacking.

Small, diurnal, predominantly gray moths which fly in early spring in the western United States, comprising a group of 10 closely related species. The group is similar and possibly closely related to the Rothschildi group of Asia (Sattler, 1967).

THE UMBRIMARGINELLA COMPLEX

The three species which comprise this complex are diurnal moths that differ from all other New World Ethmia by having a broad black margin on the whitish hindwing and by their gray forewings bearing basal and discal spots of red, orange, or yellowish. Within the group, the members are too poorly known to allow satisfactory interpretation of variation and species limits.

Two names E. umbrimarginella and E. coquillettella were proposed by Busck (1907) to accommodate single males from Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California. The following year he described E. lassenella on the basis of a male and female from Redington, Arizona. The three differ in details of wing pattern and genitalia but form a closely knit group of allopatric entities. Drawings of the moths given by Barnes and Busck (1920) depicting obvious differences between individuals of the three are misleading. They are very similar in appearance and genital form. The genitalia preparations from which the Barnes and Busck (1920) microphotographs were made are so badly flattened that comparison with recent material is difficult. The genitalia show minor differences in gnathos sculpture, breadth of basal processes, etc., but males have not been available in series, so that the scope of individual variation is unknown. Each of five slides examined representing lassenella and coquillettella differs in some detail. Differences in female genitalia between the two latter are apparent, but again variation has not been assessed.

During the past half century there appear to have been only about a dozen specimens of the group deposited in collections, these representing eight localities, three additional geographical areas, and all three species. Among recent material are specimens from British Columbia that do not differ from southern California coquillettella except by their larger size. In contrast, a short series from Pinyon Flat in the San Jacinto Mountains of southern California exhibits similarities to both coquillettella and lassenella. The red basal and discal spots shown by lassenella are yellowish in the Pinyon Flat series, as in coquillettella, but the hindwing is almost entirely dark, as in lassenella. The series is tentatively referred to coquillettella, on the basis of female genital features.

One additional male specimen has been examined (Echo Lake, El Dorado County, California, VII–5–53, W. W. Middlekauff) which is not readily referable to any species because of its poor condition; nearly all the scales are lacking from the forewings. The locality is remote ecologically from any known record for the group; the flight period, which is commensurate with the elevation of Echo Lake (8,000 feet), also represents a marked divergence from other members of the group. In genital features the Echo Lake male differs from all other populations sampled by having a series of thick, finger-like spurs on anterior margin of gnathos, and a somewhat broader basal processes.

The answer as to whether two or more of these entities represent geographical segregates of a single, variable species will have to await the accumulation of additional material.

Pyramidobela compulsa is a moth in the family Oecophoridae. It is found in southern Chile.

The length of the forewings is about 9.5 mm (0.37 in). The ground color of the forewings is whitish ocherous irregularly suffused with brownish. The ground color of the hindwings is gray-whitish. Adults have been recorded in December.