Pisinidea viridis Butler 1883

Pisinidea viridis Butler

Pisinidea viridis Butler, 1883:83, pl. 11; fig. 10.—Bartlett-Calvert, 1886:347.

Male genitalia slide USNM 24243. Harpe of nearly equal width throughout; cucullus broadly rounded; sacculus broadly sclerotized; costa sclerotized, terminating distally in a short point; clasper arising in middle of basal third of harpe, directed toward saccular margin. Gnathos absent. Transtilla U-shaped, arms of U pointed distally and profusely clothed with setae basally. Uncus slender, curved, pointed. Vinculum U-shaped; lateral arms broadest at articulation with tegumen. Tegumen hood shaped, broader than long. Anellus a large, divided, sclerotized plate. Aedeagus simple, moderately long; vesica apparently unarmed.

Female genitalia unknown.

HOLOTYPE.—British Museum (Natural History).

TYPE-LOCALITY.—“Chiloe?…”

Unfortunately, the abdomen of the single specimen available to me was destroyed when the genitalia slide was prepared in 1929. Dr. John D. Bradley of the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology has examined a specimen in the British Museum and has informed me that the abdomen is not spined. The species is keyed accordingly.

The generic type is the only species I place here.

Talitha, new genus

TYPE-SPECIES.—Talitha anomala, new species (by monotypy and present designation). The gender of this generic name is feminine.

Labial palpus slender, ascending; second segment slightly roughened anteriorly; third segment shorter than third. Maxillary palpus prominent, filiform, free. Head smooth, sidetufts spreading; ocellus absent. Antenna simple (at least in female); scape with pecten. Thorax smooth. Forewing smooth, costa nearly straight, 12 veins; 1b simple; 1c present; 2, 3, and 4 nearly equidistant; 4 much nearer to 5 than to 3; 7 and 8 stalked, 7 to apex; 6, 7 + 8 and 9 equidistant, 10 much nearer to 9 than to 11; 11 from well before middle of cell; upper internal vein well developed. Hind wing with 8 veins; 2, 3, and 4 well separated; 5 approximate to 4; 5, 6, and 7 about equidistant, subparallel. Hind tibia clothed with hairlike scales. Abdominal terga setose.

Female genitalia with signum present.

This is an anomalous genus combining oecophorid and blastobasid characters. In the forewing veins 2 to 10 are bunched toward the outer end of cell but veins 2 and 3 arise from the cell as in the Oecophoridae. The signum is likewise oecophorid.

The setae of the terga are missing in Talitha and are not present as a band of setae on the posterior edges of the terga as in the blastobasids.

The genus differs from Depressariodes by the separate veins 2 and 3 of forewing and by the bunching of veins 2 to 10.

Pisinidea viridis is a moth in the family Depressariidae. It was described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1883. It is found in Chile.

The wingspan is about 27 mm. The forewings are pea green with a rounded ferruginous spot at the end of the cell. The hindwings are sericeous (silky) whitey brown.