Pseudopostega kempella (Eyer 1967) Davis 1989

Pseudopostega kempella (Eyer)

Opostega kempella Eyer, 1967:39.—Davis, 1983:3, no. 124.

Pseudopostega kempella (Eyer).—Davis: 1989:76.—Poole, 1996:797.—Heppner, 2003:232.—Puplesis and Diškus, 2003:419.

ADULT. Figure 166. Length of forewing 1.8–2.5 mm. Small white moth; forewings marked with small brown dorsal spot, 2 strongly oblique, brownish, subapical, costal strigulae, and a small black apical spot. Male gnathos with a stout, simple, caudal lobe; basal fold extremely narrow (Figures 311, 312). Papillae anales of female a pair of small, oval, closely set lobes (Figure 449).

Head: Vestiture white. Scape white; flagellum cream to dark cream, ~59–60-segmented. Palpi white to cream; labial palpus with faint brownish suffusion dorsally.

Thorax: White. Forewing white, with small brownish to dark brown, irregularly shaped spot on dorsum near middle; forewing with 3 subapical, costal strigulae; the first 2 strigulae dark brown, closely subparallel, strongly oblique; strigula 1 shadowed with dark yellowish brown, terminating before and below small black apical spot; stigula 2 shorter, terminating at apical spot; strigula 3 faint, brown, curving slightly beyond and around apical spot; a short tornal strigula sometimes evident and extending below apical spot toward strigula 1; terminal cilia brownish to brown, otherwise cream to white; venter of forewing densely irrorated with brown scales, except for small elongated cream area along subhumeral area. Hindwing light to dark cream (depending on viewing angle); cilia light to brownish cream. Legs white ventrally; forelegs with grayish brown suffusion dorsally and laterally; mid- and hindlegs mostly cream dorsally; midleg with slight brownish irroration dorsally.

Abdomen: Uniformly white.

Male Genitalia: Figures 311, 312. Socii a pair of short, setose lobes widely separated by a distance ~0.5 the length of cucullar lobe. Uncus with a deep triangular concavity, strongly sclerotized along caudal margin and at middle. Tegumen relatively narrow. Vinculum broad, tapering anteriorly to a moderately narrow, subtruncate, anterior margin. Gnathos broad at base, tapering to a stout, elongate, rod-like lobe; apex of lobe bluntly rounded; anterior margin subtruncate, with transverse, narrow basal fold. Valva with large cucullar lobe, ~0.6× length of genital capsule, bearing an elongate pectinifer consisting of ~33–36 blunt spines; pedicel moderately stout, width ~0.2× length of saccular lobe; valva moderately long, ~0.65× length of genital capsule; saccular lobe with broad, subacute apex; basal process of valva tapering to acute apex, approximately equal in length to moderately stout costal process. Juxta absent.

FEMALE GENITALIA: Figures 448, 449. Apex of abdomen narrowly truncate, with two poorly defined setose lobes. Each posterior apophysis fused for most of its length, slender and long. Papillae anales a pair of small, oval, closely set lobes bearing short setae. Vestibulum narrow, membranous. Ductus bursae narrowing slightly to corpus bursae, with a patch of minute pectinate spicules arranged in faint linear rows of ~6–10 spines; pectinations fading before bursa. Corpus bursae relatively large, oval to spherical, with a faint, slender band of numerous, minute, external tubercles extending for most of length of bursa. Ductus spermathecae ~1.0–1.5× length of corpus bursae; membranous outer canal very broad at junction with corpus bursae, becoming abruptly narrow over distal half; inner canal very long, slightly sinuous, with about 3 terminal convolutions. Vesicle a single coiled tube.

LARVA AND PUPA. Unknown.

HOLOTYPE. ♂; USA: FLORIDA: Monroe Co.: Key Largo, 10 Oct 1964, S. Kemp, slide USNM 21264 (USNM).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. USA: FLORIDA: Monroe Co.: Key Largo: 1 UNK, 4 Nov 1964, 1 ♀, 7 Nov 1964, 1 ♂, 8 Nov 1964, 1 ♀, 9 Nov 1964, S. Kemp, slides USNM 33044, 32427, DRD 3325 (MCZ, USNM), 1 ♂ (holotype), 10 Oct 1964, S. Kemp, slide USNM 21264 (USNM).

HOST. Unknown.

FLIGHT PERIOD. Adults collected in October and November.

DISTRIBUTION. (Map 7) Currently known only from the type locality in southern Florida (USA).

DISCUSSION. The type series of P. kempella was found to comprise three distinct species. In addition to the holotype, Eyer (1967) listed eight male and four female paratypes in the type series of P. kempella. Nine of these paratypes were examined in this study, resulting in the discovery of two new species, P. parakempella and P. floridensis. The current deposition of the remaining two paratypes listed by Eyer is not known. On the basis of male genital morphology, all three species have been placed in different species groups. Pseudopostega kempella is characterized by the shorter valvae, smooth, triangular base of the gnathos, and moderately stout caudal lobe. The short, globular papillae anales of kempella are also distinct from those of parakempella and floridensis.

Pseudopostega kempella is a small, white moth of the family Opostegidae. The top of its forewings are each marked with a small, brown spot. It known only from the type locality of Key Largo in southern Florida.

The length of the forewings is 1.8–2.5 mm. Adults are on wing in October and November.