Cirrothaumatia pichita Heppner & Bae 2024, new species
Creators: name: Heppner, John B.
name: Bae, Yang-Seop
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tortricidae
Cirrothaumatia
Cirrothaumatia pichita

description: Cirrothaumatia pichita Heppner & Bae, new species
(Figs. 1, 4, 10, 18)
Type-locality: Cerro Pichita Res. Sta., San Ramon, Junín, Peru.
Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished by its larger size (16.2 mm vs. 11.8–13.7 mm) and distinctive female genitalia (Fig. 4) with a thin carina-like cestum from the caudal venter of the bursa extending caudally along the lateral wall of the ductus bursae to the colliculum-like band (not as well-developed in the other species of the genus), and the stentor-like, uniformly wide ostial funnel (Fig. 4a) (narrowing or bulging in most of the other species).
Description. Wing expanse 16.2 mm (n = 1). Female (Fig. 1). Head (Fig. 1a–b): Vertex white; caudo-lateral scale tufts white to slightly tan-gray caudally; labial palpus white with few tan to brown-gray scales laterally and on basal segment; antenna brown, with white scaling dorsally and a few maroon scales; scape white. Thorax: Brown mottled with white, many scales dark orange-tipped, slightly more orange scaling distally on metathorax; tegula same, with more white antero-laterally; patagia gray-brown with scales tipped pale white; venter white with gray-brown mixed; fore- and midlegs mostly dark brown, with some white scales (coxae mostly white), tibiae with white band at middle, tarsi dark brown with white distal margin each segment; hindleg lustrous gray-tan and mesally dull white; tibial spurs gray-brown. Forewing (Fig. 1) mottled dark brown and black-brown, with prominent darker spots at base of anal margin, near midwing along costa and on apical one-fourth, and some maroon scaling on brown and dark spots; dark areas separated by large white blotches with diffuse borders near base and end of discal cell to costa, plus narrow irregular triangular-like spots along termen and near apex; prominent white dash at end of cell; subterminal fascia brown-gray oblique from near tornus to near costal margin, tapering toward costa and with median short but broad knob-like extension on distal side; tornus with a prominent quadratic orange patch; scattered slight orange scaling near mid-wing and near wing base and mixed in on dorsal half of wing from near tornus to near wing base; termen with a thin black-brown line; fringe mostly white, interspersed with two dark brown portions on apical half sector of terminal fringe and brown near tornal fringe sector; venter dark gray-brown with some white on outer third, and cubital field pale tan-white. Hindwing (Fig. 1) brown, translucent, with darker brown along veins; fringe in three parts from thin white line at termen, middle black-brown portion, and distal pale gray portion; venter gray-brown with dark tan on radial sector from base, with alternating short brown bars on main veins, and with dorsal half of wing gray-brown with veins slightly darker.
Abdomen (Fig. 1). Dark gray-brown with pale silvery posterior margins per tergite; venter white on S2–3, remaining sternites mottled white and gray-brown, with dark brown anterior of each sternite; genital tuft dark brown with pale tan distally and dull white ventrally. Female genitalia (Fig. 4) similar to congeners, with short ovipositor; apophyses with anterior pair slightly longer than posterior pair; sterigma an indistinct, thin bordering margin; ostial funnel (Fig. 4a) straight and uniformly broad, short stentor-like, to antrum, with diffuse colliculum-like proximal band following a slight constriction before merging into ductus bursae; ductus bursae slightly and gradually widening to merge with bulbous bursa; a narrow linear carina-like cestum, with a slightly more broadened portion on the caudo-ventral end of the bursa; corpus bursa ovate, evenly merged into ductus bursae; large, elongated accessory bursa emergent from caudo-proximal and slightly extruded end of the bursa, with a long duct (ca. as long as bursa is wide). Male. Unknown.
Type materials. Holotype. Female, Cerro Pichita Research Station (2165 m), San Ramon, Dept. Junín, Peru, 4–7 Nov 2012, J. B. Heppner & C. Carrera (gen. slide JBH-4361; adult photo 15533) (deposited at MGCL, on indefinite loan from UNALM).
Etymology. The species is named after the Cerro Pichita Research Station, San Ramon, Dept. Junín, Peru, located about two-thirds the way up the eastern slope of Cerro Pichita (apex slightly above timberline, at 2902 m).
Biology. Unknown. Habitat submontane Andean forest (Fig. 10).
Distribution. Known only from the eastern Andean submontane site at Cerro Pichita (2165 m) (Fig. 10), a mountain upland area just west of the small town of San Ramon (650 m), Dept. Junín. This locality is due east from Lima, on the eastern side of the Andes Range (Fig. 18).
Discussion. The cestum in the female genitalia of this new species is strong and very narrow, extending along most of the ductus bursae (Fig. 4). Clarke (1968) and Razowski and Becker (1986) did not mention the presence of a cestum in their species, but their genital figures appear to indicate a similar structure along the ductus bursa and onto the bursa (Figs. 7 and 9), while C. tornocarpa Meyrick (1932) has a small semicircular signum (Razowski 1964). The dissections for these other species were not available for the present study. Based on female genitalia, C. pichita appears to be closest to C. vesta from Venezuela, with the ostial funnel straight and uniformly wide in C. pichita (Fig. 4a), while tapering and broadened caudally in C. vesta (Fig. 9); bulging medially in C. tornosema (Fig. 7), and constricted prior to merging with the bursa. The maculation of the species is similar, but C. pichita has more extensive forewing white areas, particularly on the basal third.
description: Published as part of Heppner, John B. & Bae, Yang-Seop, 2024, Three new species of Cirrothaumatia Razowski & Becker from Peru, with notes on the genus (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Tortricinae: Cochylini), pp. 268-278 in Zootaxa 5418 (3) on pages 270-272, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5418.3.5, http://zenodo.org/record/10726419