Digonis gungnir Ramos-Gonzalez & Parra 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ramos-González, Mario I.
name: Venegas-González, María Francisca
name: Zamora-Manzur, Carlos
name: Parra, Luis E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Digonis
Digonis gungnir

description: Digonis gungnir Ramos-González & Parra sp. nov.
Figs 2 M, 6
Type material.
Holotype. Chile — 1 male; pinned; Coquimbo, Elqui, Huanta; 1936 (year without more data); E. Ureta leg.; “ Holotype Digonis gungnir ” [red handwritten label]; “ 5024 ” [Museum ID]; “ Mirg- 019 ” [genitalia slide]; MNNC. Paratypes. Chile — 1 male; pinned; Llanquihue Prov., Maullín; II-1943; S. Barros leg.; MZUC-UCCC • 1 male; pinned; Magallanes Prov., Punta Arenas, Tres Puentes; XII-1952; n. n. leg.; MZUC-UCCC.
Diagnosis.
Externally, D. gungnir Ramos-González & Parra, sp. nov. is characterized by straw-colored wings and a straight postmedial band with pale points bordered in dark brown at veins R 4, R 5, M 1, M 2, and M 3 on the forewings. Male genitalia feature a presence of a poorly defined juxta, a slightly arched spear-shaped furca, and dense dorsal spines on the furca.
Description.
Male (Fig. 2 M). Head: antennae slightly serrate; palpi long, one-third longer than the eye diameter, porrect; frons and vertex covered with juxtaposed whitish scales. Thorax: patagia covered with elongated whitish scales; tegulae covered with very pale yellowish piliform scales; tibial spur formula 0-2 - 4. Forewings: subtriangular with acute apex and outer margin excavated between apex and M 3, with slight mucronate extension; fovea absent; background color straw-colored; antemedial band diffuse, marked by three light brown points at the level of radial, cubital, and anal veins respectively; medial band diffuse, light brown, slightly arched and more noticeable between the discal spot and the costa, zigzagging to the anal margin; postmedial band straight, diffuse, light brown, with five white points bordered in dark brown at the level of veins R 4, R 5, M 1, M 2, and M 3, visible only on ventral surface; subterminal band diffuse and demarcated only by dark spots in subapical region, at the level of medial veins and on anal margin; discal spot visible, punctiform, and blackish. Hindwings: subrectangular with small mucronate apex at the level of M 3; background color pale ashy; postmedial band light brown, slightly smoky, marked by elongated light brown spots at the level of veins, only visible on ventral surface; discal spot visible. Male genitalia (Fig. 6). Uncus conical, apex club-shaped; gnathos U-shaped with an expanded apex forming a pair of spinous lobes; valvae subrectangular, costa strongly sclerotized with a distal lobe before the apex, rounded, and cucullus extended beyond the apex of the costa; transtilla bifid; saccus subrounded; juxta poorly defined, pointed anteriorly, with a central depression, and with a furca curved to the left, long, surpassing the height of the transtilla, slightly arched spear-shaped, densely spiny dorsally, apex rounded; anellus sclerite weakly defined, only two subtriangular sclerites near the base of the furca are visible. Aedeagus tubular, straight; vesica without cornuti.
Female. Unknown.
Etymology.
The species name is a noun in apposition, referring to Odin’s spear (the chief god in Norse mythology), due to its longer and more armed furca within the genus. Gungnir is treated here as a neuter noun.
Distribution.
This species is found between the provinces of Elqui and Magallanes. It is distributed in parts of the biogeographic provinces of Coquimbo and Santiago, Central Chilean subregion; Maule, Valdivian Forest, and Magellanic Forest, Subantarctic subregion, Andean region.
Flight period.
Specimens were captured in December and February. There are no records for other months.
description: Published as part of Ramos-González, Mario I., Venegas-González, María Francisca, Zamora-Manzur, Carlos & Parra, Luis E., 2024, Revision of the genus Digonis (Lepidoptera, Geometridae): new species and new genera, pp. 173-200 in ZooKeys 1216 on pages 173-200, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1216.129923