Hyposmocoma mokumana Schmitz and Rubinoff, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Schmitz, Patrick
name: Rubinoff, Daniel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Cosmopterigidae
Hyposmocoma
Hyposmocoma mokumana

description: Hyposmocoma mokumana Schmitz and Rubinoff, sp. nov. Figs. 4, 10, 15, 23
Material examined. Holotype ɗ: [1] ‘H[AWAI]I: Necker, Annexation Hill, elev[ation]. 60m [eters] | in Sesbania litter, “purse” case, IX-4 -[20]04 | em[ergence]. I-22 -[20]05, #DR 04I1 | leg[it]. S[teve]. Montgomery’; [2] ‘ HOLOTYPE | Hyposmocoma | mokumana | Schmitz and Rubinoff’. Specimen in good condition except for left broken antenna and broken labial palpi. Deposited in the UHIM. Paratypes: 1 ɗ (dissected, slide PS172), 4 Ψ (one dissected, slide PS126), from Necker Island, Hawaii, USA, with same data as holotype except date of emergence: I-25 -[20]08 (3Ψ), II-25-08 (ɗ). Deposited in the UHIM.
Diagnosis. Among the species of Hyposmocoma from the NWHI, H. mokumana can be easily distinguished by its large size (wingspan between 11.4 and 14.3 mm). The purse-shaped cases are also larger than those of H. ekemamao (4.1–7.0 mm in length, compared to 7.4–8.9 mm for H. mokumana). Also, each is endemic to a single island.
Description. Male (n=2) (Figs. 4, 15). Wingspan 11.4–12.5 mm (Holotype: 11.4 mm). Head mostly pale beige. Base of haustellum with pale-beige scales. Maxillary palpus reduced. Antennal flagellum dark brown; scape dark brown with pale-beige ring at apex. Thorax and tegula pale beige with dark-brown-tipped palebeige scales; metascutellum pale beige. Foreleg coxa pale beige; femur dark brown; tibia and tarsomeres gray brown with pale-beige ring at middle and apex of tibia, and apex of tarsomeres I, II, and V. Midleg as foreleg, spurs pale beige. Hindleg pale beige and grayish tarsomeres with pale-beige rings at apex on tarsomeres I–V. Forewing background pale beige and mostly covered with dark-brown-tipped scales sometimes dense enough to appear as dark-brown area; dark-brown markings as a median thin line starting undulating anteriorly along midline, and another postmedian spot separated from apex of line by background color. Hindwing and fringe uniformly beige. Subcostal brush absent. Abdomen dorsally shiny beige; ventrally off-white, with tuft of long scales on each side of genitalia shiny beige. Sclerotized ring very large and strongly developed across entire sternum with sclerotized hook short and large on entire length until enlarged blunt apex; minute sclerotized point on left side with blunt apex. Tergum VII with two large strongly sclerotized flaps joined in the middle. Sterna V, VI, and VII with sclerotized anterior margins. Genital flaps rounded, elongated and thin; arising on both sides apically of sclerotized sternum VIII.
Male genitalia (n=1) (Fig. 15). Uncuslike processes with right process sickle shaped, very long, about 6 X length of left process, slightly twisted. Tegumen wide, heavily sclerotized, dorsoventrally flattened. Valvae symmetrical, with long arms of large width, bent upward at right angle in the middle, with basal small rounded projection (slightly larger on right valva) and subapical large triangular projection (slightly more elongated on right valva), adorned with setae disposed comblike on inner surface of dorsal margin, with absence of sclerotized spurlike setea on right valva (but presence of sockets), and five sclerotized spurlike setae sequentially longer distally on left valva. Phallus stout, blunt tipped, heavily sclerotized, and bent downward at about middle of length; vesica without spines or cornuti. Anellus with two symmetrical lobes, thin until apex, both adorned with small setae, setose on apex adorned with one long setae.
Female (n=4). Wingspan 13.8–14.3 mm. Head mostly grayish brown with grayish-brown-tipped beige scales around eye. Base of haustellum with beige scales. Maxillary palpus reduced. Recurved labial palpus grayish brown dorsally and beige ventrally; third segment slender and grayish brown. Antennal flagellum grayish brown; scape grayish brown with brown scales forming ring apically. Thorax and tegula mostly grayish brown with scattered beige scales; metascutellum pale beige. Foreleg coxa and femur grayish brown; tibia and tarsomeres brown with beige ring at middle and apex of tibia, and apex of tarsomeres I, II, and V. Midleg as foreleg, spurs beige. Hindleg as midleg, but ground color more grayish beige, with beige rings at apex on tarsomeres I–V. Forewing mostly grayish brown, with pale beige to rusty-beige inner half; darkbrown markings as submedian and postmedian spots at midline, a median V-shaped line in between these two spots and of same width in middle of wing, and as notch subapically on costal margin and another opposite on inner margin. Abdomen shiny beige. Hindwing and fringe silverish off-white. Frenulum with three acanthae.
Female genitalia (n=1) (Fig. 23). Papillae anales very short and setose. Anterior and posterior apophyses thin and straight, slightly enlarged at posterior end, posterior apophyses about 2.5 X length of anterior apophyses. Ostium bursae very small, heavily sclerotized, externally protruding, and snailshell shaped curled left. Ductus bursae long and of small girth. Corpus bursae oval and elongate, with light scobination; signum absent. Inception of ductus seminalis very much enlarged, cylindrical, situated at posterior end of corpus bursae. Apical margin of tergum VIII without emargination medially.
Larval case (n=10) (Fig. 10). Purse-shaped, 7.4–8.9 mm in length, smooth and cylindrical, bulged and flat medially, with growth lines starting at middle and extending toward two entrances situated laterally; background color is brown.
Etymology. The name mokumana is short for Mokumanamana which is the Hawaiian name for Necker Island.
Biology. Adults were reared from case-making larvae. Cases were collected in Sesbania litter (Fabaceae) during the day on the island of Necker in September.
Distribution. Known only from the NWHI of Necker where it is presumed to be endemic.
description: Published as part of Schmitz, Patrick & Rubinoff, Daniel, 2009, New species of Hyposmocoma (Lepidoptera, Cosmopterigidae) from the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Laysan, Necker, and Nihoa, pp. 37-53 in Zootaxa 2272 on pages 45-46, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.190995