Stamnodes saltillo Matson 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Matson, Tanner A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Stamnodes
Stamnodes saltillo

description: Stamnodes saltillo sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 5BEED936-6AF6-4A9B-8BED-3D44D09B64A9
Figs 19, 52, 71, 84, 94–95
Diagnosis
Stamnodes saltillo sp. nov. is outwardly unmistakable from congeners. This species may resemble S. marmorata of the USA, as both share a striking checkered fringe and a hindwing underside heavily patched and striated with white upon a mostly black and red-brown base colouring. Whereas much of the brown scaling radiates over the veins in S. marmorata, it is only subtly so in S. saltillo. Though I only had access to a few S. saltillo individuals, the intraspecific colour variation of S. marmorata appears to be much greater than the relatively consistent colouring of S. saltillo. These two species do not overlap in distribution.
Etymology
This species derives its name from the historic city of Saltillo, and furthermore honours the contribution of resident Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal, whose invaluable collections advanced this work and constitute much of this species’ type series. The name is a noun in apposition.
Material examined
Holotype
MEXICO • ♂; Coahuila, Saltillo, Lomas de Lourdes; 25.36366° N, 100.9774° W; 12 Sep. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; genetic voucher: TAM0091; BOLD Process ID: WAGL2551-21; GenBank: OP898482; CNIN.
Paratypes (16 ♂♂, 6♀)
MEXICO – Coahuila • 1 ♂; same locality data as for holotype; 10 Apr. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; CNIN • 1 ♂; same locality data as for holotype; 25 May. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; CNIN • 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀; same locality data as for holotype; 13 Jun. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; CNIN • 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀; same locality data as for holotype; 15 Jun. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; genitalia: TAM-2020-060; CNIN • 3 ♂♂; same locality data as for holotype; 13 Sep. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; genitalia: TAM-2020-059; CNIN • 1 ♂; same locality data as for holotype; 2 Oct. 2020; Emily Estefanía Espinosa Villarreal leg.; CNIN. – Nuevo León • 1 ♂; 11 km ESE of Galeana; [24.76° N, 99.99° W]; elev. 1680 m; 22 Jun. 1982; J. Rawlins and O. Sholes leg.; CMNH. • 1 ♀; San Luis Potosí [Nuevo León], Cerro Potosí; [24.88° N, 100.21° W]; elev. 3400 m; 18 Aug. 1975; E. van den Berghe leg.; USNMENT01771222 • 2 ♀♀; Cerro Potosí; [24.88° N, 100.21° W]; elev. 2800 m; 26 Jun. 1997; V.O. Becker leg.; VOB • 1 ♀; Santiago; 25°21′ N, 100°18′ W; 25–30 May 2000; elev. 1760 m; V.O. Becker leg.; VOB • 2 ♂♂; highway 60, 4 mi. E of Galeana Jct.; [24.74° N, 99.98° W]; elev. 6000 ft; 23 Sep. 1975; J.A. Powell and T. Friedlander leg.; EMEC1748438, EMEC1748439 • 1 ♂; 4 mi. W of Iturbide; [24.74° N, 99.97° W]; elev. 5500 ft; 22 Sep. 1975; J. Powell, J. Chemsak and T. Friedlander leg.; EMEC1748440.
Description
Male
FOREWING LENGTH. 14–16 mm (n = 17).
HEAD. Antenna filiform, fuscous to black, sometimes with white scales above. Vertex with intermixed white and dark red scales; frons mostly dark red, with sprinkling of white scales bordering eye and vertex, and slightly suffused with fuscous medially. Labial palpus porrect, slightly larger than diameter of eye, mostly dark red, with fuscous apically. Cephalic collar mostly ochreous except for lateral, dark red scales.
THORAX. Patagium basally ochreous and distally dark red; tegula mostly ochreous, slightly dark red at base. Mesothorax ochreous above; white and deep red below. Coxa mostly white, sprinkled with red on internal face; femur fuscous and speckled with white above, ochreous below; tibia and tarsus mostly ochreous; tibial spur formula 0–2–4; epiphysis well developed.
FOREWING. Ground colour ochreous to tan. Costal margin deep red at base, gradually lightening towards apex, but overall darker than rest of wing with exception of light-tan patches at ante- and postmedian; postmedial patch extending about half-way down wing toward the inner margin. Light grey beneath the costal area, especially pronounced at median, transitioning to tan at inner margin. Underside like upperside but much darker red across costal margin and apical area. Apical area also with strong oblique white dash directed toward base. Fringe starkly checkered with black and white.
HINDWING. Concolourous with forewing, pattern elements of underside clearly visible when viewed from above. Underside much different than upperside, blotched with black and dark red around stark-white patches; black and dark red areas scattered sparingly with white scales. Small, white patches at base, median, and apex of costal margin with much more pronounced longitudinally extended patch at antemedian; largest patch widely C-shaped, arcing from median of inner margin to center of wing and then turning distally, terminating near median of outer margin. Fringe as in forewing.
ABDOMEN. Fuscous above, cream below, patches of red lateral scales around spiracles.
GENITALIA (Fig. 52). Uncus large and spatulate. Subscaphium well developed. Inner face of valva with large hair tuft bearing ribbon-like setae arising from low tubercle on medial subcostal depression. Juxta large and U-shaped with posterolateral, long, acuminate-conical processes. Vesica with large, stand-alone, spinose cornutus, and adjacent series of approximately eight spinose cornuti that descend in size; largest cornutus of this series about one-third size of stand-alone cornutus.
Female
Outwardly undifferentiated from male.
FOREWING LENGTH. 14–16 mm (n = 6).
GENITALIA (Fig. 71). Papillae anales pointed; apophyses subequal in length. Ductus bursae with triangular sclerite dorsolaterally rolled toward median in anterior third; corpus bursae ovoid with externally depressed circular signum bearing numerous minute papillae located in anterior third.
Distribution (Fig. 84)
Mexico: Stamnodes saltillo sp. nov. is a denizen of northern Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests with the majority of records coming from the mountains around Saltillo, Coahuila. The range of this moth presumably extends southward to other regions of the Sierra Madre Oriental.
Biology
Stamnodes saltillo sp. nov. appears to be bivoltine, flying from April to mid-June and again from September to October at the type locality. The immature stages remain unknown but are likely hosted by a rosaceous shrub.
Molecular characterization
This species is represented in BOLD as BIN: BOLD:AEI6540 (n = 1). The distance to the nearest neighbour, Stamnodes marmorata (n = 26), is 6.81%.
Remarks
Preliminary phylogenetic analyses place S. saltillo sp. nov. sister to the Purshia -feeding S. marmorata (Matson & Wagner in prep.); however, both are nested among many Cercocarpus -feeding species and thus Cercocarpus Kunth (Rosaceae) should also be considered a potential host.
A single paratype (USNMENT01771222) from Cerro Potosí was labeled as from the state of San Luis Potosí, despite Cerro Potosí most often referring to a high mountain in Nuevo León. The high elevation given on the specimen label also suggests this individual was collected from Cerro Potosí in Nuevo León and not the state of San Luis Potosí. As such, Nuevo León is given in the Type material section in brackets and the estimated GPS coordinates are also based on a Nuevo León locality.
description: Published as part of Matson, Tanner A., 2023, A review of Mexican Stamnodes (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) with the description of 16 new species, pp. 1-79 in European Journal of Taxonomy 911 on pages 43-45, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.911.2371, http://zenodo.org/record/10376790