Five New Species of Hawaiian Endemic Fancy Case Caterpillars from a Recently Established Forest Reserve on Maui (Cosmopterigidae: Hyposmocoma)
Author
Doorenweerd, Camiel
Author
Austin, Kyhl A.
Author
Rubinoff, Daniel
Author
n, sp.
Author
n, sp.
Author
n, sp.
Author
n, sp.
Author
n, sp.
text
Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society
2023
55
29
44
journal article
59366
10.5281/zenodo.8159765
17e62e62-46ef-47e6-b98e-c56d8dcfe876
0073-134X
8159765
4200D58B-9663-4D31-A7E0-17E7547843D6
Hyposmocoma
(
Hyposmocoma
)
desilvai
sp. n.
h t t p s: //z o o b a n k. o r g /57 E 9 7161D43B-4D24-8BDC-AC7EB837A470
Figs. 4A, B
,
6C
.
Type material
Holotype
.
1 Female
.
USA
: HI:
Maui
26.iv.2021
DR21D16E.E1,
Kamehamenui F
[orest]
R
[eserve]
Hand
coll.[ected]
Cigar
case. E[x]l[arva]
4.vi.2021
. N 20.7285 E –156.2786
2135 m
.
Leg.
[it]
F. and K. Starr.
DNA extract: DNA00252.
Genitalia
slide: KAA0902.
Deposited
in
UHIM
.
Diagnosis.
Hyposmocoma desilvai
is endemic to East Maui and has an overall calico color pattern, which is similar to several other species in the carnivorous species group, but most likely to be confused with
H. pupumoehewa
Schmitz and Rubinoff
, also endemic to East Maui.
Hyposmocoma desilvai
can be differentiated by having a white fascia at 0.2x of the wing and a white-edged black spot centrally at 0.5x of the wing, whereas
H. pupumoehewa
has no clear patterning and mottling with black scales all over the forewings and thorax that obscures the calico color pattern. COI sequence data separates
H. desilvai
from all other described and sequenced species in this group, minimum pairwise distance to nearest neighbor 4.92%.
Description.
Female
.
Head
. Frons and vertex with orange-brown appressed scales. Anterior basal part of haustellum with cream colored scales. Labial palpus with mixed brown, white, and orange scales. Terminal two palpomeres of labial palpus of about equal length. Antenna about 0.8x length of forewing, scape dark brown with cream anteriorly, antennomeres dark brown. Live specimen with red eyes (gray in pinned specimen).
Thorax
. Dark brown, tegulae orange with dark brown tipped scales anteriorly.
Wings
. Forewing length
4.9 mm
. Patch of raised scales along dorsum. Forewing coloration calico: base color orange with a white fascia at 0.2x, a white-edged black mark centrally, a white costal mark at 0.8x and 4–6 small white spots apically. Black mottling outside the white marked areas with some densely mottled areas forming spots. One spot just below the central white-outlined spot and one spot beyond it, the latter connecting to the costa. Distal edge of the wing mostly black. Forewing fringe white with dark gray tips. Underside of forewings brown. Hindwings beigegray, tending darker apically, fringe gray. Hindwing vannal brush absent. Underside of hindwings slightly lighter brown than forewing underside.
Legs
. Light gray on inside, dark gray on outside, with cream rings on apices of each segment and some mottling with orange scales throughout.
Abdomen
. Dark gray.
Female genitalia
. Posterior apophyses about 2x length of the anterior apophyses. Ostium bursae sclerotized, externally protruding,and curled to the right. Ductus bursa about 0.5x length of oval bursa copulatrix. Signum absent.
Figure 6.
Larval cases of the new species, all to same scale. A.
Hyposmocoma makaohuna
, rearing lot DR21D16A, B.
H. kamehamenui
, rearing lot DR21D16B, C.
H. desilvai
, larval case of holotype (note case openings on both ends), D.
H. starrorum
, rearing lot DR21E1A (single case opening), E.
H. kukilakila
, rearing lot DR21D16B.
Male
. Unknown.
Biology.
The larval case is a ~
7.5 mm
long dual-opening elongated tube (“cigar” case
type
), sparsely decorated with sand, and silken threads to other parts (
Fig. 6C
). Cigar
type
cases are elongated but do not widen centrally as with burrito cases, and have a case opening at each side, whereas burrito cases only have one. Prior to pupation, one end was attached to substrate with silk to suspend the case, as is typical for carnivorous
Hyposmocoma
.
Distribution.
Onlyknownfromitstype locality on East Maui in Kamehamenui FR.
Etymology.
The species epithet,
desilvai
, is a noun in genitive case, named in honor of Lance DeSilva, who generously supported the authors and other collectors with permits and helicopter access to different forest reserves and found funds for DNA sequencing for this project, all of which led to the discovery of this remarkable species.
Remarks.
Six larval cases were collected, but only a single female emerged. The wing pattern, red eyes, larval case
type
, and COI sequence data clearly place this species in the carnivorous species group of subgenus
Hyposmocoma
. The larvae of this group are strict carnivores with some species specialized to hunt native Hawaiian snails (
Rubinoff and Haines 2005
) and it is likely that
H. desilvai
has a similar diet, but this will need to be confirmed with future field observations.