Gonionota menura Clarke 1971

Gonionota menura

Alar expanse 24 mm.

Labial palpus ocherous white, heavily overlaid with amber brown and carmine scales; third segment with apex broadly ocherous white. Antenna light amber brown with darker annulations. Head ocherous white obscured by amber brown and carmine. Thorax amber brown, spotted faintly with carmine. Forewing ground color amber brown; basal third faintly blotched with carmine; slightly before middle of costa a small, ocherous white, quadrate spot edged with carmine; at outer third costa excavated and bordered with a white, carmine-edged, lunate mark; remainder of costa very narrowly edged fuscous; in cell at basal third a fuscous spot surrounded by a few carmine scales; discal spot at end of cell obsolete; between end of cell and termen an ill-defined, transverse row of fuscous spots; cilia amber brown.

Hindwing ocherous white basally, shading to brown at apex; cilia matching. Foreleg ocherous white overlaid with amber brown and carmine on outer side; midleg similar; hindleg ocherous white with scattered amber brown and carmine irrorations; spurs brown tipped. Abdomen ocherous white, ventrally irrorate with tawny, fuscous, and brown.

Female genitalia slide JFGG 12126. Ostium wide, broadly funnel shaped. Lamella postvaginalis granular. Antrum not differentiated. Inception of ductus seminalis lateral, from a small membranous area at posterior two thirds of ductus bursae. Ductus bursae strongly sclerotized for most of its length with an expanded area anteriorly on left side. Bursa copulatrix membranous. Signum an elongate oval, sclerotized, dentate plate.

HOLOTYPE.—USNM 71095.

TYPE LOCALITY.—Panama, Cerro Campana, nr. Chica.

DISTRIBUTION.—Panama.

Described from the holotype (2–5. IV. 65, S. S. and W. D. Duckworth).

In coloring and pattern menura is similar to isastra and insulana but isastra has a much grayer hindwing; insulana is a smaller insect than menura and has a proportionately narrower forewing. The heavily sclerotized ductus bursae of menura further distinguishes it from insulana.

Gonionota menura is a moth in the family Depressariidae. It was described by John Frederick Gates Clarke in 1971. It is found in Panama.

The wingspan is about 24 mm. The forewings are amber brown with the basal third faintly blotched with carmine. Slightly before the middle of the costa is a small, ocherous-white, quadrate spot edged with carmine and at the outer third the costa is excavated and bordered with a white, carmine-edged, lunate mark. The remainder of the costa is very narrowly edged fuscous. In the cell at the basal third is a fuscous spot surrounded by a few carmine scales. The discal spot at the end of the cell is obsolete and between the end of the cell and termen is an ill-defined, transverse row of fuscous spots. The hindwings are ocherous white basally, shading to brown at the apex.