Page:A new species of Eupithecia Curtis (Lepidoptera, Geometridae) from the Andes of northern Chile.pdf/7

Nota Lepi. 44: 239–247

flower buds of Balbisia microphylla (Phil.) Reiche (Vivianiaceae) (Vargas 2016). However, the two species are easily separated based on morphology, because in the latter the male sternum VIII is a narrow piece with two short apical arms, the larger cornutus is a broad piece slightly shorter than the phallus and the smaller cornutus is a C-shaped piece, all of which remarkably contrast with the morphological pattern of E. copaquillaensis sp. nov.

Rindge (1987) arranged the species of Eupithecia of Chile in two Sections, namely 1 and 2, with the latter subdivided into four Groups named A to D, based on the morphology of the male segment VIII and male and female genitalia. The tergum fully sclerotized and the sternum as two separate longitudinal rods in the male segment VIII, the elongated valva, uncus with single apex and vesica with two cornuti in the male genitalia, and the corpus bursae with longitudinal striations in the female genitalia suggest that E. copaquillaensis sp. nov. is related to the species of Section 1, in which Rindge (1987, 1991) included the morphologically close E. atacama and four others: E. atacamaensis Rindge, E. guayacanae Rindge, 1991, E. osornoensis Rindge, 1987 and E. seatacama Rindge, 1987. However, the monophyly of this species group, as well as the phylogenetic relationships of all the Neotropical fauna of Eupithecia, must be reassessed using modern procedures.

Perhaps discouraged by the extremely arid conditions, surveys for geometrid moths have been scarce on the western slopes of central Andes. For instance, in the case of Eupithecia, the holotype