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''Cosmopterix iocaste'' is a
moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
of the family
Cosmopterigidae The Cosmopterigidae are a family of insects (cosmet moths) in the order Lepidoptera. These are small moths with narrow wings whose tiny larvae feed internally on the leaves, seeds and stems of their host plants. About 1500 species are described. ...
. It is known from the
Federal District A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...
of
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Adults have been recorded in February.


Description

Male. Forewing length 3.5 mm. Head: frons shining pale brown with greenish and reddish and reflections, vertex and neck tufts brown with reddish gloss, medially and laterally lined white, collar brown; labial palpus first segment very short, pale brown, second segment three-quarters of the length of third, brown with white longitudinal lines laterally and ventrally, third segment white, lined brown laterally; scape dark brown with a white anterior line, white ventrally, antenna shining dark brown, a white line from base to two-thirds, in middle interrupted, followed towards apex by three dark brown segments, three white, two dark brown, two white, ten dark brown, eight white and one brown segment at apex. Thorax and tegulae brown with reddish gloss, thorax with a white median line, tegulae lined white inwardly. Legs: dark brown with reddish gloss, femur of midleg shining pale ochreous-grey, femur of hindleg shining pale ochreous, foreleg with a white line on tibia and tarsal segments, tibia of midleg with white oblique basal and medial lines and a white apical ring, tarsal segment one with a white lateral line from base on the outside and connected to an apical white dorsal spot, segment two and three dorsally white, segment five entirely white, tibia of hindleg as midleg, tarsal segment one with white basal and apical rings, segment two with a white apical ring, segments three and four white dorsally, segment five entirely white, spurs white, ventrally ochreous-grey. Forewing brown with golden gloss, three white lines in the basal area, a subcostal from base to one-quarter, slightly bending from costa, a short and straight medial above fold in the middle of the basal area, a slightly shorter subdorsal below fold, slightly further from base than the medial, sometimes a few white scales on the costa just before the transverse fascia and on dorsum beyond base, a yellow transverse fascia beyond the middle with a small apical protrusion, bordered at the inner edge by two pale golden metallic tubercular subcostal and dorsal spots, the subcostal spot edged by a small patch of blackish brown scales on the outside, the dorsal spot slightly further from base than the subcostal, bordered at the outer edge by two similarly coloured costal and dorsal spots, the dorsal spot twice as large as the costal, all spots with greenish and purplish reflections, a white costal streak from the outer costal spot, a shining white, bluish tinged, apical line from the distal half of the apical area to apex, cilia brown around apex, paler towards dorsum. Hindwing shining greyish brown, cilia brownish. Underside: forewing shining brown, the white apical line distinctly visible in the apical cilia, hindwing shining greyish brown in costal half, grey in dorsal half. Abdomen dorsally brown, ventrally dark greyish brown, in the middle shining yellowish white, segments broadly banded shining yellowish white posteriorly, anal tuft yellowish white.The genera Cosmopterix Hübner and Pebobs Hodges in the New World with special attention to the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae)
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Etymology

The species is named after
Iocaste In Greek mythology, Jocasta (), also rendered Iocaste ( grc, Ἰοκάστη ) and also known as Epicaste (; ), was a daughter of Menoeceus, a descendant of the Spartoi Echion, and queen consort of Thebes, Greece, Thebes. She was the wife of ...
, a moon of
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
. To be treated as a noun in
apposition Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and one of the elements is c ...
.


References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5174481
iocaste In Greek mythology, Jocasta (), also rendered Iocaste ( grc, Ἰοκάστη ) and also known as Epicaste (; ), was a daughter of Menoeceus, a descendant of the Spartoi Echion, and queen consort of Thebes, Greece, Thebes. She was the wife of ...