OSRHOES-CORONTA DRUCE, THE NEW-WORLD PALAEOSETID MOTH - A REAPPRAISAL, WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW-TYPE OF FEMALE GENITAL APPARATUS (LEPIDOPTERA, EXOPORIA)

The monobasic Colombian genus Osrhoes is redescribed on the basis of t he male holotype and a female paratype of 0. coronta Druce, 1900. Osrh oes is unique among the exoporian moths so far known in having a long internal duct from the ductus bursae to a chamber adjacent to the ovip ore, a functional analogy of the 'ductus seminalis' of ditrysian Lepid optera; the subgenital plates are very large and completely fused in t he midline, i.e., there is no 'intergenital cleft'. Strong reasons for retaining Osrhoes in the non-ditrysian grade are the homoneurous vena tion and large forewing jugal lobe, while apomorphies supporting its a ssignment to the Exoporia-Hepialoidea include, e.g. its elongate inter calary sclerite, postapical Rs3, male genitalia with typical hepialoid hinged juxta/trulleum complex and lack of sclerotized phallus. The ab sence of inter-M cross-veins and the extreme reduction of the maxillae are currently considered diagnostic traits of the family Palaeosetida e, which is otherwise represented by three small Australasian genera. The wing proportions and absence of a forewing 'anal loop' in Osrhoes probably also indicate relationships to palaeosetids. Although the sta tus of the crossvein character as an apomorphy is debatable, it is pre ferred at present to uphold the tentative assignment of Osrhoes to the Palaeosetidae.