Abstract

Male and female adults of Scrobipalpula wilsoni sp. nov. are described and illustrated from the coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, based on specimens reared from leaf tier larvae collected on the shrub Baccharis salicifolia (Ruiz & Pav.) Pers. (Asteraceae). The morphology of the male genitalia of S. wilsoni resembles that of S. transiens Povolny, 1987, endemic to central Chile; however, morphological details of the uncus, gnathos, valva, the paired process of the sacculus and the phallus enable separation of the two species. Pairwise distances of a DNA barcode sequence of S. wilsoni with congeneric species ranged from 7.4 to 9.2% (K2P).