Callipia balteata Brehm, 2018, sp. nov.

The balteata group

The four known members of the balteata group possess two distinctive broad, deep rosy bands on the forewing; a pattern that is not found in other species of Callipia. The male valvae are round-shaped and do not possess the spine-like processes on the ventral margin that are present in all other groups of Callipia. The uncus is pointed. The aedeagi are bulkier than in other Callipia, the vesica is long and has a small series of cornuti. The species are restricted to high elevations in the wet eastern Peruvian and Bolivian Andes (observed: 1982 –3450 m). All are represented by a single or very few specimens in museum collections only. Surprisingly, the balteata group consists of relatively many species, with small, but clear morphological differences besides supporting molecular information. One species was collected in Huánuco Province, Central Peru (C. lamasi sp. nov.), ca 850 km separated from the collection site of C. fiedleri sp. nov. (Peru, Cusco Province), separated by ca 250 km from the collection site of C. balteata (Peru, Puno Province) and separated by another ca 250 km from the collection site of C. jakobi sp. nov. (western Bolivia). The balteata group represents an example of an Andean high elevation clade with a large degree of local endemism. The females are still unknown.