The Elachistinae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea, Elachistidae) of Thailand, with description of eight new species
Author
Sruoga, Virginijus
Author
Kaila, Lauri
Author
Rocienė, Agnė
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2019
2019-11-05
574
1
34
journal article
24954
10.5852/ejt.2019.574
f5fa598b-e158-40cf-b475-4d1177d95149
3530401
E7CE3DAA-B454-413A-BA53-C0176D65CA98
Elachista oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
71CD1D33-4385-478F-B455-AAB1353ADD58
Figs 14–23
Diagnosis
Elachista oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
is a small species with peculiarly coloured forewings (
Fig. 14
) and a dorsoventrally flattened head, atypical of
Elachista
in general but typical of related species in the
E. albrechti
-
heteroplaca
species group (cf.
Kaila 1998
). In wing pattern and male genitalia, this species is most similar to
Elachista heteroplaca
Meyrick, 1934
(for illustrations, we refer to
Kaila 1998
: figs 1–5). The main differences in male genitalia between
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
and
E. heteroplaca
are: 1) digitate process in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
is short and wide (
Figs 16
,
18
), devoid of setae, in
E. heteroplaca
it is long and slender, with setae; 2) juxta lobe in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
very long and narrow, in
E. heteroplaca
it is much shorter and wide; 3) vinculum in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
is short, width/length ratio about 0.7 whereas in
E. heteroplaca
it is longer, width/length ratio about 0.4; 4) phallus in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
is wide, long/ width ratio about 19, in
E. heteroplaca
it is slender, long/width ratio about 30; 5) in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
the stout spine of valva is comparatively short, about 7.5 times as long as wide, in
E. heteroplaca
it is longer, about 12 times as long as wide; 6) vesica is with numerous tiny spines in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
, whereas in
E. heteroplaca
vesica is without such spines; 7) the boomerang-shaped sclerotization of tergum
8 in
E. oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
(
Fig. 23
) is noticeably wider than in
E. heteroplaca
.
Figs 14–17.
Elachista oryx
Sruoga & Kaila
sp. nov.
, holotype, ♂ (MZH VS1/23.11.18).
14
. Adult.
15
. Head, latero-frontal view.
16
. General view of male genitalia (phallus removed).
17
. Phallus. Scale bars: 14–15 = 1 mm; 16–17 = 0.1 mm.
Etymology
The species name is derived from the Latin ‘
oryx
’ (a kind of antelope or gazelle) in reference to the long, horn-like spines of valvae.
Type material
Holotype
THAILAND
•
♂
;
Lampang
,
Muban Phichai
;
18°18ʹ15ʺ N
,
99°31ʹ06ʺ E
;
12 Jan. 2012
;
M.J. Pellinen
leg.;
MZH
VS1/
23.11.18
.
Description
Male
EXTERNAL CHARACTERS (
Figs 14–15
). Forewing length
2.6 mm
; wingspan
5.8 mm
(n = 1). Head: frons shiny whitish; vertex and neck tuft brownish grey, some scales with dark brown tips; labial palpus upwards curved, about 1.7 times as long as width of head, creamy white, third segment medially with few dark brown scales on outer side; scape creamy white, without pecten; flagellum greyish brown, basal articles weakly annulated with paler rings. Thorax dark grey brown. Forewing: ground colour light greyish brown, costa narrowly dark except at 1/5 where indistinctly delimited oblique white streak and at 2/5 where larger oblique white streak almost reaches fold; in the middle of wing at fold dark brown spot formed of slightly raised scales; tornal area whitish; narrow longitudinal blackish brown stripe to apex of wing; fringe scales greyish, fringe line blackish brown. Hindwing and its fringe scales greyish brown.
MALE GENITALIA (
Figs 16–23
). Uncus lobes widely apart from each other, narrow, elongate, basally weakly dilated, distally distinctly broadened, ventral surface densely covered with long, hair-like scales. Tegumen short, anterior margin dorsomedially strongly and widely indented, almost meeting posterior margin. Basal arms of gnathos very long, basally strongly melanized, and strongly bent towards posterior direction, apically fused and covered with several tiny spines; spinose knob small, spinose area directed apically. Costa of valva weakly concave; from distal fold of costa long, strongly sclerotized spine, length of which almost ⅓ of that of valva. Cucullus divided into two lobes: wide triangular lobe where sacculus meets cucullus, and another slightly longer, narrow lobe in costal side. Digitate process short and wide, triangular, devoid of setae. Median plate of juxta with two pockets: anteriorly directed small, triangular pocket at ventral side, and posteriorly directed large and wide one at dorsal side. Juxta lobes long and narrow, tapering to apex, median margin straight and distinctly sclerotized, distal margin with few tiny setae and dorsally directed large group of long hair-like scales. Vinculum long, v-shaped, saccus short, blunt-tipped. Phallus about 1.4 length of valva, basally dilated, straight except apex slightly bent; caecum short, rounded with sclerotized ridge forming two small lobes; vesica with group of minute spines, distally joined with two sclerotized longitudinal plates; one long bent cornutus.
Female
Unknown.
Biology
Unknown. The specimen was collected by artificial light.
Flight period
The only known specimen was captured in mid-January.
Distribution
So far this species is known only from northern
Thailand
.