Review of the Malagasy lecithocerid species described by Pierre Viette and deposited in MNHN (Paris), with new generic combinations and descriptions of a new subfamily and genus of Momphidae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea)
Author
Park, Kyu-Tek
Bioresource and Environmental Center, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012 Korea;
Author
Koo, Jun-Mo
Department of Plant Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 28644 Korea.
Author
Minet, Joël
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (ISYEB, UMR 7205), Entomologie (C. P. 50), 45, rue Buffon, F- 75005 Paris, France.
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-09-02
4845
2
151
190
journal article
8554
10.11646/zootaxa.4845.2.1
25efbb90-245c-4391-8d17-fd75b5c35e86
1175-5326
4406460
184EB7D9-A6F8-44D4-B7BD-FBCC0B3466E4
Merocrates ojejyella
(
Viette, 1986
)
,
comb. nov.
(
Figs. 20
A–E, 21A–F)
Lecithocera ojejyella
Viette, 1986: 115
. TL: Marojejy massif.
Type.
1♀
(
holotype
),
East
Madagascar
,
Marojejy
massif,
Integral Natural Reserve
no. 12, alt.
1,300 m
,
2–8 xii 1972
,
A. Peyrieras
leg.; genitalia: prep.
P. Viette
no. 5705
.
Adult
(
Figs. 20A, B, E
,
21
A–F). Wingspan,
21 mm
. Head vestiture dark bronze; scales of the vertex narrow, anteriorly directed (
Fig. 21A
). Antenna dark brown with light brown annulets; scape whitish, orange and black, without pecten. Labial palpus very large, sickle-shaped, yellowish grey, with the outer suface of segment 2 dark brown proximally (
Fig. 21B
). Body dark bronze dorsally (abdomen almost black), yellowish grey ventrally. Legs yellowish grey, outwards with dark brown areas (distally on femora; proximally on tibiae); tibial spurs dark brown on outer surface. Dorsal surface of forewing dark purplish brown with many yellowish, transverse short strigae (more numerous along costa), which tend to form longer lines below the middle and the extremity of the upper edge of the discal cell; fringe yellowish. Hind wing blackish grey, with its outer margin concave at the extremity of M
1
; fringe greyish. Ventral surface of forewing dark brown, though yellowish along costa and inner margin. Ventral surface of hind wing dark brown; costa yellowish. Forewing venation (
Figs. 21C, E
):
R
4
and
R
5
merged together, forming a single vein that runs to the apex; base of
R
2
remote from
R
1
and separate from
R
3
, which is stalked with
R
4+5
; M
2
arising closer to M
3
than to M
1
; CuA
1
free, arising closer to CuA
2
than to M
3
; CuA
2
strongly arched, coming very close to the distal section of CuP (
Fig. 21E
). Frenulum composed of four bristles (
Fig. 21D
). Hind wing venation (
Fig. 21F
): subcosta long, diverging from the upper edge of the cell from approximately the middle of the latter; Rs free, running to apex; Rs and M
1
separate, diverging distad; M
2
arched, arising closer to M
3
than to M
1
: M
3
and CuA
1
connate; CuA
1
and CuA
2
fairly remote proximally. Abdominal segments (
Fig. 20E
) without spinose zones; antero-abdominal sternum with short apodemes (that widen caudad) and weakly pigmented, rather short venulae.
Female genitalia
(
Figs. 20C, D
): See also the line drawing given by
Viette (1986
,
Fig. 13
). Corpus bursae elongate, not clearly delimited anteriorly. Ductus bursae as a mere extension of the corpus, distinctly swollen around the insertion of the ductus seminalis. Antrum present, rather small, tapering anteriorly. Ostium bursae in the membranous anteroventral region of segment
VIII
. Apophyses anteriores tubular, though rather short; apophyses posteriores a bit more than twice as long as the former. Papillae anales separate, posteriorly acute in ventral view.
Distribution.
Madagascar
(East) (
Viette, 1986
).
FIGURE 20.
Merocrates ojejyella
(
Viette, 1986
)
,
comb. nov.
: A, holotype; B, labels; C, female genitalia (posterior region), prep. P. Viette no. 5705; D, ditto, bursa copulatrix; E, abdomen. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.
Remarks.
The genus
Merocrates
Meyrick, 1931
was originally described in the
Gelechiidae
(“Gelechiadae”), but was transferred to the
Lecithoceridae
(“
Timyridae
”) by
Clarke (1955a: 20
;
1965: 179
).
Gozmány (1978)
maintained it, provisionally, in the
Lecithoceridae
, suggesting however that it would probably be better placed in the
Xyloryctidae
, notably on account of its hind wing veins Rs and M
1
, which are not stalked (while normally stalked in
Lecithoceridae
). In fact, we propose here a close relationship of
Merocrates
Meyrick
and
Epichostis
Meyrick
(the latter placed in “
Xyloryctidae
” in, e.g.,
Clarke 1955b
), two genera having a similar hind wing venation, a similar forewing shape (somewhat truncate distally), and sharing two synapomorphies in the forewing venation, namely the complete fusion of R
4
and R
5
(i.e. the presence of only four visible R veins) and an arched vein CuA
2
that comes very close to the inner margin, being more or less parallel to it distally. Although the
holotype
of
Merocrates themelias
Meyrick, 1931
has lost its abdomen and possesses, in the forewing, CuA veins that are distinctly stalked (
Clarke, 1965: 178
), we tentatively assign
“
Lecithocera
”
ojejyella
to the genus
Merocrates
on account of a synapomorphy in the forewing venation, viz. the stalked condition of R3 and R4+5. It should be noted that this Malagasy species had already been regarded as a close relative of
Epichostis
(
Lopez-Vaamonde
et al
., 2019: 113
)
. This last genus was maintained in
Xyloryctidae
by
Yuan & Wang (2009)
but was deliberately excluded from a recent, extensive molecular study of the
Gelechioidea
(
Wang & Li, 2020
) because of its “highly unstable” position in phylogenetic trees. Moreover, unlike
Xyloryctidae
,
Epichostis
lacks spiniform scales (“spines”) on the abdomen and its forewing vein CuA
2
is markedly arched and, proximally, relatively close to CuA
1
(while CuA
2
is rather straight and remote from the base of CuA
1
in
the
Xyloryctidae
). Therefore, pending further research work, the
Epichostis
+
Merocrates
group must be considered
incertae sedis
within the
Gelechioidea
.