Perittia prolixa Sruoga & Sinev, 2017

Sruoga, Virginijus, Sinev, Sergey Yu. & Rocienė, Agnė, 2017, The Elachistidae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea) of Caucasus, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4338 (2), pp. 241-262 : 242-243

Perittia prolixa Sruoga & Sinev , sp. nov.

( FIGS 1–7 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♀, KABARDIN.[O]-BALKAR.[IYA] R-N DACHNYKH UCHASTKOV (SUBURBAN AREA), 17.V.1997, BOLOV LEG. GEN. PREP. VS382 (ZIN).

Diagnosis. IN WING PATTERN AND GENITALIA, THIS SPECIES IS RATHER CLOSE TO P. weberella WHITEBREAD, 1984, KNOWN fROM SWITZERLAND AND UKRAINE ( BIDZILYA & BUDASHKIN 1998), P. sibirica SINEV, 1992 fROM RUSSIA (IRKUTSK), P. tectusella SRUOGA, 1997 fROM TAJIKISTAN AND P. passula KAILA, 1995 fROM U.S.A. (CALIfORNIA). HOWEVER, THE NEW SPECIES IS DISTINGUISHED MOST EASILY BY THE EXTENDED POSTERIOR PROCESS Of THE VENTRAL MARGIN Of THE ANTRUM, WHICH IS LOCATED OVER THE OSTIUM. IN P. prolixa THIS PROCESS (AT ITS MIDDLE) IS ABOUT HALf Of THE WIDTH Of THE ANTRUM ( FIGS 3, 7 ), WHILE IT IS AS WIDE AS THE ANTRUM IN P. tectusella ( FIG. 8 ). IN P. sibirica , THE POSTERIOR PROCESS Of THE ANTRUM IS WIDE, WITH A SHALLOW MEDIAN NOTCH ( FIG. 9 ). IN P. weberella AND P. passula , THE VENTRAL MARGIN Of THE ANTRUM IS WITHOUT A POSTERIOR PROCESS.

Male. UNKNOWN.

Female ( FIGS 1, 2 ). FOREWING LENGTH 3.4 MM; WINGSPAN 7.5 MM (N=1). HEAD: FRONS BROWNISH; VERTEX AND NECK TUfT WHITISH, WEAKLY MOTTLED WITH BROWNISH; LABIAL PALPUS SHORT, AS LONG AS WIDTH Of HEAD, DROOPING, WHITISH ; SCAPE WHITISH; fLAGELLUM PALE BROWN, ANNULATION INDISTINCT. THORAX, TEGULA AND fOREWING GREY BROWN, MOTTLED WITH BLACKISH BROWN TIPPED SCALES; TWO BLURRED WHITISH SPOTS NEAR DORSUM: ONE SMALLER AT 1/4 fROM BASE Of WING AND ANOTHER LARGER AT 1/2; AREA BETWEEN THESE SPOTS MORE INTENSELY MARKED BLACKISH BROWN; fRINGE WHITISH AT APEX BEYOND BLACKISH BROWN fRINGE LINE, OTHERWISE BROWNISH GREY. HINDWING AND ITS fRINGE GREY BROWN.

Female genitalia ( FIGS 3–7 ). PAPILLAE ANALES VERY SHORT, SETOSE. APOPHYSES POSTERIORES DISTINCTLY LONGER THAN APOPHYSES ANTERIORES. OSTIUM BURSAE SITUATED IN MEMBRANE BETWEEN STERNA 7 AND 8, OVAL, LATERAL MARGINS STRONGLY SCLEROTIZED, WEAKLY BENT, WITH MINUTE SPINES ON DORSAL WALL. ANTRUM WIDE, SCLEROTIZED, BENT, VENTRAL MARGIN POSTERIORLY COMES INTO WELL SCLEROTIZED LONGITUDINAL PROCESS OVER OSTIUM ( FIGS 3, 5, 7 ). COLLICULUM LONG, WITH STRONGLY SCLEROTIZED, ALMOST PARALLEL SIDES. DUCTUS BURSA WIDE AND LONG, MEMBRANOUS . CORPUS BURSAE WITH DENSE INTERNAL SPINES. SIGNUM OVAL, LATERALLY WITH STRONG TEETH ( FIGS 4, 6 ).

Biology. UNKNOWN.

Flight period. THE ONLY KNOWN SPECIMEN WAS CAPTURED IN MID-MAY.

Distribution. SO fAR THIS SPECIES IS KNOWN ONLY fROM NORTH-WESTERN CAUCASUS (KABARDINO-BALKAR REPUBLIC Of RUSSIA, ENVIRONS Of NALCHIK).

Etymology. THE SPECIES NAME IS DERIVED fROM THE LATIN prolixa (EXTENDED, DRAWN-OUT) IN REfERENCE TO THE PECULIAR SHAPE Of VENTRAL MARGIN Of ANTRUM IN THE fEMALE GENITALIA.

Remarks. THE HOLOTYPE IS SOMEWHAT RUBBED, ONE ANTENNA IS BROKEN AND ANOTHER ONE IS PARTLY BROKEN, THEREfORE THE DESCRIPTION Of EXTERNAL CHARACTERS IS INCOMPLETE. THIS IS THE fIRST RECORD Of Perittia STAINTON fROM CAUCASUS.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 9. Adults and female genitalia of Perittia species. 1, P. prolixa sp. nov., adult female, holotype. Scale bar 1 mm; 2, same, head, frontal view; 3, same, caudal part of female genitalia; 4, same, ductus and corpus bursae. Scale bar 0.2 mm; 5, same, ostium region, lateral view. In glycerol before permanent mounting in Euparal; 6, same, signum; 7, same, ostium region, ventral view. Gen. prep. VS 382; 8, ostium region of P. tectusella, ventral view, paratype. Gen. prep. VS 143; 9, ostium region of P. sibirica, ventral view, paratype. Gen. prep. VS 463.