Elachista suffusca 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 : 255-258

Elachista suffusca Sruoga & Sinev , sp. nov.

( FIGS 37–49 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂, Z.[APADNYI] (WESTERN) KAVKAZ (CAUCASUS), BIOSfERNYI ZAPOVEDNIK (BIOSPHERE RESERVE), DOLINA (VALLEY) REKI (RIVER) URUSHTEN, OKR.[ESNOSTI] (ENVIRONS) LAGER KHOLODNYI, 1730–1750 M, 16.vii.2004, V. Shchurov leg. Gen. prep. VS453; Paratype: ♀, Krasnodarskii kr.[ai], khr.[ebet] (mountain range) CHERNOGOR’E, 1450 M, 5.VI.1998, V. SHCHUROV LEG. GEN. PREP. VS452 (ZIN).

Diagnosis. Elachista suffusca IS A LARGE, UNICOLOROUS SPECIES, EXTERNALLY MOSTLY SIMILAR TO E. pigerella (HERRICH-SCHäffER, 1854) AND E. tanaella AARVIK & BERGGREN, 2003. IT DIffERS fROM E. pigerella BY THE NARROWER HINDWINGS AND fROM E. tanaella BY THE YELLOWISH HEAD. BOTH E. pigerella AND E. tanaella HAVE MALE GENITALIA THAT DIffER STRONGLY fROM THOSE Of E. suffusca . MALE GENITALIA Of E. suffusca MOST CLOSE RESEMBLE THOSE Of E. maculicerusella ( BRUAND, 1859) BUT EXTERNALLY E. suffusca DIffERS DISTINCTLY AS BEING UNICOLOROUS BROWNISH GREY. IN fEMALE GENITALIA, IT IS ALSO COMPARABLE TO E. tanaella . HOWEVER, E. suffusca IS DISTINGUISHABLE MAINLY BY MORE NARROW OSTIUM BURSAE AND SHALLOW ANTRUM, WHICH IS ABRUPTLY TAPERED TO COLLICULUM; THE SIGNUM IS VERY SMALL IN E. suffusca , MUCH LARGER IN E. tanaella .

Male ( FIGS 37, 38 ). FOREWING LENGTH 4.6 MM; WINGSPAN 10.2 MM (N=1). HEAD: FRONS YELLOWISH, BACKGROUND LAYER WITH SOME METALLIC LUSTRE; VERTEX AND NECK TUfT YELLOWISH; LABIAL PALPUS UPWARDLY CURVED, ABOUT 1.5 TIMES AS LONG AS WIDTH Of HEAD, YELLOWISH, SECOND SEGMENT BROWNISH BELOW ; ANTENNA BROWNISH GREY, WITH VERY SHORT VISIBLE CILIA ABOUT 1 /5 DIAMETER Of SHAfT . THORAX AND TEGULA BROWNISH GREY. FOREWING BROWNISH GREY; fRINGE SCALES BROWNISH GREY WITH fEW YELLOWISH SCALES ALONG APEX. HINDWING AND ITS fRINGE BROWNISH GREY.

Female ( FIGS 44, 45 ). FOREWING LENGTH 6.1 MM; WINGSPAN 13.2 MM (N=1). SIMILAR TO MALE, BUT fLAGELLUM WEAKLY ANNULATED WITH PALER RINGS AND WITHOUT VISIBLE CILIA.

Male genitalia ( FIGS 39–43 ). UNCUS LOBES SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN WIDE, MEDIAN MARGIN ALMOST STRAIGHT, LATERAL AND DISTAL MARGIN EVENLY CURVED, SEPARATED fROM EACH OTHER BY A WIDE V-SHAPED INCISION. SPINOSE KNOB Of GNATHOS ROUNDED. VALVA NARROW, PARALLEL-SIDED, SOMEWHAT BENT, BASAL fOLD Of COSTA EXTENDED TO DISTAL 3 /4 Of VALVA WHERE IT MEETS DISTAL LOBE AND fORMS BROAD AND INDISTINCT HUMP ; SACCULUS MEETING CUCULLUS AT A RIGHT ANGLE. MESIAL MARGIN Of JUXTA LOBES STRAIGHT, MEETING DISTAL MARGIN WITHOUT AN ANGLE, DISTAL MARGIN ROUNDED, WITH A fEW SPARSE SETAE. DIGITAL PROCESS ABOUT 1 /3 AS LONG AS VALVA , NARROW, ALMOST PARALLEL-SIDED, APEX ABRUPTLY EXPANDED, WITH A fEW SPARSE SETAE. VINCULUM GRADUALLY TAPERED INTO BROAD AND SHORT SACCUS, MEDIAN RIDGE INDISTINCT. PHALLUS ABOUT 4 /5 LENGTH Of VALVA , STRAIGHT, SLIGHTLY BROADENED BASALLY, OTHERWISE NARROWER, APEX DISTINCTLY BIfURCATE; BASAL OPENING POSTERIORLY PROJECTED.

Female genitalia ( FIGS 46–49 ). PAPILLAE ANALES LONGER THAN WIDE. APOPHYSES POSTERIORES STOUT, APICALLY DILATED, APOPHYSES ANTERIORES 1.4 TIMES AS LONG AS APOPHYSES POSTERIORES . OSTIUM BURSAE DEEPLY INCISED IN STERNUM 7, NARROW AND U-SHAPED, DORSAL WALL COVERED BY MINUTE SPINES; ANTRUM SMALL, ABRUPTLY TAPERED TOWARDS STRONGLY SCLEROTIZED AND NARROW COLLICULUM. DUCTUS BURSAE MEMBRANOUS, WITH LONGITUDINAL fOLDS, GRADUALLY WIDENED TOWARDS CORPUS BURSAE WITH WHICH IT IS INCEPTED WITHOUT DISTINCT BORDER. CORPUS BURSAE WITHOUT INTERNAL SPINES. SIGNUM VERY SMALL, ELONGATE, WITH A fEW MINUTE SPINES.

Biology. UNKNOWN.

Flight period. BASED ON SPECIMENS AVAILABLE, ADULTS fLY IN JUNE AND JULY.

Distribution. SO fAR THIS SPECIES IS KNOWN ONLY fROM CAUCASUS (KRASNODAR KRAI Of RUSSIA).

Etymology. THE SPECIES NAME IS DERIVED fROM LATIN suffusca (BROWNISH, DARK) IN REfERENCE TO DARK COLORATION Of MOTH.

Remarks. THE HOLOTYPE IS IN POOR CONDITION; THE fOREWINGS ARE SOMEWHAT RUBBED, THE HEAD IS DISTORTED AND THEREfORE LOOKS fLATTENED IN FIG. 38 .

Figures

FIGURES 37 – 43. Elachista suffusca sp. nov., holotype. 37, adult male. Scale bar 1 mm; 38, head, latero-frontal view; 39, general view of male genitalia (phallus removed); 40, phallus. Scale bar 0.1 mm; 41, gnathos; 42, juxta region; 43, distal part of phallus. Gen. prep. VS 453.

FIGURES 44 – 49. Elachista suffusca sp. nov., paratype. 44, adult female. Scale bar 1 mm; 45, head, frontal view; 46, caudal part of female genitalia; 47, ductus and corpus bursae. Scale bar 0.2 mm; 48, medial part of female genitalia; 49, signum. Gen. prep. VS 452.