Elachista candidella 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 : 250

Elachista candidella Sruoga & Sinev , sp. nov.

( FIGS 27–32 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂, KRASNODARSKII KRAI, SEVERSKII R-N (DISTRICT), KHR.[EBET] (MOUNTAIN RANGE) PAPAI, H=700–800 M., 19.VI.1998, V. SHCHUROV LEG. GEN. PREP. VS460. PARATYPE: 1♂, KRASNODARSKII KRAI, SEVERSKII R-N (DISTRICT), OKR.[ESNOSTI] (ENVIRONS) ST.[ANITSA] (VILLAGE), UBINSKAYA, G.[ ORA] ( MOUNTAIN) SOBER-OASHKH, 07. VI.2003, V. SHCHUROV LEG. GEN. PREP. VS450 ( ZIN).

Diagnosis. IN WING PATTERN AND MALE GENITALIA, THIS SPECIES CLOSELY RESEMBLES Elachista distigmatella FREY, 1859 (fOR ILLUSTRATIONS REfER TO KAILA et al. 2015: fIGS 12, 13, 64, 65). HOWEVER, THE fOREWING IN THE NEW SPECIES IS SPOTLESS. IT DIffERS fROM E. distigmatella IN MALE GENITALIA MAINLY BY THE WIDER GROUP Of CORNUTI WITH APICAL CORNUTUS MUCH LONGER THAN BASAL ONES.

Male ( FIGS 27, 28 ). FOREWING LENGTH 4.0–4.5 MM; WINGSPAN 8.5–9.5 MM (N=2). HEAD: FRONS, VERTEX AND NECK TUfT WHITE; LABIAL PALPUS WHITE, SECOND SEGMENT PALE fUSCOUS BELOW, SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN DIAMETER Of HEAD; SCAPE AND PECTEN WHITE; BASALLY fLAGELLUM WHITISH, OTHERWISE PALE OCHREOUS GREY. THORAX, TEGULAE AND fOREWING WHITE; fRINGE WHITE. HINDWING WHITE, fRINGE WHITE WITH SLIGHT YELLOWISH TINGE.

Female. UNKNOWN.

Male genitalia ( FIGS 29–32 ). UNCUS LOBE SHORT AND WIDE, MESIAL MARGIN CONVEX, APEX POINTED, DIRECTED OUTWARD. SPINOSED KNOB Of GNATHOS LARGE, OVAL-SHAPED, 1.5 TIMES AS LONG AS WIDE. VALVA ALMOST PARALLEL SIDED, 5 TIMES AS LONG AS BROAD IN ITS MEDIAN AREA. JUXTA LOBES DEVOID Of SETAE, MESIAL AND DISTAL MARGIN ROUNDED WITHOUT DISTINCT LIMIT. DIGITATE PROCESS TONGUE-SHAPED, 0.2 TIMES AS LONG AS VALVA, MEDIALLY AND DISTALLY WITH STOUT SETAE. VINCULUM WITH BROAD SACCUS. PHALLUS ABOUT 0.8 TIMES AS LONG AS VALVA, BENT, DISTALLY TAPERED TOWARDS APEX; CORNUTUS CLUSTER fORMED Of fEW SMALL AND CLOSELY SET SPINES AND ONE VERY LONG, STOUT AND STRAIGHT APICAL SPINE, WIDTH Of CLUSTER ABOUT 0.4 TIMES AS WIDTH AS DIAMETER Of PHALLUS IN ITS MIDDLE.

Biology. UNKNOWN.

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

Distribution. SO fAR THIS SPECIES IS KNOWN ONLY fROM NORTH-WESTERN CAUCASUS (KRASNODAR KRAI, RUSSIA).

Etymology. THE SPECIES NAME IS DERIVED fROM THE LATIN candidus (DAZZLING WHITE) IN REfERENCE TO THE WHITE, SPOTLESS fOREWING.

Figures

FIGURES 27 – 32. Elachista candidella sp. nov., holotype. 27, adult male. Scale bar 1 mm; 28, head, latero-frontal view; 29, general view of male genitalia (phallus removed); 30, phallus. Scale bar 0.1 mm; 31, juxta region; 32, cornuti. Gen. prep. VS 460.