Moca marionella ( Viette, 1954 ), 2020

Park, Kyu-Tek, Koo, Jun-Mo & Minet, Joël, 2020, 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), Zootaxa 4845 (2), pp. 151-190 : 186-187

Moca marionella ( Viette, 1954) , comb. nov.

( Figs. 24 A–F)

Idiopteryx marionella Viette, 1954: 36 , TL: Mahajeby forest, near Morafenobe.

Type. 1♂ (holotype), West Madagascar, near Morafenobe, Mahajeby forest (Bongolava), from leaf of Haronga sp., v.1952, rearing no. 1060 (by. R. Paulian) [12 v 1952; emergence: 21 v 1952]; genitalia: prep. P. Viette no. 2539 .

Adult ( Figs. 24A, B ). Wingspan, 16 mm. This species is superficially similar to Moca descarpentriesella , especially in the colour pattern of both wings, but it can be distinguished by the smaller costal patches on the forewing (which also lacks a yellow apical band). Antenna strongly serrate. Labial palpus fairly large, upturned, with acute third segment; yellow inwards, largely brown outwards. Tibiae mostly dark brown outwards; midleg tarsus yellow, with brown apex; hindleg tarsus brown outwards. Body white ventrally. Dorsal surface of the abdomen blackish, laterally with yellow scales. Abdominal segments without spinose zones ( Fig. 24E ); sternum II with fairly long apodemes and anterolateral processes, its postero-median region largely desclerotized; segment VIII strongly modified, with wide unsclerotized areas; pregenital region with a pair of coremata ( Fig. 24F ), which resemble those of, e.g., Moca chrysocosma (Diakonoff, [1968]) ( Huang et al. 2019: Fig. 10 ).

Male genitalia ( Figs. 24C, D ). Aedeagus slender, strongly bent at basal 1/3. Vinculum heavily sclerotized, with a fairly long saccus. Valva broad, provided, in its ventro-distal region, with a strong sclerotized point, which is directed proximad and may represent a modified praesacculus (free apical process of the sacculus). Juxta cup-shaped, deeply emarginate postero-dorsally. Gnathos absent. Uncus slender, slightly longer than tegumen.

Distribution. Madagascar (West) ( Viette, 1954).

Remarks. This species is transferred to the genus Moca Walker , which includes Immidae that retain a well developed (slender, sclerotized) uncus, while members of the genus Imma Walker have lost the uncus in male genitalia ( Huang et al. 2019: 371). As mentioned above, Moca marionella is hardly distinct from Moca descarpentriesella but revising the Malagasy Immidae is outside the scope of our study. Previously, only one species of Immidae was recorded from Madagascar ( Viette 1990: 64), namely Moca humbertella (Viette, 1956) , a taxon probably misplaced in Moca since its quite special male genitalia have a short, triangular uncus ( Viette, 1956b: Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Parkiana rabenoroi (Viette, 1988), comb. nov.: A, holotype; B, labels; C, female genitalia, prep. P. Viette no. 5751; D, ditto, close-up of ostium bursae; E, ditto, close-up corpus bursae; F, abdomen. Scale bar for the genitalia: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 10. Torodora lecithocerella (Viette, 1956), comb. nov.: A, holotype; B, labels; C, female genitalia, prep. J. Minet no. 1663; D, close-up of abdominal segment VIII and ostium bursae; E, close-up of signum; F, abdomen. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 24. Moca marionella (Viette, 1954), comb. nov.: A, holotype; B, labels; C, male genitalia, prep. P. Viette no. 2539; D, ditto, aedeagus; E, ditto, abdomen; F, postero-abdominal coremata. Scale bar for the genitalia and aedeagus: 0.5 mm.