Meleonoma facialis, Li et Wang, 2002

Wang, Shuxia & Zhu, Xiaoju, 2020, Study of the genus Meleonoma Meyrick, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae) from China, with descriptions of fifteen new species, Zootaxa 4838 (3), pp. 331-357 : 332

The facialis -group

Diagnostic characters. Adult with forewing length running from 3.5 to 6.5 mm, length approximately 3.6−4.5 times of the maximum width. Forewing elongately narrow, or lanceolate; ground color yellow; costal margin always with a dark spot medially (costal spot); apex with a dark patch (apical patch), sometimes diffused along termen to tornus and forming a tornal spot; discal and plical spots present; discocellular spots doubled, usually at anterior and posterior angles of cell respectively.

Genital characters not characteristic. In male genitalia, uncus varied in shape and length, from short (as in M. parvissima sp. nov.) to extremely long (as in M. tenuiuncata sp. nov.); gnathos absent in most species, present in a few species; transtilla usually present, medially joined or separated; sacculus fused with valva, or separated from valva entirely or only free distally. In female genitalia, eighth sternal plate often spiculate; antrum heavily sclerotized in most species; ductus bursae sclerotized or membranous; corpus bursae with or without signum; ductus seminalis arising from ductus bursae or from junction between ductus bursae and corpus bursae.

Nine species of the facialis -group were described from China prior to this study: M. facialis Li et Wang, 2002 , M. facunda (Meyrick, 1910) ( Meyrick 1910a) , M. fasciculifera ( Wang, 2004) , M. malacognatha Li et Wang, 2002 , M. margisclerotica Wang, 2016 ( Yin & Wang 2016a), M. meyricki Lvovsky, 2015 , M. echinata Li, 2004 , M. foliata Li, 2004 and M. polychaeta Li, 2004 ( Li & Wang 2004). Unfortunately, we have not identified M. facunda that was recorded to occur in North and East China by Liu (1981) in this study. In this paper, we describe nine new species and to record M. aridula (Meyrick, 1910) ( Meyrick 1910b) from China for the first time.