Tineovertex Moriuti, 1982

Huang, Guo-Hua, Hirowatari, Toshiya & Wang, Min, 2007, Taxonomic notes on the genus Tineovertex Moriuti (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Tineidae) with description of a new species, Zootaxa 1637, pp. 37-46 : 38-39

Tineovertex Moriuti, 1982

Type species: Tinea melanochrysa Meyrick, 1911 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized species with lateral bristles on the labial palpi; wings elongate without upturned forewing tip. Male genitalia simple, with extremely narrow ring and separated bilobed uncus; gnathos absent; saccus long rod-shaped; valva simple with apex rounded. Female genitalia with corethrogyne absent; papilla analis strongly sclerotized to form piercing apex.

Description. Head: Vertex roughly clothed with black or white scales. Antenna filiform, about 1.0 × length of forewing; frons covered with dense scales; maxillary palpus moderately developed. Labial palpus with strong lateral bristles on second segment.

Thorax: Dorsum and tegula covered with black or white scales. Wings similarly patterned, moderately elongate, apices moderately rounded and not upturned. Wingspan 10–20 mm. Forewing with all veins free; R4 and R5 stalked or approximated basally; hindwing with all veins free and separate basally.

Abdomen: Male genitalia with extremely narrow ring and a pair of separated uncus lobes; gnathos absent, juxta indistinct; saccus long, rod-shaped; valva simple and curved dorsally; aedeagus cylindrical, stout, nearly straight, vesica usually with cornuti. Female genitalia without corethrogyne; eighth abdominal tergum with a median keel; apophyses posteriors and anteriores long and stout; papilla analis strongly sclerotized, flattened, pointed to form piercing apex with minute serrations laterally; corpus bursae with or without a pair of symmetric signa.

Remarks. All species of Tineovertex have a similar wing pattern. They can be separated into two groups by the color of the head and thorax. In T. melanochrysa , T. sartoria & T. gladiata the head and thorax are covered with blackish scales; in T. canicoma , T. melliflua & T. antidroma they are covered with white or ochreous-yellow scales. However, within each species group, it is difficult to distinguish the species on the basis of superficial characters.

Female genitalia of the genus Tineovertex are characteristic in having long apophyses, the ovipositor with a serrate piercing apex, and the eighth abdominal tergum with a median keel. These features are similar to those of the tineid genus Ischnuridia Sauber, 1902 ( Davis & Heppner, 1987) and most incurvarioid families. Robinson & Nielsen (1993) noted that the ovipositor of the genus Ectropoceros Diakonoff, 1955 , which was considered a close-relative of Tineovertex , greatly resembles that of certain Incurvariidae . They inferred that Ectropoceros represents the sister-group of Tineovertex + Ischnuridia . According to T. Saito (personal communication) and Sakai (2002), in Japan the larvae of T. melanochrysa feed on dead leaves on the ground and construct a flat-oblong portable case. Based on these observations, the first instar larvae of Tineovertex possibly may feed on or mine into living plant tissue. Later instars may feed on dead leaves and make a portable case. The larval feeding habits of Tineovertex may be similar to those of Adelidae rather than to those of Incurvariidae .