Holcophora inderskella (Caradja, 1920) Caradja, 1920

Adamski, David & Sattler, Klaus, 2019, Holcophora Staudinger, 1871, a senior synonym of Aponoea Walsingham, 1905, syn. n., (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea, Gelechiidae): with Holcophorainderskella (Caradja, 1920), comb. n., transferred from Blastobasis Zeller, 1855 (Blastobasidae), Nota Lepidopterologica 42 (1), pp. 17-25 : 18-22

Holcophora inderskella (Caradja, 1920) comb. n. Figs 9-13, 14-17

Blastobasis inderskella Caradja, 1920: 122. Lectotype ♂ [damaged], KAZAKHSTAN: Oz Inder, ('Indersky Salzsee’), 22.vi.1907 [( Bartel )], designated by Popescu-Gorj 1992: 156 (MGAB, Bucharest), (Fig. 14). Paralectotype, ♀ [damaged], same label data as above, (Fig. 15).

Redescription

[based on Mongolian specimens]. Adult: Head covered with narrow, convergent, mottled scales. Ocelli present. Proboscis present, basal part squamose, white. Outer surface of labial palpus gray intermixed with few pale gray scales tipped with white and pale gray scales, and white scales along apical margin of all palpomeres; inner surface similar but with white scales along dorsal part. Scape of antenna without pecten, pale gray intermixed with grayish brown scales, flagellum with alternating pale gray and brownish gray flagellomeres; male first flagellomere unmodified. Denuded head (Figs 9-13), with medio-posterior part of vertex raised, anteriorly tapered to form distinctive ridge ending at transfrontal sulcus, raised vertex area sparsely set with scale sockets in contrast to densely set surrounding area; frons beneath transfrontal sulcus with strongly protruding medial ridge bearing two or three processes of descending size, longest process at level of antennal sockets; medial ridge set in ovoid ring of strong teeth (each tooth originating from enlarged scale socket). Thorax: Tegula and mesoscutum white, intermixed with few white scales each tipped with brown. Legs with tibiae and femura with alternating white and brown banding on outer surface, mostly white intermixed with few brown scales on inner surface; tarsomeres mostly brown, with narrow white apical band. Forewing (Fig. 9): length 6.0-6.1 mm (n=2), white intermixed with brown, pale gray, and mottled scales; venational pattern demarcated by contrastingly darker scales on areas between veins than paler scales on areas above veins; two brown, oblique fasciae along base and near midcell; basal fascia bearing two brown scale tufts and midcell fascia bearing four brown scale tufts. Lower surface pale brownish orange, with white scales along costa; fringe white, tipped with brown. Hindwing: translucent pale grayish brown, slightly darkened towards apex; fringe pale grayish brown tipped with slightly darker banding of brown. Abdomen: All terga without transverse, irregular rows of spine-like setae (unlike Blastobasidae ). Male genitalia (Figs 16-17): Uncus short, with acuminate apex. Gnathos elongate, with upwardly curved apical end, extending beyond uncus. Tegumen elongate. Left saccular part of valva with narrow shaft, broadly curved near middle, with setose cucullus; right saccular part of valva with apical half missing; costal part of valva about 2/3 length of tegumen, widened at base, gradually narrowing apically. Vinculum extending posterolaterally from wide base, curving abruptly, forming converging, opposable apices. Aedeagus downturned, somewhat widened basally, gradually narrowed towards accuminate apex, nearly as long and extending from a bulbous base. Female genitalia: not examined.

Hostplant(s).

Unknown.

Distribution.

Palaearctic: Kazakhstan, Mongolia.

Remarks.

B. inderskella was described by Caradja from two fresh males from Oz Inder ('Indersky Salzsee’), about 48°30'N, 51°58'E, in Kazakhstan. The collector, the German lepidopterist and insect dealer Max Bartel , is not mentioned in the original description, nor is he recorded on the specimen labels, but can be inferred from Caradja (1910: 106).

Caradja gave no indication what characters he used to place this species in the Blastobasidae and we assume that it may have been superficial similarities in the forewing pattern. His proposal of the name inderskella is conditional. He introduced the species as ' Bl. sp. ( ? segnella Z.)' and stated that, unless it were Blastobasis (now Hypatopa ) segnella Zeller, a taxon unknown to him, it had to be a new species for which he proposed the name B. inderskella . Prince Aristide Caradja’s collection survived, with little damage, the Second World War and the challenging post-war period on his estate at Grumăzești in north-eastern Romania before it was incorporated in the Muzeul Naţional de Istorie Naturală 'Grigore Antipa’, Bucharest, Romania, where KS had the opportunity to study it in 1987. By that time all types had been extracted and placed in a separate type collection, lectotypes had been selected and a type catalogue, including formal designations of lectotypes, was subsequently published ( Popescu-Gorj 1992).

Both type specimens of B. inderskella still exist in the collection but, as a result of psocid feeding before they reached the museum, are in poor condition: both lack the head and (most of) the abdomen, while the paralectotype also lacks the left-hand wings. On examination it was immediately obvious that B. inderskella , despite some rather superficial similarities to Hypatopa segnella (Zeller, 1873) in the forewing markings, was a species of Gelechiidae . Fresh specimens from Mongolia, collected by Z. Kaszab, Budapest, were tentatively identified by KS as inderskella and placed under that name in the NHMUK collection but without a generic assignment (further specimens exist in HNHM Budapest). We are confident that the generic placement in Holcophora is accurate, however, the specific identity should be re-assessed when fresh specimens from the type-locality (Kazakhstan) become available.

B. inderskella differs in the presence of a prominent frontal process from the other three species here included in Holcophora . We do not believe that character on its own justifies the separation of inderskella into its own genus as species with and without such modifications of the head structure coexist in otherwise undisputed genera of Gelechiidae (e.g. Athrips Billberg, Ornativalva Gozmány, Prolita Leraut, Scrobipalpa Janse).