Chrysoesthia amseli (Bidzilya, 2008) Bidzilya & Karsholt & Kravchenko & Šumpich, 2019

Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Karsholt, Ole, Kravchenko, Vasiliy & Šumpich, Jan, 2019, An annotated checklist of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) of Israel with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4677 (1), pp. 1-68 : 31

Chrysoesthia amseli (Bidzilya, 2008) comb. nov.

Metanarsia amseli Bidzilya, 2008 —SHILAP Revta lepid. 36 (144): 534.

Material examined. 1 ♂, 6 km S Sode Boger, Avdat , 15.x.1987 (Dorn) (gen. prep. 7778, G. Derra) (coll. G. Derra) ; 6 ♂, Negev , Nahal (Wadi) Zin, 8.x.1999, black light (Pavlíček) (gen. slide 115/18, O. Bidzilya) ( NMPC) .

Remarks. Metanarsia amseli was described from two females collected in South Iran (Bidzilya 2008). The males from Israel are identical externally to types of M. amseli , but the black pattern is more distinct ( Fig. 28 ). Bidzilya (2005) considered that Metanarsia Staudinger, 1871 can be separated from Chrysoesthia Hübner, 1825 by the absence of the signum in the corpus bursae of the female genitalia. However, Karsholt & Vives Moreno (2014) noted that the absence of pecten on antennal scape and short labial palpus in Chrysoesthia are more reliable characters for separating this genus from Metanarsia . Based on this suggestion we transfer M. amseli to Chrysoesthia : Chrysoesthia amseli (Bidzilya, 2008) comb. nov. Below we provide the first description of the male genitalia of this species.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 29 ). Uncus rounded; gnathos narrow, elongated, membranous, with rounded apex; tegumen trapezoidal, anterior margin straight; valva broad at base, distal portion straight, apex weakly broadened, rounded, extending to about half length of uncus; basal part of sacculus broad, sub-rectangular, inner margin with two or three denticles, posteromedial corner rounded, distal half narrow, digitate, straight, extending to ¾ length of valva; saccus stout, broad at base, then narrowed towards truncate apex; phallus as long as valva, weakly constricted in middle, distal ¾ narrowed, apex weakly pointed.

Remarks. The male genitalia are most similar to those of Ch. hispanica Karsholt & Vives, 2014 but differ in sub-triangular rather than horseshoe shaped saccus and apically less narrowed phallus. The two species are externally different.

Biology. Host plant unknown. Adults have been collected in April in Iran and in October in Israel.

Distribution. South Iran, Israel (new record).

Figures

FIGS 27–29. Chrysoesthia amseli Bidz. 27. Holotype, ♀. 28.Adult, ♂ (gen. slide 115/18, O. Bidzilya). 29. Male genitalia (gen. slide 115/18, O. Bidzilya).