Megacraspedus alfacarellus Wehrli, 1926

Huemer, Peter & Karsholt, Ole, 2018, Revision of the genus Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839, a challenging taxonomic tightrope of species delimitation (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae), ZooKeys 800, pp. 1-278 : 65-66

Megacraspedus alfacarellus Wehrli, 1926

Megacraspedus alfacarellus Wehrli, 1926: 163.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, “Type” [Spain, prov. Granada] "Sierra Alfacar 18/19 VI 25 Dr. E. Wehrli, Basel" "alfacarellus Sa. Alfacar ♂ + 18.VI.25. W. " "GU 16/1414 ♂ P. Huemer" (NHMB). Non-type material. Spain. 1 ♂, prov. Granada, Sierra de Alfacar, 24.vi.1880, coll. Staudinger; 1 ♂, Granada, coll. Staudinger (all ZMHU).

Redescription.

Adult. Male (Figs 49-50). Wingspan 16 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with long scale brush, dark brown on outer surface, white mottled with brown on inner surface, white on lower and upper surface; segment 3 whitish brown. Antennal scape without pecten; flagellum black. Head whitish brown with white neck; thorax and tegula as forewing. Forewing dark brown; a yellow line in fold ending in an elongate black dot; a small black dot in fold and at end of cell; fringes grey. Hindwing grey with light grey fringes.

Female. Unknown.

Variation. The limited material available so far shows no variation.

Male genitalia (Figs 184-185). Uncus slender, about two times longer than maximum basal width, evenly tapered towards weakly pointed apex; gnathos hook bulky, with longitudinal grooves, straight, slightly longer than uncus, apically strongly sclerotised, pointed; anterior margin of tegumen with deep V-shaped emargination, suboval pedunculi distinct; valva straight, stout, extending to about middle of uncus, distorted apical part rounded; saccular area densely covered with setae, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum with deep U-shaped medial emargination, broadly rounded lateral humps, suboval vincular sclerites with sclerotised posterior edge; saccus sub-triangular, apically abruptly tapered, rod-like, ratio maximum width to length approximately 0.6, posterior margin with pointed mediolateral projections, separated by moderately deep incision, medial part with strongly sclerotised longitudinal ridge extending to anterior part of saccus, with or without forked anterior end, lateral sclerites about length of maximum width of saccus; phallus slightly shorter than tegumen, almost straight, with moderately inflated coecum, distal two-thirds gradually tapered, ventral margin with sclerotised ridge, dorsomedial area with long row of spines, ductus ejucalatorius twirled, with contorted linear interior sclerotisation.

Female genitalia. Unknown.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus alfacarellus is characterised by its black antennae, and by the dark brown forewings with two weak black dots. It is similar to some forms of M. spinophallus sp. n. (Figs 53-54) and M. bidentatus sp. n. (Figure 44). The male genitalia are very similar to other species of the M. pusillus species group and mainly differ in the distally tapered phallus and the row of dorsomedial spines; they are only weakly separated from M. skoui sp. n. (Figure 52) by the larger uncus and the less pointed apex of the saccus.

Molecular data.

Not available, no suitable specimen was available for barcoding.

Distribution.

Southern Spain (prov. Granada).

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The few adults known to date have been collected in the second half of June at unreported altitudes.

Remarks.

Megacraspedus alfacarellus was described from one male collected between 18-19.vi.1925 in Sierra Alfacar, Andalusia, Spain ( Wehrli 1926).