Telamoptilia Kumata & Kuroko, 1988

Triberti, Paolo, Staude, Hermann, Sharp, Ian & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2024, Exploring the diversity of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera) in South Africa: host plants, distribution, and DNA barcoding analysis, with the description of nine new species, Zootaxa 5529 (1), pp. 1-51 : 22

Telamoptilia Kumata & Kuroko, 1988

The genus Telamoptilia consists of 9 species that are found in various zoogeographic regions. Within the Afrotropics, there are four species: T. geyeri ( Vári, 1961) , T. crux Sruoga & De Prins, 2023 , T. cathedraea ( Meyrick, 1908) (the type species), and T. hemistacta (Meyrick, 1924) . South Africa (including Zambia and Zimbabwe) is home to only the first species, T. crux is found in Kenya, and the other two species are found in Madagascar, India, Taiwan, and Japan. The main hostplants for Telamoptilia are usually Malvaceae , but Amaranthaceae and Convolvulaceae are also reported (De Prins & De Prins 2011–2023a). Telamoptilia is characterized by a forewing pattern with 2 transverse white fasciae, which can also be found in other Acrocercopinae genera such as Dialectica and Spulerina . The forewing venation is characterized by the absence of R1, with R4 and R5 usually stalked. The male genitalia have a simple valva without a comb or protruding costal processes, but with a visible costal sclerotization. The female genitalia have an elongate signum and a pair of uncinate median processes that project from the wall of the corpus bursae.