Megacraspedus pototskii, Huemer, Peter & Karsholt, Ole, 2018

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 : 134-135

Megacraspedus pototskii sp. n.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, "KYRGYZSTAN Alai mts 3650 m 39°38'51.1"N 72°14'00.1"E Tengiz-Bai pass 23.7.2010 K. Nupponen & R. Haverinen leg." "DNA Barcode TLMF Lep 23650", genitalia prep. (in glycerin) (RCKN). Paratypes. Kyrgyzstan. 3 ♂, same data as holotype, but genitalia slide GU 17/1492 Huemer (RCKN, TLMF); 1 ♂, Alai mts, Ters-Agar Pass, 3627 m, 28.vii.2011 (abdomen missing) leg. A. Pototski (RCAP).

Description.

Adult. Male (Figure 110). Wingspan 12-16 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with scale brush longer than segment 3, light grey-brown, darker on outer surface; segment 3 with whitish base and black tip. Antennal scape with pecten of 1-3 hairs; flagellum blackish grey, ringed with light grey. Head, thorax and tegula as forewing. Forewing light yellowish grey; margin of costa white from 1/5; a black dot at end of cell; veins indistinctly dusted with grey scales; some black-tipped scales before apex; fringes light grey with darker fringe line. Hindwing grey with light grey fringes.

Female. Unknown.

Variation. There is a slight variation in the amount of light yellowish in the forewing, and there can be indistinct black dots fold, and in the middle of wing at 3/5. The few examined specimens are also variable in size.

Male genitalia (Figure 236). Uncus sub-rectangular, approximately 1.5 times longer than broad, apical margin laterally rounded, medially weaky indented; gnathos hook moderately slender, distal two-thirds widened, apically pointed, slightly longer than uncus, abruptly bent at right angles at one-third; tegumen with broad and moderately deep anterior emargination, additional weak emargination medially, with short sclerotised sublateral ridges merged near middle of tegumen; pedunculi small, double lobed; valva moderately broad, extending slightly beyond base of uncus, basally widened, distal part broad, with longitudinal sclerotised ridge, apical fifth converged and distorted, rounded, setose; saccular area without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum with shallow emargination, curved lateral hump, vincular sclerites suboval with sclerotised ridge; saccus massive, stout, broadly V-shaped with abruptly tapered distal sixth and rounded apex, approximately 0.8 times length of valva, ratio maximum width to length approximately 0.8, posterior margin distinctly emarginated, with sinusoid mediolateral humps, medial part with long sclerotised ridge from posterior margin to subapical area, lateral sclerites approximately 0.7 times maximum width of saccus; phallus moderately slender, inflated coecum, about two times width of digitate two-thirds, medially with area of about 30 minute spinules, apically rounded.

Female genitalia. Unknown.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus pototskii sp. n. is characterised by the light yellowish grey forewings with a black dot at the end of the cell, and by having most of the margin of the costa white. It is very similar to and hardly separable from M. consortiella (Figure 109), although the latter seems to have more black-tipped scales along the termen. Megacraspedus pototskii sp. n. differs from the externally similar M. consortiella (Figure 235) in several characters of the male genitalia such as the broader uncus and gnathos hook, the absence of a knob-like sclerite of the vinculum and the field of minute spinules of the phallus.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:ADI8386 (n = 2). The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is 0%. The distance to the nearest neighbour M. ibericus sp. n. is 9.1% (p-dist).

Distribution.

Kyrgyzstan (Alai mts).

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The type-series was collected in the last third of July at high altitudes of ca. 3600 to nearly 3700 m.

Etymology.

The species (a noun in the genitive case) name is dedicated to Alexander Pototski, Estonia, who made valuable material of Megacraspedus from Asia available for our study.