Megacraspedus devorator, 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 : 79-81

Megacraspedus devorator sp. n.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, "BULGARIA [Dobrich region] Nos Sabla [Shabla] 27.5.2002 J. Junnilainen leg." "DNA Barcode TLMF Lep 19954" genitalia prep. (in glycerin) (RCJJ). Paratypes. Bulgaria. 2 ♂, Tuzlata, 26.v.2006, leg. J. Junnilainen (RCJJ); 1 ♂, East Rhodopes mts, near Madzharovo, Nature Conservation Center "E Rhodopes", 29.iv.2006, leg. B. Zlatkov & S. Beshkov (BFUS). Romania. 1 ♂, N Dobrogea, 5 km NE Ciucurova, 23.v.2009, leg. J. Junnilainen, genitalia slide GU 16/1461 Huemer (RCJJ).

Description.

Adult. Male (Figure 61). Wingspan 12-17 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with long scale brush, light brown on outer surface, white mottled with brown on inner surface, white on lower and upper surface; segment 3 white. Antennal scape without pecten; flagellum ringed blackish brown and light brown. Head white; thorax and tegula as forewing. Forewing light brown mottled with some black, especially towards apex; edge of costa white; an elongate black spot in fold and a shorter one at end of cell; veins in apical part indistinctly lighter; fringes light grey. Hindwing grey with light grey fringes.

Female. Unknown.

Variation. There is considerable variation in wingspan.

Male genitalia (Figure 197). Uncus large, approximately 1.8 times as long as maximum width, parallel outer margins, apically rounded; gnathos hook moderately slender, apically pointed, about length of uncus, weakly curved; anterior margin of tegumen with broad and shallow U-shaped emargination, teguminal wall with short longitudinal ridge anteriorly; pedunculi of moderate size, suboval, with small additional sclerite; valva stout, basally with small hump, sub-basally with large bulge, distal part slender digitate, about half width of uncus, extending slightly to about middle of uncus, apically constricted, weakly rounded; saccular area densely covered with setae, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum with shallow medial emargination, without distinct lateral humps, vincular sclerite elongated, suboval, with strongly sclerotised posterior edge; saccus moderately large, broadly V-shaped, short, ratio maximum width to length about 1, posterior margin with broadly rounded projections, separated by shallow incision, medial part with furcated sclerotised ridge from posterior margin to anterior third of saccus, lateral sclerites approximately 0.9 times length of maximum width of saccus; phallus with strongly inflated globular coecum, with transverse sclerotised band, approximately 2.5 times wider than distal part, distal part moderately stout, about 3 times length of coecum, straight, with dorsal and ventral sclerotised zones, apex weakly pointed, ductus ejaculatorius with slender interior sclerotisation.

Female genitalia. Unknown.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus devorator sp. n. is characterised by its light brown forewings with a white costal edge and two elongate black spots. It is very similar to M. binotella (Figs 62-64), which differs by its lighter, cream-coloured ground colour of the forewings. The male genitalia differ from the similar M. binotella (Figure 198) particularly in the more slender and straight distal part of the phallus and the shape of the uncus with parallel outer margin, from other species of the M. binotella species group e.g., by the slender valva.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:ADB7270 (n = 2). Genetically variable species. The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is considerable with 2.2%. The distance to the nearest neighbour M. binotella is 9% (p-dist).

Distribution.

Bulgaria, Romania.

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The adults have been collected from late April to late May from sea level to unreported altitudes in Dobrogea mountains.

Etymology.

The species name refers to the Latin noun devorator (=food), and refers to eating (too) much after hunger during an expedition to Altai mts in search for Megacraspedus together with Christoph Wieser.