Austromartyria porphyrodes (Turner) Turner, 2010

Gibbs, George W., 2010, establishment of five new genera from Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand, Zootaxa 2520, pp. 1-48 : 16-17

Austromartyria porphyrodes (Turner) , comb. nov.

( Figs 2 A&B, 3C&E, 5A, 6A&B, 7A–F, 8A–J, 17)

Sabatinca porphyrodes Turner, 1932: 96 ; Common (1970: 785) ( Sabatinca ); Kristensen & Nielsen, 1982: 528) ( Sabatinca ); Nielsen & Common (1991: 835) ( Sabatinca ); Common (1990: 131) ( Sabatinca ); Hashimoto (2006: Fig 5.0) (♂ wing venation) ( Sabatinca ); Zborowski & Edwards (2007: 38) ( Sabatinca ).

Type material examined. Holotype Ψ, Australia, Ravenshoe, near Herberton, North Queensland, 28 Sept 1930. A.J. Turner. ‘Ravenshoe NQ 28–9–30 ’, ‘ Holotype Sabatinca porphyrodes Turner’. ( ANIC)

Other material examined. 68 examples from Atherton Tableland region, North Queensland, Australia. 5 ɗ 4 Ψ, Mt Lewis State Forest, 16°35´S 145°17´E, 850 m, on fertile Blechnum frond, 23 Sept 1981, G.W. Gibbs ( ANIC); 1ɗ, Herberton State Forest, North Queensland, 17°19´S, 145°25´E, 1100 m, 25 Sept 1981, G.W. Gibbs ( ANIC); 9 ɗ 1 Ψ, The Crater, Mt Hypipamee National Park, 17°26´S 145°29´E, 980 m, on fertile fronds of Blechnum cartilagineum , 25 Sept 1981, G.W. Gibbs ( ANIC, NZAC, QMB); 5 Ψ, Lamins Hill, 17°23´S 145°42´E, 820 m, on roadside ferns, 25 Sept 1981 ( ANIC, QMB). [Male genital preps G894 (Herberton S.F.), G179 (The Crater); female genital preps G182 (Lamins Hill), G895 (Mt Lewis S.F.) ANIC.]

Redescription. Head capsule brown with tufts of long piliform scales ochreous, pale on frons, darker on vertex, in neck region and toward mouthparts; lamellar-scaled bases of antenna shining pale ochreous, nonscaled flagellomeres dark brown becoming progressively blacker towards tip, piliform scales on scape and pedicel a mix of ochreous and brown. Thorax tegulae with long yellow-brown piliform scales, dorsum with shining white lamellar scales. Coxa shining silvery white scaled, femur pale ochreous, fore- and mid-tibiae and tarsi banded brown and white, hind tibia and tarsus dark brown to black.

Forewing length male 3.5 mm (3.4–3.7), female 4.0 mm (3.8–4.3). ( Fig. 2 A) Forewing ground colour rich purplish-brown with strong reflections. Three transverse shining white fasciae; the first small and basal but with a row of black scales along costal and anal margins; the second at slightly less than mid-length, a broad straight band from costa to dorsum, slightly wider at dorsum end, fringed with black scales along costal margin; the third midway between second fascia and apex, at level of forking of Rs–M, narrower and not reaching to dorsum margin, variable width at costal end but fringed with black scales along costa. Fringes dark brown.

Hindwing with 2–3 frenular bristles; dark brownish-black with purple reflections.

Genitalia as for genus.

Remarks. This is the first account of the male of this species. In his description, Turner (1932) wrote ‘one specimen taken on the wing late in the afternoon in a jungle track’. The moth has subsequently been found in rainforest or forest remnants at altitudes between 820 and 1100 m. Although only rarely taken as single specimens, both sexes of these moths have been located on mature dehiscing Blechnum fronds where they assemble, often in surprisingly large numbers ( Fig 2 B). Such behaviour must surely be mediated by pheromone emission. At the Crater, Mt Hypipamee National Park, the favoured fern has been identified as Blechnum cartilagineum , a large common species with separate fertile and vegetative fronds, which tends to grow along roadside banks. Fertile fronds of Blechnum species have also been identified as assembly sites for a number of New Caledonian species of Sabatinca s.str. (personal observations).

FIGURE 8. Male and female genitalia of Austromartyria porphrodes (Turner) : A, lateral profile of male abdomen, with (above) cross-section shapes, and (below) sternites S3 and S7; B, male, position of S5 glands on 5th sternite; C–H, male genitalia: C, dorsal; D, ventral; E, lateral; F, phallus, lateral; G, H, gonopore region of phallus enlarged: G, lateral, H, dorsal. I,J: female genitalia, I, lateral; J, female spermathecal papilla enlarged. Scale bars: for A = 1 mm; for B = 0.2 mm; for C, D, E, F, I = 0.2 mm; for G, H, J = 0.1 mm. at, anal tube; bc, corpus bursae; dph, distal phallus; du, ductus; gch, genital chamber; go, gonopore; la, lappet; lag, lagena; mpl, median plate; ov, oviduct; pap, basal ‘papilla’of spermatheca; ph, phallus; phb, phallobase; phc, phallocrypt; sc9, 9th sclerite; seg 9, segment 9; seg 10, segment 10; T8, 8th abdominal tergite; T10, tergum 10; ut, utriculus; va, valva; vb, ventral bulb of phallus.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Adult moths from life: A, Austromartyria porphyrodes (Turner), female; B, A. porphyrodes feeding on dehiscing spores of Blechnum cartilagineum, at The Crater, Atherton Tableland; C, Nannopterix choreutes sp. nov., male; D, Aureopterix micans sp. n., male; E, Aureopterix sterops (Turner), female; (A, C – E to scale, white scale bars = 1 mm)