Megacraspedus ribbeella (Caradja, 1920) Caradja, 1920

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 : 96-98

Megacraspedus ribbeella (Caradja, 1920) comb. n.

Nevadia ribbeella Caradja, 1920: 118.

Examined material.

Holotype ♀, [Spain] "Nevadia ribbeella", "HOLOTYPE Vadenia (=Nevadia) ribbeella Car. ♀ ROMÄNIA” "Sra Nevada" "Genit. praep. ♀ N 187797 Euparal 2003 Ponomarenko" (MGAB) [photographs examined]. Non-type material. Spain. 1 ♀, prov. Granada, Sierra Nevada, Ruta del Valeta, 1650 m, 25.vi.1986, leg. P. Skou (ZMUC); 1 ♀, prov. Sierra de Los Guájares, 1160 m, 26.vi.-6.vii.2007, leg. G. Jeppesen (ZMUC); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, prov. Murcia, Sierra de Espuña, 1909, leg. Korb, genitalia slide Mus. Vind. 16.650 ♂, NM 16.651 ♀ (NHMW); 1 ♀, prov. Murcia, Sierra de Espuña, 8 km W Alhama, 1000 m, 26.v.1998, leg. P. Skou (ZMUC); 1 ♀, prov. Murcia, 3 km E San Miguel de Salinas, 12.iv.2009, leg. J. Tabell (TLMF); 1 ♀, same data, but 3 km SW San Miguel de Salinas, 16.iv.2009 (ZMUC); 1 ♂, prov. Murcia, 7 km NW Sucina , Sierra de Alteona, 360 m, 27.iv.2009, leg. J. Tabell (ZMUC).

Redescription.

Adult. Male (Figure 75). Wingspan 22-26 mm. Labial palpus long, porrect, dark brown mottled with white, especially on upper and lower surface; segment 3 reduced. Antennal pecten consisting of 1-3 hairs; flagellum greyish brown, indistinctly ringed with white. Head, thorax and tegula light greyish brown, thorax with dark streak in middle. Forewing brown; veins and narrow streak along costa and dorsum white; fringes grey. Hindwing grey with grey fringes.

Female (Figure 76). Wingspan 19-30 mm. Similar to male.

Variation. Very variable in size. The dark parts of the forewings can be lighter or darker brown. One specimen has a broader white streak along the costa. The dark streak on the thorax is often obsolete because specimens tend to become greasy. Worn specimens become lighter.

Male genitalia (Figure 208). Uncus broad, approximately 1.3 times longer than broad, with parallel outer margin, apex evenly curved; gnathos hook stout, slightly longer than uncus, curved, with pointed apex; anterior margin of tegumen with moderately broad and deep V-shaped emargination, anteromedial part of tegumen with short longitudinal sclerotised ridge; pedunculi large, suboval, with additional rounded sclerite; valva moderately slender, extending to posterior third of uncus, basally broader, medially slightly constricted, apically weakly inflated, setose; saccular area covered with setae, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum shallowly emarginated, laterally with indistinct hump, sub-rectangular vincular sclerite with sclerotised posteriomedial edge; saccus sub-triangular, moderately long, evenly tapered to pointed apex, ratio maximum width to length approximately 0.75, posterior margin arched, without medial emargination, medial part smooth, without sclerotised ridge, lateral sclerites shorter than maximum width of saccus; phallus with weakly inflated coecum, about twice width of distal part, long sclerotised distodorsal ridge with few short spines in apical part.

Female genitalia (Figure 281). Papilla analis moderately large, apically broadly rounded; apophysis posterior slender rod-like, approximately 1.6 mm long, bordered by sclerotised field posteriorly, weak curvation and widening at about one-third; segment VIII approximately 0.5 mm long, membranous; subgenital plate with band-like subostial sclerotisation, with slender and moderately long V-shaped projection anteriorly, posteriorly extended into very long, pointed sub-medial sclerites, delimiting oblong ostium bursae, anterior margin with band-like edge connected with apophysis anterior; apophysis anterior slender, rod-like, about length of segment VIII, posteriorly becoming band-like venula of segment VIII, distinctly widening to oblong sclerotised zone, extending to posterior margin of segment VIII; antrum slender, sclerotised, approximately 0.3 mm length; ductus bursae gradually widening to weakly delimited suboval corpus bursae, entire length of ductus and corpus bursae about 4 mm; signum moderately large, suboval spiny plate.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus ribbeella is characterised by its large size, and by its contrasting brownish and white forewings. Small specimens resemble M. albovenata (Figs 81-82) or M. longipalpella (Figs 83-84), but these species have the dark parts of the forewings yellowish, dusted with brown scales. It is furthermore similar to M. gallicus sp. n. (p 101). The male genitalia are similar overall to other species of the M. fallax species group but differ from most taxa in the posterior margin of the saccus without medial emargination. This character is only shared with a few species, particularly the very similar M. longipalpella (Figure 284), from which M. ribbeella differs e.g., by the stout gnathos hook and the more slender saccus. The female genitalia are similar to M. gallicus sp. n. (Figure 280) differing in several characters such as the distinctly larger papilla analis, the nearly band-like anterior margin of segment VIII, the more slender and less sclerotised antrum, and the larger signum.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:ACZ9288 (n = 2). The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is low with maximum divergence of 0.2%. The distance to the nearest neighbour Megacraspedus gallicus sp. n. is 6.2% (p-dist) (p-dist).

Distribution.

Southern Spain.

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The adults have been collected from late May to late June at light at altitudes up to 1650 m.

Remarks.

Nevadia ribbeella was described from one specimen from Sierra Nevada, Spain ( Caradja 1920). In the original description it was stated to be a male, but according to Popescu-Gorj (1992) and photographs of the holotype kindly supplied by M. Stanescu (MGAB) it is a female.