Scythris directiphallella Nupponen, 2022

Nupponen 1, Kari & Sihvonen, Pasi, 2022, Revision of Neotropical Scythrididae moths and descriptions of 22 new species from Argentina, Chile, and Peru (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea), ZooKeys 1087, pp. 19-104 : 19

Scythris directiphallella Nupponen sp. nov.

Figs 12 , 44

Type material.

Holotype. Argentina • ♂; prov. Santiago del Estero, Pozo Honda village S, by salt lake; 27°17.2'S, 64°28.0'W; 260 m a.s.l.; 19 Sep. 2017; K. Nupponen & R. Haverinen leg.; [BOLD sample ID] KN01052; [genitalia slide] K. Nupponen prep. no. 3/28 Dec. 2019; coll. NUPP (MZH).

Paratype. Argentina • 1 ♂; same data as for holotype; coll. NUPP.

Diagnosis.

Wings grey, impossible to separate externally from S. furciphallella . The male genitalia of S. directiphallella are by having narrow valvae with a ventral thorn-like process apically, a straight phallus and pincer-like extensions on posterior margin of male sternite VIII.

Description.

Wingspan 9-10.5 mm. Head, collar, neck tuft, haustellum, tegula and thorax grey. Scape grey, ventrally mixed with dirty white; pecten grey and as long as diameter of scape. Flagellum fuscous, 0.7 × length of forewing, ciliate, sensillae ~ 1/2 as long as diameter of flagellum. Labial palp: palpomere I dirty white, palpomeres II and III fuscous mixed with dirty white. Legs fuscous, more or less suffused with dirty white. Abdomen dorsally pale grey, ventrally a little paler, anal tuft cream. Forewing grey, over the wing sparsely scattered dark fuscous scales. Hindwing pale fuscous.

Male genitalia. Gnathos (homology interpretation of gnathos and uncus based on Landry (1991)) base broad, weakly sclerotised belt; distally long, slender and bent downwards, tip pointed. Uncus bilobed plate, posterior shanks subapically with small nipple-like extensions. Tegumen elongated hood, dorsally widely open. Phallus 0.75 × length of valva, straight, tip pointed. Valva long and narrow; apex setose and slightly incurved; apically with robust ventral thorn-like process. Saccus short, triangular. Juxta narrow, 0.8 × length of phallus. Sternum VIII pentagonal; posteriorly bifurcate, shanks short, bent inwards with tips pointed. Tergum VIII trapezoid, anterior margin widely concave and weakly sclerotised, posterior margin convex.

Etymology.

Diminutive noun in apposition. The species name refers to the straight phallus of the male, which is a diagnostic character of the species.

Distribution.

NW Argentina.

Habitat.

The collecting site is a dry, shrubby area near a salt lake shore (Fig. 77 ).

Genetic data.

BIN: BOLD:ADY7318 (n = 2 from Argentina). Nearest neighbour: Scythris salinasgrandensis Nupponen, sp. nov. (BIN: BOLD:ADY7738, 4.49%).

Remarks.

Female unknown. Based on COI maximum likelihood phylogeny, the South American taxa Scythris salinasgrandensis , Scythris furciphallella , Scythris manchaoensis , Scythris angustivalvella , and Scythris directiphallella group together, associating within a clade, whose taxa are classified in apparently non-monophyletic Scythris on BOLD (Suppl. material 2). We classify these taxa in Scythris .

Figures

Figure 77. Collecting site of Rhamphura depressa Meyrick, R. pozohondaensis sp. nov., R. subdimota sp. nov., R. curvisociella sp. nov., Scythris directiphallella sp. nov., S. angustivalvella sp. nov., Landryia ankylosauroides sp. nov. Argentina, Pozo Honda vill. S (259 m), 19 Sep. 2017.

Figures 12 - 17. Scythrididae adults, genus Scythris. 12 S. directiphallella Nupponen, sp. nov., male, holotype 13 A S. furciphallella Nupponen sp. nov., male, holotype 13 B S. furciphallella Nupponen sp. nov., male, paratype 14 S. manchaoensis Nupponen, sp. nov., male holotype 15 A S. salinasgrandensis Nupponen sp. nov., female, holotype 15 B S. salinasgrandensis Nupponen sp. nov., female, paratype 16 S. angustivalvella Nupponen sp. nov., male, holotype 17 S. zeugmatica Meyrick, 1916, male, holotype.

Figures 43 - 44. Male genitalia of Landryia and Scythris 43 L. chilensis Nupponen sp. nov., genus combination incertae sedis, holotype, slide 3 / 18 Dec. 2019 KN 44 S. directiphallella Nupponen sp. nov., holotype; slide 3 / 28 Dec. 2019 KN.