Scythris salinasgrandensis 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 salinasgrandensis Nupponen sp. nov.

Figs 15 , 67

Type material.

Holotype. Argentina • ♀; prov. Cordoba, Salinas Grandes SE shore; 29°50.5'S, 64°40.2'W; 185 m a.s.l.; 24 Sep. 2017; K. Nupponen & R. Haverinen leg.; [BOLD sample ID] KN01033; [genitalia slide] K. Nupponen prep. no. 3/11 Dec. 2019; coll. NUPP (MZH).

Paratypes. Argentina • 10 ♀; same data as for holotype; [BOLD sample ID] KN01034; coll. NUPP; • 1 ♀; same data as for holotype except collecting date; 13 Sep. 2017; coll. NUPP.

Diagnosis.

Wings pale grey, finely peppered with brown fuscous species, externally easily mixed with S. manchaoensis , but separated by fringes being distinctly darker than forewing (same colour as forewing in S. manchaoensis ) and absence of small spot at cell end (present in S. manchaoensis ). In the female genitalia, a large and distinctly defined oval sterigma is diagnostic.

Description.

Wingspan 15-18 mm. Head, collar, neck tuft, haustellum, tegula and thorax fuscous, same colour as forewing, head and haustellum mixed with dirty white. Scape fuscous except ventral surface and pecten whitish grey, pectin longer than diameter of scape. Flagellum fuscous, 0.6 × length of forewing. Labial palp: palpomere I pale dirty white; palpomeres II and III: upper surface dirty white, otherwise fuscous mixed with a few dirty white scales. Legs fuscous, mixed with dirty white. Abdomen dorsally pale fuscous, ventrally dirty white. Forewing pale grey, finely peppered with brown, fringes darker than wing. Hindwing slightly paler than forewing.

Female genitalia. Sterigma oval ring with sclerotised margin, anteriorly with quadrangular sclerotised extension. Ostium situated anteriorly in ring. Sternum VII quadrangular; posterior margin medially incurved, anterior margin sclerotised. Apophyses anteriores 0.5 × length of apophyses posteriores.

Etymology.

Latinised adjective in the nominative singular. The species is named after the type locality, the Salinas Grandes salt lake.

Distribution.

NW Argentina.

Habitat.

The collecting site is the shore of a large salt lake, in the zone between a dry shrubby area and low halophytic vegetation.

Genetic data.

BIN: BOLD:ADY7738 (n = 2 from Argentina). Nearest neighbour: Scythris furciphallella Nupponen, sp. nov. (BIN: BOLD:ADY9699, 4.49%). Scythris manchaoensis is externally similar, and its barcode differs by 5.62%.

Remarks.

Male unknown. Based on COI maximum likelihood phylogeny, 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 67. Female genitalia of Scythris salinasgrandensis Nupponen sp. nov., holotype, slide 3 / 11 Dec. 2019 KN.

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.