Megacraspedus similellus, 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 : 39-41

Megacraspedus similellus sp. n.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, "BULGARIA [Dobrich region] Tuzlata 3.6.2014 J.Junnilainen leg." "GU 16/1449 ♂ P. Huemer" "DNA Barcode TLMF Lep 19950" (RCJJ). Paratypes. Bulgaria. 1 ♀, same data as holotype, but genitalia slide GU 16/1471 Huemer; 1 ♂, same data, but 28.v.2002, leg. J. Junnilainen; 1 ♂, same data, but 5.vi.2002, leg. J. Junnilainen (all RCJJ); 1 ♂, Dobrich reg., Kaverna, Chirakman, 21.v.2010, leg. B. S. Larsen (ZMUC). Romania. 1 ♂, Dobrogea, Jurilovca Capul, Dolosman, 16.vi.2012, leg. S. & Z. Kovacs, genitalia slide GU 16/1470 Huemer (RCKO). Turkey, 2 ♂, prov. Nigde, Bolkar Dağlari, northern slope, Maden, 1700 m, 29.vii.1997, leg. K. Larsen, genitalia slide 5326, 5345 Karsholt (ZMUC); 1 ♂, prov. Isparta, 35 km SW Askehir, Çetince, 1200 m, 14.viii.1999, leg. J. Junnilainen, genitalia slide GU 16/1462 Huemer (RCJJ); 1 ♂, 25 km E Konya, 23.v.1997, leg. K. Nupponen & J. Junnilainen; 1 ♂, 5 km N Urgüp, 25.v.1997, leg. K. Nupponen & J. Junnilainen; 1 ♂, 30 km SW Kayseri, Erciyes Dagi, 24.v.1997, leg. K. Nupponen & J. Junnilainen (all RCJJ).

Description.

Adult. Male (Figure 25). Wingspan 13-14 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with scale brush as long as segment 3, brown on outer surface, whitish brown on inner surface, otherwise white; segment 3 about same length as segment 2, dark brown. Antennal scape with pecten of one hair; flagellum black ringed with light brown. Head whitish grey; thorax as forewing; neck and tegula white. Forewing light grey brown from white brownish- and black-tipped scales, darkest towards apex; costa white; fringes light grey. Hindwing grey with light grey fringes.

Female (Figure 26). Wingspan 11 mm. Segment 3 of labial palpus white mottled with dark brown. Forewing broadest in middle, apical half tapering into lanceolate, blackish tip. Hindwing very short (about one-fifth length of forewing), slender with rounded apex, whitish. Otherwise similar to male.

Variation. There is some variation in the colour of the forewings: from lighter to darker brown.

Male genitalia (Figure 163-164). Uncus moderately slender, slightly more than twice as long as broad, parallel-sided, apical 1/3 weakly tapered, apex rounded; gnathos hook stout, about length of uncus, weakly and evenly curved, apex pointed; anterior margin of tegumen with moderately deep and broadly rounded emargination, long medial ridge from anterior edge to posterior third, anteriolateral edge with small peg-like sclerite; pedunculi distinct, suboval; valva moderately broad, basally slightly exceeding width of uncus, distal part narrowing, straight, apex rounded, extending to middle of uncus, sub-basally with rounded hump; saccular area covered with setae, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum with shallow medial emargination, lateral humps weakly developed, vincular sclerite broadly sub-rectangular, with broadly sclerotised posteriomedial edges; saccus nearly V-shaped, apical third evenly pointed, ratio maximum width to length approximately 0.8, posterior margin weakly arched, with small medial incision, medial part with short, furcated ridge from posterior edge, lateral sclerites approximately 0.8 times length of maximum width of saccus; phallus moderately stout, with globular coecum, distal portion weakly S-curved, tapered apically.

Female genitalia (Figure 270). Papilla analis small, apically rounded; apophysis posterior slender rod-like, about 4 mm long, with short, bifurcate posterior end, bordered by minute sclerotised field, apex weakly widened and rounded; segment VIII approximately 1.4 mm long, membranous; subgenital plate with sub-triangular subostial sclerotisation, posteriorly extended into long, pointed sub-medial sclerites, with medial flaps delimiting oblong ostium bursae, anterior margin with rod-like edge connected with apophysis anterior, straight, without anterior projection; apophysis anterior slender, rod-like, posteriorly becoming rod-like venula of segment VIII, extending to posterior margin of segment VIII; colliculum short, sclerotised; ductus bursae and corpus bursae weakly delimited, moderately short with entire length of approximately 2.5 mm; signum moderately large, suboval spiny plate.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus similellus sp. n. is characterised by its light greyish brown forewings with white costa and without further markings. Externally it is hardly separable from M. uzunsyrtus (Figure 24). It is also similar to M. monolorellus (Figs 21-22) which has more brownish forewings. The female is hardly separable from that of M. monolorellus . The male genitalia are very similar to M. uzunsyrtus (Figure 162) but differ by the evenly curved gnathos hook, and particularly the more slender and distally narrowing valva. From other related species they differ in several subtle characters, particularly the shape of the uncus with parallel-sided outer edges. The female genitalia differ from M. monolorellus (Figure 269) particularly by the distinctly shorter apophysis anterior, but females of several related species are unknown.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:ADB8685 (n = 3). The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is moderate with mean 0.8% and maximum divergence of 1.2%. The distance to the nearest neighbour M. uzunsyrtus is 6.4% (p-dist).

Distribution.

Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey.

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The adults have been collected from the middle of May to late July from sea level in the Balkans to 1700 m in Turkey.

Etymology.

The species name refers to the similarity to related taxa and is derived from the Latin word similis (meaning like), and the diminutive suffix -ellus. The name is a compound noun.