Tracholena liparodes sp. nov. (Figs. 2, 6, 9, 10, 13)

Material examined: Holotype. Male, “NOUVELLE CALEDONIE: Mt Panié, 1380 m to light, 15 December 1990, J.S. Dugdale.” “ HOLOTYPE male/ Tracholena liparodes Dugdale ” [red card], MNHN

Paratypes. New Caledonia: 1 male, 1 female, same data as holotype except capture dates span 6–16 December 1990, ONNC Noumea; 1 male, 1 female, ditto, NZAC.

Description: Male, female (Fig. 2): Head with vertex tufts grey brown, scape grey brown; with vom Raths organ less than half length of labial palp apical segment; maxillary palp one­segmented on an inwardly spinulose pedicel, apical palp segment with 1–2 scales and apically with 4 short stiff sensilla. Flagellomeres longer than wide, 1–3 cylindrical, rest tapering apically, and each with a basal whorl of trichomes longest on the basal flagellomeres and at most only slightly longer than flagellomere length, flagellomeres with the paired sensilla coeloconica contiguous, ventro­apical; labial palpus second segment scaling evenly grey­brown speckled outwardly; prosternal midline scale tuft pale buff contrasting with the brown speckled fore coxae. Forewing: Shape more or less as in paniense (Fig. 2), length ca. 2.3X width (females), ca. 2.8X width (males); forewing underside with costal cell area dark grey­scaled, contrasting with the rest of the wing; forewing upperside (and mesonotum) ochreous grey, with indistinct blackish markings at about ¼, ½, and a series marking apices of veins R1, R2, and R3; an interrupted serrate dark brown­scaled line at ¼, and another, even less complete at about ½ wing length; Sc, R and branches with scattered small groups of dark brown scales, 1A+2A; discally with scattered irregular patches of more ochreous scales; areas of raised scales as in nigrilinea . Hindwing: Grey buff; the anal tuft over half the length of anal wing margin; venation: veins M3 and Cu1A coincident at base (i.e., “bifid”) and distant from vein M2 (Fig. 6, cf. Fig. 5).

Wingspan: Holotype male: 15.2 mm; 2 paratype males: 14.8 and 15.2 mm; paratype females 15.8, 16.0 and 18.2 mm, respectively.

Male genitalia (Figs. 9, 10): Uncus long, slender, decurved; uncus base broad, mesal part as in nigrilinea, produced anteriorly between the posteriorly extended tegumen apices; socii lobate; gnathos arms forming a U thickened towards apex, with lateral spinules outwardly, and thickened part with dorsal spinules, apex with a pair of ventral “wings; transtilla dorsally with a pair of dorsally and outwardly­directed spinose clavate arms; valva apex oblique (costal margin shorter than saccular margin), and no sclerotised strut below the M2 muscle attachment ( cf. nigrilinea); aedeagus (Fig. 9) stout, not longer than valva; with a large apical dextral hook (appressed to the vesica in Fig. 9); bulbus ejaculatorius entering at ca. half aedeagus length, vesica with a basal spinulose patch and 14 nondeciduous plate­like cornuti arranged in 2 arcs; bulbus ejaculatorius tube stout, sinuous, hood not as long as sleeve.

Female genitalia (Fig. 13): Ovipositor lobes axes more or less parallel, unmodified anteriorly. Ovipore on a level with anterior third of lobes, and minutely spinulose; sternite 8 with a raised pair of transverse curved ridges; lamella postvaginalis a broad scobinate field with a narrow, sclerotised, scobinate strip bordering the ostium bursae; lamella antevaginalis a thin sinuous sclerotised bar, ostium bursae laterally produced anteriorly (but no ligament discernible); colliculum short, ventrally split; ductus seminalis arising on a latero­ventral papilla; ductus bursae and cestum sinuous, forming one long complete spiral; corpus bursae with a broad­margined, thorn­like signum, corpus bursae covered in minute pit­like micro­sculpture.

Diagnosis: This species resembles T. paniense and T. lipara, being broad­winged (forewing length <2.9X width). It can be distinguished from those two by the forewing with costal cell area dark­grey scaled ventrally (not so in the others); hindwing veins M3 and CuA1 contiguous basally but not stalked (stalked in lipara, distant in paniense); aedeagus with an apical hooked process; and vesica with 14 chunky, non­deciduous, basal cornuti (a possible species apomorphy).

The unmodified ovipositor lobes, the sinuous cestum/ductus bursae (a single, elongate spiral), and presence of a strong hollow signum are character states shared with the Queensland T. micropolia . Other differences are noted in the “Diagnosis” of T. paniense below.

General notes: While most specimens examined have a wingspan of 14–16 mm, one female of this species exceeds 18 mm, but it has the same venation and genital conformation as the smaller specimens of liparodes . Similar variation in wingspan was reported for the female­strobilus/seed­eating T. lipara (Common 1973: 302) but not for the foliage­eating T. dialeuca and T. hedraea (Common 1982: 222, 223), nor for the male­strobilus­eating T. nigrilinea (see above).

Specimens were collected at light at the same time and at the same site as T. paniense, under a stand of Agathis montana . No feeding site on any host could be found. Most specimens are greasy, indicating that larvae may be seed­eaters. Common (1973: 303) noted that T. lipara specimens, reared from damaged klinkii pine ( Araucaria hunsteinii) seeds, can become greasy, and most T. nigrilinea specimens, all from male cones, are greasy. Superficially, this species resembles 2 unset T. lipara specimens (in ANIC, CSIRO) from Bulolo in the Papua New Guinean Highlands, but lacks the transverse lines of orange scales so characteristic of that species.

Etymology: The name refers to the external resemblance to T. lipara .