Philodoria micropetala Walsingham, 1907

Kobayashi, Shigeki, Johns, Chris A. & Kawahara, Akito Y., 2021, Revision of the Hawaiian endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae): its conservation status, host plants and descriptions of thirteen new species, Zootaxa 4944 (1), pp. 1-175 : 57-58

Philodoria micropetala Walsingham, 1907

Fig. 10F

Philodoria micropetala Walsingham, 1907: 719 , pl. 25, fig. 22; Zimmerman 1978a: 709, figs. 463, 476.

Type locality. Halemanu (Kauai).

Type material. Holotype ♀, Halemanu, 4000ft, Kauai, v.1895., Perkins 27560, | PHILODORIA MICROPETALA, Wlsm Fn Hawaii I descry. figd | Walsingham Collection. 1910–427.| NHMUK010305336 |TYPE|BM ♀ Genitalia slide no. 3951| in NHMUK. Described based on a single specimen from Kauai. The ‘type’ specimen, designated by Walsingham is here thus the holotype following article 73.1.2 ( ICZN 1999 ).

Diagnosis. The forewing pattern is similar to that of P. floscula , but distinguished by an erect dorsal ws in the forewing ( Fig. 10F ). The female genitalia were incompletely described by Zimmerman (1978a: fig. 476) who mentioned only the ostium and apophyses.

Description: Adult ( Fig. 10F ). The following is from Walsingham (1907: 719): “Antennae brownish. Palpi white, a dark spot at the end of the median joint, the terminal joint also shaded with fuscous. Head and Thorax bronze. Forewings bronze, with four white spots; the first on the outer half of the fold, not touching the dorsum; the second on the costa beyond the middle, pointing obliquely outward and dark-margined externally; the other two situated as in floscula , but dark-margined on their inner sides, the metallic spot between them being bright steelblue; beyond this an orange spot, with three white streaks in the costal cilia above it, alternate with brownish, a few fuscous scales scattered across the middle of this patch terminate in a blackish spot at its outer edge, followed by shining, steel-blue, which extends through the ternlinal and apical cilia. Exp. al. 8 mm. Hindwings tawny brown; cilia tawny. Abdomen fuscous above, whitish beneath. Legs brownish, spurs and a few tarsal spots whitish.”

Male genitalia Unknown.

Female genitalia See Zimmerman (1978a: fig. 476). Ostium bursae large; antrum wide with a slender pair of lateral lobes; lamella antevaginalis weakly sclerotized, widening toward anterior margin of A7. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae not figured.

Distribution. Kauai ( Walsingham 1907).

Host plants. Urticaceae : Pipturus sp. ( Zimmerman 1978a).

Biology. Unknown.

Parasitods. Eulophidae : Euderus metallicus (Ashmead, 1901) , Neochrysocharis formosus (Westwood, 1833) ( Zimmerman 1978a) .

Remarks. Zimmerman (1978a) noted that the records from outside Kauai, i.e. from the islands of Hawaii (Big Island), Maui, Molokai, and Oahu mentioned by Swezey (1913b: 222) were likely in error and attributable to other Pipturus miners; P. micropetala appears to be restricted to Kauai. We accept Zimmerman’s suggestion in recognizing that only the specimens from Kauai are attributable to this species.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Adults of Pipturus feeding Philodoria species. A P. costalis Swezey, 1934 lectotype male, B P. pipturiella Swezey, 1923 lectotype male, one of two cotypes (upper specimen) on the same mount, C Paralectotype male on the same mount as of lectotype (lower specimen), D P. floscula Walsingham, 1907 lectotype female, E Paralectotype male, F P. micropetala Walsingham, 1907 holotype female. Scale bar 1 mm.