Diptychophora diasticta Gaskin, 1986

Landry, Bernard & Becker, Vitor O., 2021, A taxonomic review of the genus Diptychophora Zeller (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae sensu lato, Crambinae) in Brazil, with descriptions of three new species, Revue suisse de Zoologie 128 (1), pp. 73-84 : 79-80

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.35929/RSZ.0036
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4771027
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/926F3010-C23E-BF2B-0FF5-08BEFD78FD92
treatment provided by	Carolina
scientific name	Diptychophora diasticta Gaskin, 1986
status

Treatment

Diptychophora diasticta Gaskin, 1986 View in CoL

Figs 3, 4 View Figs 1-8 , 9-12 View Figs 9-12 , 14 View Figs 13-14 , 18 View Figs 17-19

Material examined

Holotype: male; NHMUK 010922427 About NHMUK ; Brazil, Bahia, Santo Antônio de Barra ; 11.12.1888; P.-E. Gounelle; NHMUK; slide n° Pyralidae Brit. Mus. 15351 (NHMUK 010316677_15351 ).

Additional material ( 2 males, 3 females): 1 female; VBC, without catalogue number; Brazil, Minas Gerais, Caraça , 1300 m; 04.03.1993; V. O. Becker, collector; Collection Becker 85332 ; genitalia slide BL 1876; DNA voucher Lepidoptera B. Landry n° 049 . – 1 male; VBC, without catalogue number; Brazil, Minas Gerais, Caraça, 1300 m; 01- 02.04.1992; V. O. Becker, collector; Collection Becker 85090 ; genitalia slide BL 1880 . – 1 female; VBC, without catalogue number; Brazil, Minas Gerais, Caraça, 1300 m; 14- 15.04.1998; V. O. Becker, collector; Collection Becker 114619 . – 1 male; VBC, without catalogue number; Brazil, Minas Gerais, Caraça, 1300 m; 07- 10.05.1996; V. O. Becker, collector; Collection Becker 108099 ; DNA voucher Lepidoptera B. Landry n° 046 . – 1 female; VBC, without catalogue number; Brazil, Minas Gerais, Serra do Cipó ; 17- 19.04.1991; V. O. Becker, collector; Collection Becker 78017 .

Terminal 333 base-pairs of CO1 (DNA voucher Lepidoptera B. Landry n° 046)

RT G G A G C A K G A A C T G G AT G A A C G G TATA C - CCCCCCCTTTCATCTAATATTGCTCATGGTG- GTAGATCGGTAGATTTAGCTATTTTTTCCTTA- CATTTAGCTGGAATTTCTTCAATTTTAGGTG- CAATTAATTTTATTACAACAATTATTAATATA- AAAATTAATGGATTATCATTTGATCAAATACCAT- TATTTGTTTGAGCTGTAGGAATTACAGCCTTAT- TACTATTGTTATCTTTACCTGTTTTAGCGGGAGC- TATTACTATACTGCTAACTGATCGAAATTTA- AATACTTCATTTTTTGACCCAGCTGGGGGAG- GAGATCCTATTTTATAT

Diagnosis: The wingspan of the holotype is 12 mm ( Gaskin, 1986a) and as shown on Fig. 9 View Figs 9-12 , the hind wings are dark and the forewing has three white patches and ochre yellow in the fasciae. Males can be darker than the holotype or paler ( Fig. 3 View Figs 1-8 ), but all available males have the same wingspan of 12.0 mm and a similar valva with a longer dorsal section and a ratio of valva length/ width of 1.17 (holotype’s right valva; the left one being distorted) and 1.20 (one male from Caraça). The males of Diptychophora ardalia sp. n. ( Fig. 5 View Figs 1-8 ) can be as dark or darker than the holotype of D. diasticta , but they have a shorter wingspan of 11.0 mm at the most and the tip of their maxillary and labial palpi are greyish brown to greyish ochre yellow whereas the tip of the palpi of D. diasticta are white. The male genitalia of D. ardalia differ most strikingly in the squarish shape of the valva ( Fig. 16 View Figs 15-16 ), which has a ratio of length/width of 1.0. The male genitalia of D. diasticta ( Figs 11, 12 View Figs 9-12 , 14 View Figs 13-14 ) also have a slightly longer uncus + subscaphium + gnathos complex, especially with respect to D. planaltina ( Fig. 15 View Figs 15-16 ), and the uncus in side view differs from that of D. ardalia and D. planaltina in being wide at base with parallel dorsal and ventral margins until about 1/3, from where it becomes narrower until the apex that is not as flat as in D. planaltina and not as thick as in D. ardalia . The basal margin of the vinculum medially also differs in the three species with that of D. diasticta being broadly rounded, that of D. planaltina with only a tiny rounded knob, and that of D. ardalia produced and pyramid shaped. Finally, the ratio of the length of the sclerotized section of the phallus shaft over its width (which remains equal from base to apex in the three species) is 4.6 for D. diasticta , 6.2 for D. ardalia , and 7.5 for D. planaltina . In female genitalia this species ( Fig. 18 View Figs 17-19 ) is most similar to D. planaltina ( Fig. 19 View Figs 17-19 ), but its papillae anales are smaller, its anterior apophyses are sinuous instead of straight, and only the distal quarter of its corpus bursae is narrower whereas the whole distal half is narrower in D. planaltina .

Description of the female: Female (n=3) ( Fig. 4 View Figs 1-8 ). Moths entirely darker than male ( Fig. 3 View Figs 1-8 ), as shown. Forewing length: 6.0 mm; wingspan 13.0 mm. Frenulum with 3 acanthae. Abdominal segment VII about twice as long as preceding segment, narrower, distinctly more thickly sclerotized and thickly scaled along apical margin, with the latter medially concave on sternite, straight on tergite.

Female genitalia (n=1) ( Fig. 18 View Figs 17-19 ). Papillae anales very short, abundantly setose and spinulate, subtriangular in lateral aspect, with setose surface about as long dorsally and ventrally, without apparent apicomedian concavity. Posterior apophysis straight, long, about 2X as long as width of papilla analis, reaching middle of intersegmental membrane VII-VIII in extension. Tergite VIII of medium length, dorsal edge about 20% shorter than width of papilla analis; anterior apophysis of medium length, about 40% shorter than posterior apophysis, distinctly sinuous. Ostium bursae membranous, spinulate, bowl-shaped, slightly wider than long, without sclerotization of sterigma, but lamella postvaginalis lightly spinulate. Ductus bursae without sclerotization or scobination at base and following junction of ductus seminalis, just before mid-length, otherwise scobinate, more thickly so upon reaching corpus bursae, width median, slightly wider beyond mid length. Corpus bursae narrow and elongate, with distal quarter distinctly narrower, reaching abdominal segment I, scobinate at base and slightly beyond signa, otherwise not; with pair of circular signa near base laterally (here shown dorsoventrally).

Remarks: Gaskin (1986a) described this species from the holotype only and provided a right forewing and male genitalia drawings. Photographs are provided here of the habitus, labels, and male genitalia ( Figs 9-12 View Figs 9-12 ). Although the two available males from Caraça ( Fig. 3 View Figs 1-8 ) are paler, they are associated here with D. diasticta on the basis of the similar size and male genitalia shape of the valva. Gaskin (1986a) cited the type locality of this species as “Sao Antonio de Barra” in the Province of Bahía. The proper locality name is “Santo Antônio de Barra” (see Fig. 10 View Figs 9-12 ), now located within the municipality of Salvador de Bahía, the present capital of the state of Bahia and the former capital of Brazil, between 1549 and 1763. The collector of the holotype, Pierre-Emile Gounelle (1850-1914), was a French naturalist who collected insects and plants and published on the Cerambycidae of Brazil (e.g. Gounelle, 1911). A BLAST analysis of the partial CO1 sequence obtained for this species was performed on BOLD (www.boldsystems.org) by T. Léger on October 24, 2020. It returned a 93.4% similarity with a specimen of an undetermined Crambidae (part of Pyralidae sensu lato), followed by a 93.2% similarity with a specimen of Spilomela personalis Herrich-Schäffer ( Pyralidae sensu lato, Spilomelinae), followed by similarities between 92.98% and 93.1% with five specimens of undetermined Gelechiidae . There are no Crambinae in the top 20 matches retrieved, except perhaps the unknown Crambidae , for which the collecting data and image are recorded as ‘private,’ meaning unpublished, in BOLD.