Microsarotis lygistis (Diakonoff, 1977)

Bippus, Maik, 2016, New or poorly known Microlepidoptera from the Mascarenes (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae, Bedellidae, Batrachedridae, Carposinidae, Epermeniidae, Gelechiidae, Tineidae, Tortricidae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (2), pp. 347-370 : 369

Microsarotis lygistis ( DIAKONOff, 1977)

Wingspan: 10 mm; adult (plate 15: fig. 76); male genitalia (plate 15: fig. 78); female genitalia (plate 15: fig. 79); pupa (plate 15: fig. 77).

Six specimens ex-larvae: 26-ii-2015, 15-iii-2015, 19-iii-2015, 21-iii-2015 (female, slide RE-1673), 15-iv-2015 (male, slide RE-1779), 28-iv-2015.

Locality: Réunion, La Possession, Ravine à Malheur, alt. 100 m.

Five specimens were deposited with Naturalis, Netherlands in July 2016 .

Biology: Hostplant: Bauhina monandra KURZ (Fabaceae) . This species was known by a female only, raised from fruits of Bauhinia spec. by J. ETIENNE in 1976.

I bred this species on Bauhina monandra KURZ (Fabaceae) , larvae fed on boths: leafs (five specimens) and fruits (one specimen, fig. 77). Notable that all Bauhina species found in La Réunion are introduced. This is certainly not an endemic species of Lepidoptera .

Distribution: La Réunion.