Hellinsia nina Kovtunovich & Ustjuzhanin, 2024

Kovtunovich, Vasily N. & Ustjuzhanin, Petr., 2024, New species of plume moths (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) from Ecuador. Part 3, Ecologica Montenegrina 77, pp. 1-11 : 6-7

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.37828/em.2024.77.1
publication LSID	urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D1457122-38D8-40F8-AC7A-1A32208BBF63
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13245901
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B14A13-FFE3-2D07-FF75-FD44FEE0FAED
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Hellinsia nina Kovtunovich & Ustjuzhanin
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Hellinsia nina Kovtunovich & Ustjuzhanin sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6EE64A03-6FBA-4320-8555-3AA7C452FA5A

Figs 7−8 View Figure 7 View Figure 8

Type material: Holotype, male, ( ZISP, gen.pr. Nr. 2008), Ecuador, Carchi prov. El Chical-Carolinae 0º49′41″N, 78º13′31″W, 18.XI.2012, 2150m., V. Sinjaev leg. GoogleMaps

Description. External characters. Head, thorax and tegulae white, collar between head and thorax with yellowish hairs. Labial palpi white, thin, straight, slightly longer than longitudinal eye diameter. Antennae thin, white. Wingspan 16 mm. Fore wings and hind wings of the same coloration, silvery-white, with the same white fringe on all lobes. Small oblong black distal spot along costal edge of first lobe. Small black dots sparse, scattered chaotically on fore wing. Small black dots on third lobe of hind wing, along outer edge and at lobe apex.

Male genitalia. Uncus arched, pointed. Valves asymmetric, left valve slightly wider than right valve. Saccular process on left valve long, almost reaching valve apex, hooked. Anellus arms of equal length, interspaced widely. Aedeagus straight, 2.5 times shorter than valve.

Diagnosis. The new species is similar to Hellinsia argutus (Meyrick, 1926) in the white coloration of the wings and the general structure of the male genitalia, and it differs in a smaller wingspan (the new species, 16 mm; H. argutus , 24–27 mm). It also differs in the absence of black dots along the outer edge of the second lobe and a black dot at the apex of the third lobe of the hind wing. In the male genitalia, the apex of the saccular process on the left valve is sharply curved in H. argutus , while in the new species it is hook-shaped.

Flight period: November.

Distribution: Ecuador.

Etymology: The species is named in memory of Nina Stepanovna Danshina (1923-2003), (Biysk, Russia), a teacher of Russian language and literature, who conscientiously worked for the benefit of the younger generation in the difficult post-war years and until the end of the seventies of the twentieth century.