Argyresthia (Blastotere) punctireticulata, Liu, Tengteng, Wang, Shuxia & Li, Houhun, 2017

Liu, Tengteng, Wang, Shuxia & Li, Houhun, 2017, Review of the genus Argyresthia Hübner, [1825] (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutoidea: Argyresthiidae) from China, with descriptions of forty-three new species, Zootaxa 4292 (1), pp. 1-135 : 22

9. Argyresthia (Blastotere) punctireticulata , sp. nov. ( Figs. 20 , 258 )

Description. Adult ( Fig. 20 ) wingspan 14.0̄15.0 mm. Head with vertex white tinged with gray, or pale yellowish white, face tinged with pale yellow. Labial palpus yellowish fuscous, mixed with dark fuscous. Antenna with scape white, tinged with gray, golden fuscous anteriorly, pecten yellowish fuscous; flagellum white, ringed with blackish fuscous. Foreleg dark gray on inner surface, pale gray on outer surface, tarsus black on distal part of each tarsomere; midleg gray, tarsus blackish gray on distal part of each tarsomere; hindleg grayish white. Thorax yellowish white, tinged with fuscous laterally; tegula yellowish fuscous. Forewing ratio 4.0; ground color yellow to yellowish fuscous, dotted with dense fuscous scales, becoming sparser towards dorsum; two broad, parallel, slightly curved dorsal fasciae from basal 1/5 and before 2/5 of wing obliquely outward to about costal 2/5 and 2/3, blackish fuscous, or yellowish fuscous, blackish fuscous on dorsum, basal fascia sometimes interrupted near upper margin of cell; yellowish- or blackish-fuscous streak from tornus curved inward to lower angle of cell, then obliquely diffused to costa and reaching before apex by yellowish-fuscous scales; cilia pale yellowish fuscous, pale yellowish white near tornus. Hindwing white, becoming yellow towards apex; cilia concolorous with adjacent wing. Abdomen pale yellowish fuscous.

Venation: Forewing with R4 and R5 stalked; hindwing with M3 and CuA1 stalked.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 258 ): Ovipositor 2.6 times as long as eighth segment. Anterior apophysis 4/5 length of posterior apophysis, bifurcate at distal 1/3; branch bifurcate a second time, with dorsal branch extending to lamella postvaginalis, ventral branches fused and forming ventral margin of ostium bursae. Lamella postvaginalis hourglass-shaped, deeply concave anteriorly. Antrum funnel-shaped, 1/2 length of eighth segment. Ductus bursae widened distally towards corpus bursae; ductus seminalis originating from anterior 1/3 of ductus bursae. Corpus bursae oval, covered with sparse denticles; signum relatively small, C-shaped, lateral horns slightly curved inward.

Male unknown.

Type material. CHINA: Holotype, ♀, Zhongdian (27.59°N, 99.79°E), Yunnan Province, 3150 m, 14.vii.2001, leg. Houhun Li and Xinpu Wang, slide no. LTT12114 . Paratypes: 3♀, data same as holotype, slide nos. XYL03314̄5 , XYL03315W.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Diagnosis. This species resembles A. (B.) mirabiella Toll, 1947 . It can be separated from the latter by the yellow to yellowish-fuscous forewing with dense fuscous dots, and the signum with the basal plate a lacking distinct anterior part in the female genitalia. In A. (B.) mirabiella the white forewing lacks dense fuscous dots, and the basal plate of the signum is triangular on the anterior part ( Baraniak & Walczak 2015). The new species also is similar to A. (B.) reticulata Staudinger, 1877 , but it can be distinguished by the white vertex, tinged with gray to yellowish white; the forewing densely dotted with fuscous; and the lamella postvaginalis hourglass-shaped and the signum with each horn nearly straight in the female genitalia. In A. (B.) reticulata the vertex is white; the forewing lacks fuscous dots; and the lamella postvaginalis is subtriangular and each horn of the signum is curved. The holotype of A. (B.) chalcocausta is also a female, and Meyrick considered A. (B.) chalcocausta close to A. (B.) reticulata and A. (B.) psamminopa . Argyresthia (B.) chalcocausta differs from A. (B.) punctireticulata , sp. nov., and A. (B.) reticulata in having a triangular lamella postvaginalis and an X-shaped basal plate of the signum. The holotype of A. (B.) psamminopa is a male, but its head and labial palpus are white, and its forewing lacks distinct pattern elements.

Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin prefix punct -, meaning dot, and the specific name of its congener A. (B.) reticulata , indicating the similarity of the two species.

Figures

FIGURES 20 – 27. Adults of Argyresthia spp. 20, A. (Blastotere) punctireticulata, sp. nov., ♀, paratype; 21, A. (B.) dolichocoremata, sp. nov., ♂, holotype; 22, A. (B.) longipenella, sp. nov., ♂, holotype; 23, A. (Argyresthia) conjugella Zeller, ♀; 24, A. (A.) biloba, sp. nov., ♀, holotype; 25, A. (A.) minutilepidota, sp. nov., ♂, holotype; 26, A. (A.) flavifusca, sp. nov., ♂, holotype; 27, A. (A.) flavifusca, sp. nov., ♀, paratype. (Scales = 2.0 mm)

FIGURES 256 – 258. Female genitalia of Argyresthia spp. 256, A. (Blastotere) densa, sp. nov., slide no. LTT 12225, paratype; 257, A. (B.) anthocephala Meyrick, slide no. LTT 12308, 256 a, enlarged view of comb-like denticles, slide no. LTT 12309; 258, A. (B.) punctireticulata, sp. nov., slide no. LTT 12114, holotype. (Scales: 255 ¯ 257 = 0.5 mm; 256 a = 0.025 mm)