Thiodia leucocitron Tsvetkov, 2022

Tsvetkov, Eugene, 2022, A new species of the genus Thiodia Hübner, [1825] (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from South Kazakhstan, Zootaxa 5104 (2), pp. 297-300 : 298-300

Thiodia leucocitron Tsvetkov , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3–5 )

Type material. Holotype ♂. Kazakhstan: Karatau Mts. , 5 km SW of vill. Ashisai, 700 m, N 43°30′31″, E 68°51′45″, 22.vi.2019, leg E. Tsvetkov. Deposited in Zoological Institute St. Petersburg ( ZISP).

Paratypes. 1 ♂, same data as for holotype ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Kazakhstan: Karatau Mts. , 3 km NE of vill. Baizhansai, N 43°08′17″, E 69°56′29″, 29.vi.2019, leg E. Tsvetkov, ( ZISP, ET) .

Description. Imago ( Fig. 1 ). Sexual dimorphism is not expressed in habitus and in head structure.

Head. Frons and vertex with white hair-like scales; labial palpi about 1.1–1.2× the diameter of eye, whitish, partly brown; antennae some more than 1/2 of the forewing, white dorsally, chequered ventrally and laterally (white and dark grey areas); chaetosemata present (white scales).

Thorax. Thorax white from ventral side and light yellow dorsally. Legs with white and light brown areas which form clear ring pattern on tarsus; each tarsomere brown with white ring distally. Forewing nearly triangular with sharply rounded apex and widely rounded tornus; costal margin almost straight, slightly bent distally; termen straight, dorsal margin bent basally; small rounded scaled concavity (scent organ) is present basally between Cu stalk and A2+3 vein from underside; costal fold absent. Forewing upperside general background colour white, almost entirely covered with suffusion of orange-yellow groups of scales; one of the groups of colourful scales that form a submarginal fascia. Speculum subtriangular, pale brownish with admixture of orange-yellow scales; a row of black dots along the outer side. Pairs of white costal strigulae contrasted with dividing dark brown spots and streaks. Fringe unicolorous pale brownish-yellow; basal stripe nearly 1/3 of width, motley, formed by white brown-spotted scales. Forewing underside unicolourous brown. Hindwing light brown from both sides, fringe light brown with brown basal stripe.

Abdomen. Abdomen whitish, its pattern is composed of pale brownish and white rings (two differently coloured rings on each segment).

Male genitalia ( Figs 3, 4 ). Uncus small, triangular. Socii membranous, apically rounded, flat, densely covered by short bristles. Valva elongate; cucullus well defined, nearly triangular (angles rounded), separated from sacculus by neck, inner surface densely covered with long bristles except for areas along its ventral and dorsal margins. Aedeagus heavily sclerotised, bearing a long process on its left side. Process flattened dorsoventrally, strongly flattened in distal 1/3 where a jagged crest is present on the right side; distal part of aedeagus with large membranous excavation on the left side. Juxta structure typical of Eucosmini (shown ventrolaterally on Fig. 3 ).

Female genitalia ( Fig. 5 ). Papillae anales elongate, well sclerotised, fused, almost bald, covered by sparse short bristles. Apophyses strong, well sclerotised; posterior apophyses with broadening in posterior 1/3, anterior apophyses shorter than posterior apophyses. Eighth tergum large trapezoidal, tapering posteriorly, covered by bristles in posterior 1/4; anterior margin convex. Sternum VII trapezoidal with rounded angles, ending posteriorly with very large and broad ostium. Antrum very large, asymmetrical, flattened, consisting of two large pocket-like hollows and a funnel-shaped part between them branching off from left hollow to ductus bursae; surface well sclerotised with plots of heavy sclerotisation. Ductus bursae membranous, thin, elongate sclerite present inside in junction with antrum. Bursa copulatrix pear-shaped, membranous with a tiny rounded signum convex from the inner side.

Diagnosis. Thiodia leucocitron sp. nov. resembles Thiodia anatoliana (Kennel, 1916) and Thiodia fessana (Mann, 1873) in the forewing colouration. But in the two species mentioned above the forewing is darker, elements of the pattern are olive, olive-grey or yellowish-brown. Elements of the forewing pattern are orange-yellow in the new species. Another species, Thiodia placidana Staudinger, 1871 , has some similarity with the new species in the shape of valva in males and also in the antrum which is asymmetrical in females. But T. placidana well differs externally by red pattern of the forewing. Male and female genitalia are very specific in T. leucocitron sp. nov. The aedeagus bears a long side process in males which allows to separate the new species from other congeners. A very large ostium and the antrum consisting of two hollows are characteristic for the females of T. leucocitron sp. nov.

Etymology. The name of the species is a noun derived from the Ancient Greek prefix leuco- and the French word citron. It is associated with the forewing colouration, which combines white and orange-yellow colours. The species group name “ leucocitron ” is not a Latin or latinized word. Following the ICZN Art. 31.2.1 and 31.2.3 this compound species-group name, of which the final component word is not a Latin or latinized word (Arts. 11.2, 26) is to be treated as indeclinable, and need not agree in gender with the generic name with which it is combined.

Biology. The species occurs in open mountain valleys. In the area 3 km NE of the village Baizhansai its habitat is a dry mountain valley with steppe and rocky slopes at an altitude of 900 m ( Fig. 2 ).

Remarks. Males and females of the described species have a very characteristic unusual structure of the genitalia. Such a feature as a caudally directed process of the aedeagus is functionally related to the structure of the female antrum, which is divided into two pocket-like hollows. Among the representatives of the genus Thiodia , the aedeagus with a process on the left side is found only in Thiodia elbursica Kuznetzov, 1972 , a species known from Iran. But in this species, the process is very small and distally located. It should be noted that similar side processes occur in the other genera of the Tortricidae family, for example, in Eriopsela klimeschi Obraztsov, 1952 , known from the Alps, as well as in some species of the genus Cydia Hübner, [1825] . In E. klimeschi and Cydia spp. the structure of the antrum of females, however, without such a characteristic feature as in T. leucocitron . The presence of the aedeagus process in the mentioned genera and in T. leucocitron , in our opinion, is an example of homoplasia.

Figures

FIGURES 1–2. Thiodia leucocitron sp. nov. and its natural habitat. 1. Imago, holotype. 2. The habitat, a mountain slope in environs of the village Baizhansai, June 29, 2019.

FIGURES 3–5. Genitalia of Thiodia leucocitron sp. nov. 3. Male genitalia. 4. Aedeagus. 5. Female genitalia.