Coleophora atriplicis Meyrick, 1928 (Coleophoridae)

Landry, Jean-François, Nazari, Vazrick, Dewaard, Jeremy R., Mutanen, Marko, Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, Huemer, Peter & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2013, Shared but overlooked: 30 species of Holarctic Microlepidoptera revealed by DNA barcodes and morphology, Zootaxa 3749 (1), pp. 1-93 : 34-35

19. Coleophora atriplicis Meyrick, 1928 (Coleophoridae)

Coleophora atriplicis Meyrick : 763. Type locality: England.

= Coleophora cervinella McDunnough, 1946a: 59 . Type locality: Canada: Nova Scotia: Parrsboro. New synonymy. BOLD: AAD7734

Palearctic distribution. Northern and Central Palaearctic region.

New North American records. Canada: Nova Scotia, Parrsboro , 3–4 Jul 1944, 2 ♀ (holotype and paratype of cervinella ) ( CNC) ; Alberta, Erskine , 15 Jul 2001, 1 ♀ ( BIRD) ; Buffalo Lake Conservation Area , 2 Aug 2000, 1 ex. ( BIRD) ; Tolman Bridge , 9 Jul 1984, 2 ♂ ( CNC) ; Lac La Biche , 26 Jul 1994, 1 ♀ ( CNC) ; British Columbia, Peachland , 28 Aug 1935, one ♀ ( CNC) . USA: Washington, Wilapa Bay , 26 Jul 2011, one ♀ ( CNC) .

Diagnosis. This species has ochreous-buff forewings with veins somewhat highlighted with creamy white, and sparsely peppered dark brown scales, especially in the distal half. It is confusingly similar to several other Coleophora , especially among the seed-feeding groups and including several undescribed species (JFL pers. obs.) and can be recognized with certainty only through examination of the genitalia. In male genitalia, the tegumen is pyramidal, the gnathos ellipsoid and laterally compressed, the transtilla arms are markedly developed and outwardly upcurved, nearly joined medially, the apex of the sacculus has a few short dentate projections, the cucullus is broadly rounded, the valvula markedly sclerotized and digitiform, and the juxta rods each have one tooth, subapical on the right arm, medial on the left one; the overall configuration of the phallotheca with its long and curved outer tube, long, multi-coiled appendix, and long cluster of small, closely set cornuti, is very similar to that of several other seed-feeding species exemplified by duplicis Braun. (For genital terms of Coleophora , see Landry & Wright 1993.) In female genitalia, S8 is roundly trapezoidal with a notched posterior margin, the colliculum is as long as S8 with a blind sac at its anterior right extremity, the ductus bursae is very long with at least six coils in its anterior section, the spinulate section of the ductus is anteriorly curved and about as long as the membranous looped section, and the signum is double, one typical thorn-like with a short, stubby point, the other rasp-like and very small. This type of double signum is found in several seed-feeding species, such as the duplicis complex, with differences in size.

Larval host. Halimione portulacoides, Suaeda, Salicornia , Atriplex spp. , Chenopodium spp. (Chenopodiaceae) in saline habitats.

Note. The type series of C. cervinella which consisted of two females was collected in a salt marsh (where several of the host plants of atriplicis occur). McDunnough suspected the synonymy of this species and wrote in an undated note placed in the CNC collection tray with the type: “Possibly falls to atriplicis descr. from Europe”. This species is undoubtedly more widely distributed than current records indicate but it is not recognizable without examining the genitalia. The occurrence on both the east and west coasts of North America as well as deep in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia and scattered localites in Alberta suggest that it could be Holarctic.