Altenia perspersella ( Wocke, 1862 )

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 : 39

25. Altenia perspersella ( Wocke, 1862) ( Gelechiidae : Gelechiinae )

Gelechia perspersella Wocke, 1862: 236 . Type locality: Norway.

BOLD:AAE2251

Palearctic distribution. Northern Europe, from Scandinavia and the Baltic republics to Russia ( Huemer & Karsholt 1999).

New North American records. Canada: Manitoba, Churchill , 30 Jul 2009, 1 ♂ ( CNC) ; Yukon, summit of Grey Mountain , alpine zone, swept from alpine vegetation in afternoon, 14 Jul 2006, 1 ♂ ( CNC) .

Diagnosis. Externally the forewings have three irregular transverse bands of pale grey over a darker brown ground colour. The male genitalia are highly distinctive: the tegumen is narrowly transverse; the uncus is bifid with long, incurved digitiform lobes; the gnathos is absent; the valva is shorter than the uncus lobes and acuminate; the vinculum is narrowly transverse; the phallus is broad, short, stubby. The female genitalia are not especially distinctive compared to many other Gelechiidae : the ostium is ill-defined, weakly sclerotized, crescentic; the ductus bursae is membranous, longer than the ovipositor; and the signum is suboval, sub-divided, with serrate edges.

Larval host. Empetrum nigrum (Empetraceae) , a circumpolar plant.

Note. The species was listed by Lee et al. (2009) based on a communication from JFL about the Yukon record here reported. The species is undoubtedly Holarctic and likely distributed in the northern parts of North America where its food plant occurs.