Tinea svenssoni Opheim, 1965

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 : 17

5. Tinea svenssoni Opheim, 1965 ( Tineidae : Tineinae )

Tinea svenssoni Opheim, 1965: 54 . Type locality: Norway: Oslo.

BOLD:AAG0125

Palearctic distribution. Northern Europe and Russia .

New North American records. Canada: Québec, Sainte-Agathe des Monts , 3 Jul 2006 at light at the edge of a mixed forest, 1 ♂ ( CNC) .

Diagnosis. In external appearance, this species resembles a few other species of Tinea , notably T. columbariella Wocke and, to a lesser extent, the case-bearing clothes moth, T. pellionella L., both of which have also been introduced to North America. The head vestiture is golden-yellow in svenssoni whereas it is rusty brown in columbariella and pellionella . In svenssoni , the forewings are uniformly golden brown with a black spot in the distal third and a translucent bare patch near the costa at the base; pellionella has one or two ill-defined discal spots in addition to the subapical one. Slightly worn specimens of these three species are often difficult to identify externally. In genitalia, svenssoni is most similar to columbariella , from which it was distinguished ( Opheim 1965, 1973): in the male, the small conical projection on the distal part of the valva is located slightly beyond the middle and directed inwardly (in columbariella , the projection is in the distal quarter and touching the ventral edge of the valva, and directed upwardly); in the female, the sterigma has sinuate lateral edges and appears bottle-shaped (in columbariella , straight edges with a triangular aspect).

Larval host. In bird nests ( Opheim 1965, 1973). Based on Finnish observations, typically in cavity-nesting species, such as tits and owls.

Note. The barcode of the single Canadian specimen matches those from Finland. It seems unlikely that this species has been introduced, considering its biology and the locality where it has been found, as well as its northern distribution in the Palearctic Region. However, the absence of previous Nearctic records is puzzling. It seems likely that it is native, but has been overlooked. The Palearctic distribution suggests a boreal species. In general, records of tineids from the boreal zone are sparse in North American collections and these need to be checked through genitalia examination for the possible occurrence of unreported taxa.