Parornix yuliella Liu & Teng, 2021

Liu, Tengteng, Wang, Encui, Jiang, Yurong, Jiang, Zhongfeng, Jiang, Bin & Teng, Kaijiang, 2021, First report of the leaf-mining genus Parornix Spuler from China, with descriptions of two new species (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Parornichinae), Zootaxa 4948 (1), pp. 136-148 : 144-146

Parornix yuliella Liu & Teng , sp. n.

ḂṪAEẊḋffi [Chinese name]

( Figs 4, 5 , 7, 7a, 9, 9a , 15 ̅19)

Diagnosis. The new species is closely related to P. multimaculata on both forewing patterns and genitalia, but can be distinguished from the latter by: i) the valva rounded ventro-apically and having a curved ridge with several teeth from middle to ventral margin in the male genitalia, ii) the length of phallus almost as long as the length of valva, and iii) the process from base of phallus about as long as phallus. In P. multimaculata , the valva is nearly rectangular ventro-apically and lacks a curved ridge from middle to ventral margin, the phallus is about 1.75 times as long as the length of valva (although Kumata (1965) stated that “aedoeagus about 1.2 times as long as valva”), and the process from base of phallus is about as long as phallus ( Kumata 1965: 68, plate VIII, Figs 9–10 ). In the female genitalia, P. yuliella , sp. n. has a sharply triangular process on the lamella postvaginalis, while this process is absent in P. multimaculata ( Kumata 1965: 68, plate X, Fig. 24). The white costal striae on the distal part of the forewing are slenderer in P. yuliella , sp. n. than those in P. multimaculata . However, these differences on the forewing are not strong diagnostic characters, and should be used in combination with the characters from the genitalia. The Maximum Likelihood tree based on available DNA barcodes corroborates the newly described species ( Fig. 1 ). The lowest pairwise genetic distance is 6.0% between the new species and all the other species ( Table S1 ).

Type material. Holotype, ³, CHINA: Shandong Province: Yuegudian, Mt. Kunyu, Yantai , 37.294°N, 121.754°E, leaf mine on Cerasus japonica , 2020.vii.5, leg. Tengteng Liu, field no. LTT00811, genitalia slide no. WEC19038³, registration no. SDNU. Ent 012598.

Paratypes (all China): 1♀, collecting data same as holotype except dated 2020.vii.5, field no. LTT 00796, reg- istration no. SDNU. Ent 012597; 1♀, collecting data same as holotype except dated 2020.vi.6, leg. Tengteng Liu & Kaijian Teng, field no. LTT 00778, DNA voucher and genitalia slide no. SDNU. WEC 19032, registration no. SDNU. Ent 012596; 2³, Yifenchang , Mt. Kunyu , Yantai , 37.267°N, 121.762°E, 2019.vii.15, light trap, leg. Tengteng Liu, Yurong Jiang and Jiayi Zhou , DNA voucher and registration no. SDNU-INS-00119, 283; 1♀, Mt. Kunyu , Yan- tai, 37.267°N, 121.762°E, 2019.v.14, leg. Tengteng Liu and Zhongfeng Jiang , registration no. SDNU-INS-00108, slide no. SDNU. LIU0229 ; 1³, Mt. Laoshan , Qingdao , Shandong Province, 36.211°N, 120.593°E, 390 m, 2016. vii.8, light trap, leg. Tengteng Liu, genitalia slide no. WJUN2016027 , registration no. SDNU.Ent161887; 1³, Mt. Laoshan , Qingdao, Shandong Province, 36.211°N, 120.593°E, 390 m, 2015.vii.10, light trap, leg. Tengteng Liu, genitalia slide no. JYR 17056, registration no. SDNU. Ent 150212; 1♀, Mt. Laoshan , Qingdao, Shandong Province, 36.211°N, 120.593°E, 390 m, 2017.vi.29 ̅vii.07, light trap, leg. Tengteng Liu, Zhenquan Gao & Nan Wang, genita- lia slide no. LIU0026 , registration no. SDNU. Ent 170187 .

Adult ( Figs 4, 5 , 19 ). Head tuft gray to whitish gray, mixed with black. Maxillary palpi pure white. Labial palpus white, slightly brown ventrally. Antennae with scape white, tinged dark brown dorsally, flagellum yellowish brown, with dark brown rings. Thorax white. Tegula dark gray basally, white distally, or entirely white. Forewing white with massive black scales, denser towards apex; with some 12–15 white striae on costa, indistinct on basal half; two large black suffusions on fold, with outer one larger; apex with a black dot; cilia white on basal half, two black lines on distal half. Hindwing and cilia gray.

Male genitalia ( Figs 7, 7a ). Tegumen sclerotized, slender posteriorly and pointed apically. Tuba analis slender, membranous and glabrous, extending beyond tegumen. Valva thin and parallel-sided on basal half, dilated and covered with long setae distally, with a curved ridge with several teeth from middle of valva to ventral margin ( Fig. 7a ). Vinculum sclerotized, anterior process less sclerotized, triangular and truncated at end. Phallus slender and curved, longer than valva, a band of densely distributed spiny cornuti extending from base to top, longer towards apex; a slender straight process from base of phallus, about same length of phallus; anellus a sclerotized ring without any posterior process. Eighth sternite triangularly protruded on posterior margin.

Female genitalia ( Figs 9, 9a ). Apophyses anteriores shorter than apophyses posteriores. Ostium bursae oval, a sharply triangular process on lamella postvaginalis, more than half width of ostium ( Fig. 9a ); lamella antevaginalis a rather slender sclerotized. Ductus bursae membranous, almost same in width before corpus bursae, with dense micro particles. Ductus seminalis originated near ostium. Corpus bursae membranous, signum two clusters of particles which extending sparsely forming two bands.

Biology. The mine by early instars is similar to that of P. sinensis sp. n. ( Figs 15, 16, 18 ). The mine can be easily traced by the white upper epidermis of the damaged leaf. After mining stage, the larva chews and creeps out of a hole on the under epidermis and lives as a leaf-roller on a neighboring leaf ( Figs 15, 17 ). The whole leaf is rolled longitudinally ( Fig. 15 ), which is different from that of P. sinensis sp. n. ( Fig. 13 ). More than one leaf may be rolled by a single larva during its life span, as empty leaf rolls are often found in the field. Active leaf mines last from early June to early July, thus monovoltine in Shandong. This species may overwinter by an adult as all the pupae emerge in the rearing condition in summer.

Host plant. Cerasus japonica (Thunb.) Lois. (Rosaceae) . The scientific name of the host plant follows the Plant Plus of China (http://www.iplant.cn/).

DNA barcode. Three reference DNA barcodes of paratypes were generated and deposited in BOLD , creating a BIN number BOLD: AEE4918 .

Distribution. China (Shandong).

Etymology. The specific name yuliella is derived from the phonetic transcription of the Chinese name of the host plant yu-li, with -ella as suffix.

Remarks. The female genitalia of P. yuliella sp. n. is extremely similar to P. multimaculata morphologically. Therefore, there is a possibility that a sexual mismatch may be present in P. multimaculata or in P. yuliella sp. n. To get rid of this possibility, DNA barcodes from both sexes of P. yuliella sp. n. were generated and they successfully combined the male and female ( Fig. 1 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A Maximum Likelihood tree generated with the K2P nucleotide substitution model based on 650 bp COI barcode sequences. Each sequence is labelled by a combination of its Process ID, Latin name, Sample ID and Country. The sequences of the new species are also labelled by adding “Holotype” or “Paratype”. Branch lengths are proportional to the number of substitutions per site. The percentage of trees in which the associated taxa clustered together is shown next to the branches.

FIGURES 2–5. Adults of Parornix spp. 2̅3, P. sinensis sp. n.: 2, male, holotype, registration no. SDNU.Ent001443; 3, female, paratype, registration no. SDNU.Ent001211; 4̅5, P. yuliella sp. n.: 4, male, paratype, registration no. SDNU.Ent012597; 5, female, paratype, registration no. SDNU.Ent170187.

FIGURES 6–9. Genitalia of Parornix spp. 6̅7, male genitalia (ventral view): 6, P. sinensis sp. n., holotype, 6a, close-up of the ridge, slide no. SDNU.LIU0005; 7, P. yuliella sp. n., 7a, close-up of the ridge with teeth, slide no. SDNU.JYR17056, noticing that the right valva in the figure turned 180o during mounting making the ridge look like on dorsal margin. 8̅9, female genitalia (ventral view): 8, P. sinensis sp. n., paratype, slide no. SDNU.LIU0228, white arrow indicating the opening of ductus seminalis; 9, P. yuliella sp. n., paratype, slide no. SDNU.LIU0026, 9a, close-up of ostium showing the sharply triangular process, slide no. SDNU.LIU0229.

FIGURES 15–19. Biology of P. yuliella sp. n. 15, vacated mine (upper leaf) and a rolled leaf (lower leaf), done most probably by the same larva; 16, vacated mine, upper side view; 17, vacated mine with an exit hole, lower side view; 18, vacated mine opened, showing a cluster of frass occupying one corner of the consumed part of the mine; 19, newly emerged adult. Arrows indicate the mines (15, 16, 17), and rolled leaf (15).

FIGURES 10–14. Biology of P. sinensis sp. n. 10, host plant Amygdalus davidiana, the tree from which the paratypes in Weifang were collected; 11, an active mine between two secondary veins, lower side view; 12, two vacated mines along the leaf margin, upper side view; 13, the identical mine to the lower one in fig. 12, under side view, and rolled leaf tip; 14, pupal exuvium protruding from the leaf roll. Arrows indicate the mines (12, 13), and rolled leaf tip (13).