Oiketicoides tedaldii ( Heylaerts, 1882 )

Sobczyk, Thomas & Arnscheid, Wilfried R., 2021, Taxonomic revision of the North-African species of the genus Oiketicoides Heylaerts, 1881 (Lepidoptera: Psychidae: Oiketicinae), Zootaxa 4975 (3), pp. 483-508 : 501-507

Oiketicoides tedaldii ( Heylaerts, 1882)

( Fig. 17 )

Acanthopsyche tedaldii Heylaerts, 1882: 139 . Type locality: Italy, Sicilia, Ficuzza. Neotype, designated by Arnscheid et al. (2021: 6), in MWM.

Examined material. Material proven to originate from North Africa was not examined. The supplementary description refers to moth from Sicily and Malta.

Supplementary description. Medium sized Oiketicoides species with evenly light brown scaled wings. Wingspan 20-24.5 mm, forewing length 8-10 mm, width 5 mm, FI 1.8–1.9.

Head. Head dorsolaterally long, yellowish brown, hair-shaped scaled. Eyes ovoid, AI: 0.54–0.55. Antennae bipectinate with 29–30 pecten. Pecten scaled and long ciliated. Antennae length 5 mm.

Thorax. Wings light brown, forewings costa straight, apex roundish, termen oblique. Underside equally coloured. Wingspan 20–24.5 mm. Forewing with 10 veins from discal cell, r3+r4 and m2+m3 stalked. Junction of vein m1 to dc complete. Hindwing with 7 veins from dc. Veins m2+m3 stalked. Sometimes with small, intercalated cells at the base with the dc, FI: 1.8–1.9.

Male genitalia. Tegumen and vinculum fused. Tegumen ovoid, folded laterally. Valvae short and broad, of tegumen length. Distinctly indented above vinculum laterally. Vinculum stretched, triangle shaped. Clasper of sacculus short and slender, covered distally with 6 short spines. Saccus long and stretched, of tegumen length. Phallus very long, thick, weakly curved, vesica without cornuti but with a broad pointed process laterally.

Larval case. Male length 20–25 mm, diameter 5.5–6 mm. Cylindrical, slightly curved with circular cross section, covered with fine particles of soil and bits of broken snail shells, twigs, mineral debris and dry plants matter. Front opening covered with smaller plant material and soil.

Distribution. The confirmed distribution of O. tedaldii with both specimens and cases is thus from Italy: Sicily [Ficuzza, Madonie, Caltanisetta], Malta [Imtaħleb, Binġemma, Naxxar Gap, Għargħur: Ġebel San Pietru, Mellieħa] ( Arnscheid et al. 2021). As has been shown below, there are hints that this species also occurs in Algeria and Tunisia ( Arnscheid et al. 2021).

Similar species. Closest to O. lutea , which is not distributed in North Africa. Wings more roundish, AI higher (0.67–0.68), in male genitalia of O. lutea tegumen distinctly roundish, not ovoid as in O. tedaldii . Saccus short and more or less spoon-shaped in O. lutea , not long and stretched as it is in O. tedaldii .

Remarks. More than any other species, O. tedaldii plays a central role in the clarification of the North African species complex of the genus Oiketicoides . It is the first species of the genus which have possibly also been described from North Africa. But from today’s view it is doubtful whether the specimens on which the description is based belong to only one single species. Both the Oiketicoides species from the Near East, as well the European and North African ones, have a rather local distribution and were never found on different continents so far. Heylaertś description of O. tedaldii based on several larval cases collected on Sicily (without adult specimens!), one male from Syria without a larval case, originally labelled “ lutea var.” by Staudinger, and another male with its larval case from Algeria. From the latter specimen Heylaerts probably made the description. During our studies we found a specimen in the Staudinger Collection (MfN) from the Jordan Valley which is actually labelled as “ lutea var.”, but this cannot be the type specimen of O. tedaldii because it was collected in [18]95. In fact it belongs to O. jordana ( Staudinger, 1899) . The type specimen (the only adult male) could not be found, despite an intensive search, and must be considered lost. The mentioned larval cases in the Heylaerts collection, which are assumed as syntypes of O. tedaldii , belong to O. lutea . In his monograph, Heylaerts (1881) listed under the genus Amicta the taxon Amicta tedaldii as a separate species alongside Psyche heylaertsii Millière, 1878 . Psyche sera Wiskott, 1880 is listed as synonym to Psyche heylaertsii . Psyche lutea as well as other species are also listed under Amicta . Psyche heylaertsii and Psyche sera are currently mentioned as synonyms of Oiketicoides lutea ( Staudinger, 1871) . For P. heylaertsii no type locality is mentioned, but for Psyche sera : Sicily (“Litus septentrionale”, the northern coast). It can be doubtless recognised that Heylaerts knew two different psychid species from Sicily, which according to current understanding are O. tedaldii and O. lutea (respectively its synonym O. sera ). By excluding O. lutea and the evidently presence of another Oiketicoides species in Sicily, at least the identity of this species with O. tedaldii could be reconstructed as shown in another paper of the authors ( Arnscheid et al. 2021). Unfortunately, a reconstruction like this is not possible to declare the taxonomic relationship of the North African and Near Eastern species of the genus due to their much higher diversity and insufficient original descriptions.Altogether it was impossible to verify true O. tedaldii specimens neither from the Near East nor from North Africa. However, based on records of the very characteristic and unmistakable larval cases from Tunisia (in MWM, CTS, CWA) ( Sobczyk et al. 2014), and under consideration of the mentioned adult specimen from Algeria with the corresponding larval case, it can be safely assumed that O. tedaldii is part of the North African fauna. Current records are not available.

Figures

FIGURES 15–18. 15. Oiketicoides lefevrei (Oberthür, 1922) ♂, Maroc, Moyen-Atlas, Mischliffen, 2000 m, 29.VII.1993, leg. Stengel (CWA). 16. Oiketicoides lambessa (Heylaerts, 1889) stat. rev. ♂, lectotype ♂, with label lectotype (MfN). 17. Oiketicoides tedaldii (Heylaerts, 1882), ♂, Sicily, Ficuzza, 16.ix., Krüger, Geo. C. (MWM). 18a. Oiketicoides oberthueri (Heylaerts, 1883) ♀, Morocco, Mischliffen, 2036, 03.-27.vii.1994, leg. Stübinger. 18b. Oiketicoides oberthueri (Heylaerts, 1883), Morocco, Mischliffen, 2036 m, 03.-27.vii.1994, leg. Stübinger, larval case ♂ (above), ♀ (below) 18c. Oiketicoides oberthueri (Heylaerts, 1883), Morocco, Mischliffen, 2036 m, 03–27.vii.1994, leg. Stübinger, ♀ Genital (CTS).