Menurella Hoare

Hoare, Robert J. B. & Nieukerken, Erik J. van, 2013, Phylogeny and host-plant relationships of the Australian Myrtaceae leafmining moth genus Pectinivalva (Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae), with new subgenera and species, ZooKeys 278, pp. 1-64 : 31-33

Subgenus Menurella Hoare subgen. n.

Type species.

Pectinivalva (Menurella) scotodes sp. n.

Description.

Adults. Head capsule (Figs 21, 22): labial palpi 3-segmented; interocular index 0.49-0.84. Antennae in male occasionally broadened in middle, or with pedicel and segment 1 of flagellum modified as in Fig. 22. Collar consisting of piliform scales (lamellate scales in one undescribed species). Wingspan3.2-7.0 mm. Thorax and forewing usually unicolorous greyish to fuscous, or with transverse pale fascia or opposite pale spots on costa and tornus at 2/3, occasionally yellowish with dark markings. Costa of forewing in male sometimes with a tuft of very narrow stiff scales towards base. Hindwing of male occasionally expanded at base; androconial pocket often present. Underside of forewing in male sometimes with androconia. Wing venation (Figs 34-36): R2+3 in forewing absent. Abdomen: S2a with or without spines. Legs: fore-tibia in male of those species with androconial pocket usually thickened above with blackish scales.

Male genitalia (Figs 49-57, 64-72). Vinculum with lateral arms often conspicuously forked apically; the lower branchsupporting the uncus and the upper branch the tegumen. Uncus apically bifid. Valva (Figs 50, 53, 56) variable in shape; pectinifer with ca. 9-34 (usually fewer than 20) peg-like, spine-like or broad tooth-like elements, or reduced to a thickening along caudal edge of valva. Transverse bar of transtilla absent (present in Pectinivalva (Menurella) 119). Aedeagus (Figs 51, 54, 57, 65, 66, 69, 72): cathrema associated with the apex of a long tubular sclerotization.

Female genitalia (Figs 76-79, 89-103). Lateral sclerites of vestibulum present: forked or thickened. Accessory sac absent. Corpus bursae with extent of pectinations more or less reduced; signum either a small weakly toothed band ( Pectinivalva (Menurella) acmenae , Pectinivalva (Menurella) xenadelpha and Pectinivalva (Menurella) quintiniae ) or 2 concentric ovals of fence-like marks.

Larva. Head (Figs 107, 108) always more or less cordate, never pyriform. Chaetotaxy: T2 with 10 or 11 pairs of setae (D1 usually present; L3 present or absent). Otherwise not distinguished from that of Pectinivalva (Casanovula) .

Biology.

Host-plants: Syzygium R.Br. ex Gaertn.species (formerly in Acmena ), Leptospermum Forst. et f. spp., Angophora Cav. spp., Corymbia maculata (Hook.) K.D. Hill & L.A.S. Johnson, Rhodomyrtus macrocarpa Benth., Eucalyptus spp., probably other Myrtaceae , and with one species on Paracryphiaceae ( Quintinia ). Mine (Figs 119-124): usually a narrow gallery more or less filled with frass, occasionally a very short gallery leading to and enveloped by a blotch; exit-hole usually a small semicircular hole.

Diagnosis.

See Table 1.

Distribution.

Australia (known from all states and territories), Indonesia (Borneo: Kalimantan).

Derivation.

The subgeneric name is the diminutive of Menura , the genus to which the lyre-bird belongs. It stems from a fancied resemblance between the uncus in some species of the group and the tail of the male lyre-bird. It should be treated as feminine.

Included species.

In addition to eleven described and new species, also approximately 70 undescribed species in the anic, of which the following, cited by their anic rearing numbers, have been studied in detail for the current work: Pectinivalva (Menurella) 2; Pectinivalva (Menurella) 91; Pectinivalva (Menurella) 119.

Discussion.

Menurella is the most diverse of the three subgenera of Pectinivalva , in terms of numbers of species, morphology and host-plant choice. Below we describe the type species Pectinivalva (Menurella) scotodes , three morphologically unusual rainforest species Pectinivalvaacmenae , Pectinivalva xenadelpha , Pectinivalva tribulatrix , and Pectinivalva quintiniae with unusual morphology and host-plant.

Pectinivalva (Menurella) is equivalent to the Pectinivalva funeralis group of Hoare et al. (1997).