Vespina Davis, 1972

Hirowatari, Toshiya, Yagi, Sadahisa, Ohshima, Issei, Huang, Guo-Hua & Wang, Min, 2021, Review of the genus Vespina (Lepidoptera, Incurvariidae) with two new species from China and Japan, Zootaxa 4927 (2), pp. 209-233 : 212

Vespina Davis, 1972

Careospina Davis, 1972 : Davis 1972a: 121; preocc. Peters, 1971.

Type species: Careospina quercivora Davis, 1972a: 123 .

Vespina Davis : Davis 1972b: 472.

Among the generic characteristics of Careospina (= Vespina ) proposed by Davis (1972a), the following were seen as being important: head densely hairy, entirely rough; compound eyes large; galea short, approximately equal to the length of the labial palpi; wings relatively narrow, with subacute apices; forewings 12-veined, all veins arising separately from the discal cell; prothoracic tibia without an epiphysis; valvae relatively slender; ventral margin with a single pecten present; phallus (as aedeagus) relatively short and stocky; cornuti present; apex of ovipositor depressed, broad and stout, acuminate; apophyses relatively stout.

Remarks. Generic characteristics of Vespina (= Careospina ) proposed by Davis (1972a) were checked based on the two new species described in this paper and it was found that most of the characteristics were applicable. However, in the 12-veined forewings, veins 7 and 8 (R4 and R5) are stalked in V. quercivora ( Davis 1972a) but not stalked in V. nielseni ( Kozlov 1987) and V. sichuana sp. nov.

Davis (1972a) described that accessory and intercalary cells are faintly present in Careospina (= Vespina ), but these cells are indistinct in both wings of Vespina sichuana . In the female genitalia, the signum is absent in V. quercivora ( Davis 1972a) and in the two new species described herein, but present in V. nielseni ( Okamoto & Hirowatari 2000) . These characteristics may vary at the species level. In addition to the above characteristics, the absence or reduction of a female frenulum and presence of pseudofrenular bristles, the dorsoventrally flattened pupa, and the minute spines scattered on the dorsal surface of abdominal segments 3–8 of the pupa may be characteristic of the genus Vespina (see Discussion).

Biology. The first-instar larva of Incurvariidae is known to be a leaf miner. Referring to Brown & Eads (1965), Davis (1972a) detailed the feeding habit of Vespina quercivora on Quercus agrifolia . At the final stage of mining, the larva constructs a flat case by cutting an oval patch out of both the upper and lower epidermal layers of the mine and then sewing them together around the edge with silk. The later-instar larvae of the two new species described here also construct a case as in the other members of Vespina , but we could not observe the mining behavior of the first instar.