Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839

Bidzilya, Oleksiy V. & Budashkin, Yury I., 2015, New species of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) from Ukraine, Zootaxa 3974 (2), pp. 217-230 : 220-221

Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839

Type-species: Ypsolophus (Megacraspedus) dolosellus Zeller, 1839 ; by subsequent designation.

Megacraspedus is defined by the following putative synapomorphies: reduced sacculus in the male genitalia and strongly sclerotized subostial area and very long apophyses posteriores in the female genitalia. In addition, segment 2 of the labial palpus is usually very long and straight with a dense brush of long hair, and the forewing is often elongate with longitudinal stripes. These features separate Megacraspedus from the related Aristotelia Hübner , [1825] and Caulastrocecis Chrétien, 1931 .

More than 40 species of Megacraspedus are known from the Palearctic region ( Rebel 1901, Gaede 1937, Huemer & Karsholt 2001, Junnilainen & Nupponen 2010); two from the Nearctic region ( Lee et al. 2009); 23 from Australia (Edwards 1996); and one from New Zealand. The taxonomic status of two species recorded from the Afrotropical region ( Meyrick 1920, Vári et al. 2002) require verification. Larvae feed on Poaceae and probably on Asteraceae .