Oiketicoides Heylaerts, 1881

Arnscheid, Wilfried R. & Sobczyk, Thomas, 2023, Taxonomic review of the Oiketicoides species (Lepidoptera: Psychidae: Oiketicinae Acanthopsychini) from Anatolia, the Middle East and Central Asia, Zootaxa 5239 (3), pp. 373-394 : 377

Genus Oiketicoides Heylaerts, 1881

Acanthopsyche (Oiketicoides) Heylaerts, 1881 ; 66. Annales de la Société entomologique de Belgique 25: 66.

Type species: Psyche inquinata Lederer, 1858: 142 by subsequent designation by Hampson, 1893: 293.

Chalipecten Strand, 1912: 355 ; Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 2: 355.

Type species: Chalia staudingeri Heylaerts, 1889 by original designation.

Syn. ‡ Amictoides Gerasimov, 1937: 14 ; Annales de la Société entomologique de Belgique 25: 66. Nomenclaturally unavailable.

Type species: Psyche febretta Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1835

Syn. Amictoides Bourgogne, 1949: 100 ; Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France. 54 (7): 100.

Type species: Psyche febretta Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1835 by original designation.

Syn. Paramictoides Koçak, 1980: 145 ; Nota Lepidopterologica 2 (4): 145. A replacement name for a junior homonym Amictoides Gerasimov, 1937 .

Redescription. Male. Head. Eyes roundish, antennae scapus thickened, pedicellus disc-shaped, antennal pecten densely scaled dorsally, ventrally ciliated. The antennae are bipectinate without scales, long ventrally ciliated, decreasing evenly in length towards the apex. Head densely covered with long, hair-like scales.

Thorax. Legs long and hairy. Foreleg with a long and narrow tibial epiphysis. Tibia of the mid- and hindlegs with tiny spurs distally. Forewings elongated, mostly densely covered with short hair-like scales; venation with 10 veins from dc, r3+r4 and m2+m3 mostly stalked. Dc with a simple median vein (rarely divided). On hindwing m1+m2 are mostly short-stalked, median vein not forked (rarely divided), sc and rr fused and mostly connected to the dc with a bar. Cross connections between the veins are absent.

Abdomen. Often protruding the hindwings. Mostly densely covered with long hair.

Male genitalia. The shape of the male genitalia and the abdominal sclerites is very characteristic for the genus with very little difference between the species. The small differences are difficult to evaluate and probably can only be considered by accurate statistical analysis of a larger series of specimens. The long tegumen is evenly rounded dorsally with an even, inwardly folded edge. The vinculum is long and narrow, at the broadest with small, protruding lobes at the sides, the size of which varies with the species. The vinculum continues evenly into a saccus, which is usually thickened again caudally. The valvae are short and broad and do not protrude beyond the tegumen. The clasper is curved inwards and bears about 6 pointed conical spines distally. The pulvillae at the base of the valvae are weakly set off and bear many very fine-pointed sensilla. The phallus is a uniformly thick tube with barely indicated curvature. The distal end is two-lobed with a ventral inversion. The vesica is up to 1/3 of the penis length filled with many very fine granules.

Female. Apterous, maggot-shaped and wingless. The antennae are not developed or indicated as tiny bumps. Instead of the eyes mostly small pigment spots are present. The legs are reduced to two segments and bear a pair of claws distally. The females remain in their pupal shell in the case and in this manner, mating takes place. After the mating procedure, the females lay their eggs directly in the case. The females have no diagnostic features for species identification.

Early stages. Mostly unknown. The hitherto known larval cases are generally built of silk and they are covered longitudinally with fragments of twigs and leaves in a very similar way. The caterpillars are polyphagous and feed on different herbs like Vicia spp. (de Freina, in litt., Fig. 2 ) and grass.

Figures

FIGURE 2 Caterpillar of Oiketicoides armena (Heylaerts, 1885), feeding at Viccia sp., Turkey, Tokat-Sivas, 1700 m, Çamlýbel- Pass, 1–10.vii.1978 (Photo: J. de Freina).