Tracholena liparodes, Dugdale, John S., 2005

Dugdale, John S., 2005, Three new species of Tracholena Common, 1965 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Tortricinae: Schoenotenini) from New Caledonia associated with Araucariaceae, Zootaxa 870, pp. 1-16 : 7-9

Tracholena liparodes sp. nov. ( Figs. 2 , 6, 9, 10 , 13 )

Material examined: Holotype. Male, “NOUVELLE CALEDONIE: Mt Panié, 1380 m to light, 15 December 1990, J.S. Dugdale.” “ HOLOTYPE male/ Tracholena liparodes Dugdale ” [red card], MNHN

Paratypes. New Caledonia: 1 male, 1 female, same data as holotype except capture dates span 6–16 December 1990, ONNC Noumea; 1 male, 1 female, ditto, NZAC.

Description: Male, female ( Fig. 2 ): Head with vertex tufts grey brown, scape grey brown; with vom Raths organ less than half length of labial palp apical segment; maxillary palp one­segmented on an inwardly spinulose pedicel, apical palp segment with 1–2 scales and apically with 4 short stiff sensilla. Flagellomeres longer than wide, 1–3 cylindrical, rest tapering apically, and each with a basal whorl of trichomes longest on the basal flagellomeres and at most only slightly longer than flagellomere length, flagellomeres with the paired sensilla coeloconica contiguous, ventro­apical; labial palpus second segment scaling evenly grey­brown speckled outwardly; prosternal midline scale tuft pale buff contrasting with the brown speckled fore coxae. Forewing: Shape more or less as in paniense ( Fig. 2 ), length ca. 2.3X width (females), ca. 2.8X width (males); forewing underside with costal cell area dark grey­scaled, contrasting with the rest of the wing; forewing upperside (and mesonotum) ochreous grey, with indistinct blackish markings at about ¼, ½, and a series marking apices of veins R1, R2, and R3; an interrupted serrate dark brown­scaled line at ¼, and another, even less complete at about ½ wing length; Sc, R and branches with scattered small groups of dark brown scales, 1A+2A; discally with scattered irregular patches of more ochreous scales; areas of raised scales as in nigrilinea . Hindwing: Grey buff; the anal tuft over half the length of anal wing margin; venation: veins M3 and Cu1A coincident at base (i.e., “bifid”) and distant from vein M2 ( Fig. 6 , cf. Fig. 5 ).

Wingspan: Holotype male: 15.2 mm; 2 paratype males: 14.8 and 15.2 mm; paratype females 15.8, 16.0 and 18.2 mm, respectively.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 9, 10 ): Uncus long, slender, decurved; uncus base broad, mesal part as in nigrilinea , produced anteriorly between the posteriorly extended tegumen apices; socii lobate; gnathos arms forming a U thickened towards apex, with lateral spinules outwardly, and thickened part with dorsal spinules, apex with a pair of ventral “wings; transtilla dorsally with a pair of dorsally and outwardly­directed spinose clavate arms; valva apex oblique (costal margin shorter than saccular margin), and no sclerotised strut below the M2 muscle attachment ( cf. nigrilinea ); aedeagus ( Fig. 9 ) stout, not longer than valva; with a large apical dextral hook (appressed to the vesica in Fig. 9 ); bulbus ejaculatorius entering at ca. half aedeagus length, vesica with a basal spinulose patch and 14 nondeciduous plate­like cornuti arranged in 2 arcs; bulbus ejaculatorius tube stout, sinuous, hood not as long as sleeve.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 13 ): Ovipositor lobes axes more or less parallel, unmodified anteriorly. Ovipore on a level with anterior third of lobes, and minutely spinulose; sternite 8 with a raised pair of transverse curved ridges; lamella postvaginalis a broad scobinate field with a narrow, sclerotised, scobinate strip bordering the ostium bursae; lamella antevaginalis a thin sinuous sclerotised bar, ostium bursae laterally produced anteriorly (but no ligament discernible); colliculum short, ventrally split; ductus seminalis arising on a latero­ventral papilla; ductus bursae and cestum sinuous, forming one long complete spiral; corpus bursae with a broad­margined, thorn­like signum, corpus bursae covered in minute pit­like micro­sculpture.

Diagnosis: This species resembles T. paniense and T. lipara , being broad­winged (forewing length <2.9X width). It can be distinguished from those two by the forewing with costal cell area dark­grey scaled ventrally (not so in the others); hindwing veins M3 and CuA1 contiguous basally but not stalked (stalked in lipara , distant in paniense ); aedeagus with an apical hooked process; and vesica with 14 chunky, non­deciduous, basal cornuti (a possible species apomorphy).

The unmodified ovipositor lobes, the sinuous cestum/ductus bursae (a single, elongate spiral), and presence of a strong hollow signum are character states shared with the Queensland T. micropolia . Other differences are noted in the “Diagnosis” of T. paniense below.

General notes: While most specimens examined have a wingspan of 14–16 mm, one female of this species exceeds 18 mm, but it has the same venation and genital conformation as the smaller specimens of liparodes . Similar variation in wingspan was reported for the female­strobilus/seed­eating T. lipara ( Common 1973: 302) but not for the foliage­eating T. dialeuca and T. hedraea ( Common 1982: 222, 223), nor for the male­strobilus­eating T. nigrilinea (see above).

Specimens were collected at light at the same time and at the same site as T. paniense , under a stand of Agathis montana . No feeding site on any host could be found. Most specimens are greasy, indicating that larvae may be seed­eaters. Common (1973: 303) noted that T. lipara specimens, reared from damaged klinkii pine ( Araucaria hunsteinii ) seeds, can become greasy, and most T. nigrilinea specimens, all from male cones, are greasy. Superficially, this species resembles 2 unset T. lipara specimens (in ANIC, CSIRO) from Bulolo in the Papua New Guinean Highlands, but lacks the transverse lines of orange scales so characteristic of that species.

Etymology: The name refers to the external resemblance to T. lipara .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Fig. 1. Tracholena nigrilinea sp. nov. Male, Ponerihouen, habitus. (LH wings omitted). Fig. 2. T. liparodes sp. nov. PT male, Mt Panié, habitus. Fig. 3. T. paniense sp. nov. PT male, Mt Panié, habitus. (Scales represent 0.5 mm)

FIGURES 1 – 10. Fig. 4. T. paniense. PT male fore and hind wing venation [NZAC prep. 875]. Fig. 5. T. nigrilinea. Fore and hind wing venation, male [NZAC prep. L 862]. (Outer scale tuft across vein CuA 2 omitted.) Fig. 6. T. liparodes sp. nov. Hind wing M 2 ­ M 3 ­ CuA 1 disposition. Fig. 7. T. paniense, male flagellomere 10, ventral, showing widely separated sensillae coeloconica. [NZAC prep. L 879]. Fig. 8. T. nigrilinea, PT male, genitalia, Ponerihouen [NZAC prep. L 859]. Fig. 9. T. liparodes, PT male, aedeagus and bulbus ejaculatorius, Mt Panié [NZAC prep. L 872]. Fig. 10. T. liparodes PT male, genitalia, Mt Panié [NZAC prep. L 880]. (Scales by Figs 4 & 5 repesent 1.0 mm; those by Figs 6, 8 – 10, 0.5 mm.)

FIGURES 11 – 15. Fig. 11. T. paniense, PT male, genitalia, Mt Panié [NZAC prep. L 878]. Fig. 12. T. nigrilinea, female genitalia, Baie des Tortues [NZAC prep. 866]. Fig. 13. T. liparodes, PT female genitalia, Mt Panié [NZAC prep. L 873, 874]. Fig. 14. T. paniense PT female genitalia: ductus and corpus bursae, Mt Panié [NZAC prep. 877]. Fig. 15. T. paniense PT female genitalia: ovipositor, sterigmal and limen structure [NZAC prep. L 877]. (All scales represent 0.5 mm.)