Scythris wadiqeltella Passerin d’Entrèves and Roggero, 2013
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222933.2012.763106 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B787A7-FFF6-791C-BF27-CBF2DF8EFB7B |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Scythris wadiqeltella Passerin d’Entrèves and Roggero |
| status |
sp. nov. |
Scythris wadiqeltella Passerin d’Entrèves and Roggero , sp. nov.
( Figures 2A View Figure 2 , 3A–D View Figure 3 )
Diagnosis
The species is easily confused with several other pale, small-sized scythridids on the basis of external features alone. However, the male genitalia are uniquely distinct. The gnathos is very elongate ( Figure 3B View Figure 3 ), the tegumen is short and globose ( Figure 3B View Figure 3 ), and the phallus is short, thick and enlarged subapically ( Figure 3A View Figure 3 ). In contrast, the valvae have no unique characteristics, being slightly arched inwardly, evenly narrow, with a blunt distal apex ( Figure 3D View Figure 3 ), as found in many other scythridids.
Description
Male ( Figure 1B View Figure 1 ). Wingspan 7.2 mm. Forewing upper surface white, with three small, equally spaced, light brown dots; fringe yellowish white. Hindwing upper surface translucent, with a shining hue; fringe yellowish white. Forewing and hindwing lower surfaces cream-coloured. Head yellowish white, palpi white, and proboscis light brown. Thorax white. Abdomen greyish white. Legs white except for tarsi light brown. Antenna brown, two-thirds as long as the forewing, with antennifer white.
Male genitalia ( Figures 3A–D View Figure 3 ). Uncus (0.19 mm) laminar, slightly shorter than tegumen, not bilobed, elongate. Gnathos (0.32 mm) symmetrical, elongate, slightly sinuate, with short proximal arms, and distal arm elongate, tapered, tip pointed and bent downwards. Tegumen (0.13 mm) short, subtriangular. Phallus (0.27 mm) cylindrical at base, enlarged at two-thirds of its length, and beak-like at apex. Juxta ribbon-shaped, half as long as the phallus; endophallus distinct. Vinculum (0.13 mm) well developed, subpentagonal. Valvae (0.46 mm) elongate, incurved, with blunt apex. S8 (0.29 mm) symmetrical, sclerotized and thickened at base, membranous distally, with large and rounded notch at distal margin. T8 (0.20 mm) symmetrical, reduced, membranous, with a short and large notch at apex.
Female. Unknown.
Type material
Holotype: Male ( SMNK) Palestine [ Jordan]: Georgskloster , 1 June 1932, (Einsler). Genital slide no. 1023 PdE.
Distribution
The species is known only from the type locality in Palestine, near the Wadi Qelt (Prat River), on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Etymology
The species was named after the type locality, the Qelt stream near the St George Monastery.
Remarks
This species does not resemble any other known species from the same area. Furthermore, it is clearly different from any other known scythridid species. At present, we include this new species in the genus Scythris ; however, we chose not to place it in any known species-group because of the unique combination of genital traits of S. wadiqeltella , that are only vaguely similar to those of S. senecai Bengtsson (1997, p. 89) . Scythris senecai is included at present in the Scythris canescens species-group, a heterogeneous and provisional group; the inclusion of 15 species (see Bengtsson 1997, p. 79–80 for the whole list) in the group is only tentative, as remarked by the same Bengtsson (1997). The most characteristic part of S. wadiqeltella is the phallus, which vaguely resembles the phallus of S. passerini Bengtsson , S. curletti Bengtsson and S. bicruris Zhang and Li. On the whole, the male genitalia of these three species are different to the genitalia of S. wadiqeltella , hence these taxa are definitely not related.
New record
Scythris inconspicuella Sinev, 2001 : male, China, Changzhou, Tianmushan, 1931 (Höne). Genital slide 1818 PdE (SMNK).
Remarks
Previously, this species was known from various localities of East Russia ( Sinev 2001: p. 12). The new record greatly extends the species distribution southward, since the Tianmushan Biosphere Reserve is located in the Zhejiang Province of east coastal China (230 km south of Shanghai). The area is characterized by a high plant biodiversity, including bamboo and coniferous forests, and is known as the “ Kingdom of the Big Trees ”, as the most ancient wild Ginkgo biloba are found there.
| SMNK |
Staatliches Museum fuer Naturkunde Karlsruhe (State Museum of Natural History) |
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