Argyresthia mirabiella Toll, 1947

Baraniak, Edward & Walczak, Urszula, 2015, Redescription of Argyresthia mirabiella Toll, 1947 (Lepidoptera: Argyresthiidae), Zootaxa 3957 (3), pp. 347-350 : 347

Argyresthia mirabiella Toll, 1947

( Figs. 1–2 , 5, 6 a)

Redescription. Forewing span 12.5 mm. Labial palpus white with slight lustre, scales appressed. Head covered with white and yellow scales, appressed on frons. Antenna with scape and pedicel white; flagellum dark brown, with white band at base of each segment. Thorax white. Forewing elongate, pointed apically, white, slightly lustrous, with pale brown-golden patches, arranged linearly into interrupted bands; costa 2/ 3 of its length, pale brown-golden; apex pointed, white with a small black spot. Hindwing pale grey.

Female genitalia: Papillae anales small, membranous. Posterior apophyses longer than anterior ones. Antrum membranous, small, strongly sclerotized near entrance of ductus bursae, cup-shaped. Ductus bursae evenly narrow, only slightly dilated near inception of bursa copulatrix. Bursa copulatrix slightly sclerotized only near entrance of ductus bursae. Signum large, strongly sclerotized in middle and proximal portion; markedly less sclerotized in distal, narrower portion.

Type. Holotype: ♀, labelled: “ Typus.” [printed red rectangular label]; “Hyrcania, Kuh I Mirabi mont, 2000m. VII.– VIII.” [printed]; “Praeparat No 1300.” [hand-written]; “ Argyresthia mirabiella Toll. ” [hand-written], deposited in the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences (Krakow, Poland).

Type locality. Northeastern Iran, Kuh-i-Mirabi Mts. (mountain range between Mashhad and Neyshabur), 2000 m.

Diagnosis. The external appearance clearly distinguishes this species from the others described so far. Argyresthia goedartella (Linnaeus, 1758) is coloured similarly but its wings are more shiny and the bands always well-defined (uninterrupted) ( Fig 3 ). Toll (1947) noted that the signum of A. mirabiella is similar to that of A. pygmaella (Denis et Schiffermüller, 1775) ( Fig 6 c) but this statement concerns only the middle portion. The rear portion of the signum of A. mirabiella is less sclerotized, visible only with Nomarski illumination at high magnification. The signum of A. goedartella ( Fig. 6 b) is also very different from that of A. mirabiella .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Argyresthia mirabiella 1. Holotype, external appearance 2. Holotype labels

FIGURES 5 – 6. 5. Argyresthia mirabiella— female genitalia 6. Signum (lines next to figures all refer to 10 Μm): a — Argyresthia mirabiella, b — Argyresthia goedartella, gen. slide YPO 75 / 2014, c — Argyresthia pygmaeella, gen. slide YPO 76 / 2014.

FIGURES 3 – 4. 3. Argyresthia goedartella— external appearance; Kojszówka, 10 Aug 2000, Poland 4. Argyresthia pygmaeellaexternal appearance; Brzezinka, 23 Jun 2006, Poland