Agrionympha

Gibbs, George W. & Kristensen, Niels P., 2011, Agrionympha, the long-known South African jaw moths: a revision with descriptions of new species (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae), Zootaxa 2764, pp. 1-21 : 17-19

Agrionympha male 1

Figs. 10 H–J

Material examined. 233 in alcohol. South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna district, Diepwalle Forest near Forestry Station, 520 m, 12–16 Dec 1979, S. & J. Peck, in malaise trap. Specimen 1 ( BMNH): Male genitalia prep. G.W. Gibbs G1001 ( ZMUC). Attempted DNA extraction of metathorax (by D.C. Lees): BMNH (E) # 678474, plate MSL079: well E2. Specimen 1: ( ZMUC): Attempted DNA extraction of thoracic muscles (by Y. Kobayashi): AG1 Description. The only available specimens are preserved in alcohol and lack scales and pigmentation.

Head: Antennae: decolourised; 43–44 flagellomeres in male.

Thorax: FW length 3.1 mm in male.

Male postabdomen: ( Fig.10 H–J) Sternum VIII remnants irregularly oval, bearing about 12 minute setae. Anteroventral margin of IX sclerotisation broadly rounded, unthickened. Median plate narrow, tapered anteriorly, lacking a keel and unpigmented. Valvae moderately long (length:width ratio 4.6). About 35 hair-sensilla located in membraneous dorsum of segment IX. Phallus short, ratio length:height 4.9; ‘neck’ region not constricted; gonopore semicircular, a little over half (0.59) width between lappets with proximal margin straight, a distinctive flap-like overhang in the mid-line; ventral bulb moderate.

Female postabdomen: sex unknown.

Bionomics. Malaise-trapped in montane tall indigenous forest with Podocarpus falcatus and P. latifolius .

Distribution. South Africa, Western Cape, near Knysna. Only known from a single locality.

Remarks. The male genitalia are separable from those of the named species by the modest number (but>30) of hair-sensilla on dorsum IX, combined with the large gonopore size and absence of constricted ‘neck’ on distal phallus; pertinent phallus characters cannot be compared in pseliacma , from which ‘male 1’ appears to differ (in lateral projection) by the more narrow/elongate sternum VIII remnants, the contour of the segment IX front margin (concave rather than convex towards venter), the more parallel-sided valves and the more regular outline of the dorsum X lobe. However, we cannot on morphological grounds ascertain that these completely denuded male specimens are not conspecific with one of the ‘female-only’species jansella , vari and pseudovari (of which only the last-mentioned is also recorded from Western Cape). Moreover, even if molecular markers render/could render such conspecificity unlikely, we decided against naming a taxon on the basis of this material. It is an important background for this decision that the specimens in question do not add significantly to the known spectrum of structural diversity within the genus.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Agrionympha male genitalia. A – B, A. pseliacma, Meyrick, Karkloof Falls: A, lateral view, from slide 3830, Transvaal Museum, Pretoria; B, detail of phallus, lateral. C – G, A. sagittella, sp. nov. Hogsback: C, lateral; D, dorsal; E, ventral; F, phallus, lateral; G, phallus dorsal. H – J, Agrionympha ‘ species 1 ’, Diepwalle Forest: H, lateral; I, phallus lateral; J, phallus dorsal.