Acalyptris noctilucus Rocienė & Stonis, 2020

Stonis, Jonas R., Remeikis, Andrius, Diškus, Arūnas & Navickaitė, Asta, 2020, Documenting new and little known leaf-mining Nepticulidae from middle and southwestern areas of the Asian continent, Zootaxa 4881 (3), pp. 401-452 : 425-426

Acalyptris noctilucus Rocienė & Stonis , sp. nov.

( Figs 81 , 224–229 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:63000FA3-3094-4A3C-BF02-A48FF1B7B4DB

Type material. Holotype: ♂, India, Uttarakhand, Dehradun Distr., Rishikesh , 30°07’40.01”N, 78°19’03.9”E, el-

evation ca. 450 m, at light, 6.viii.2010, A. Šimkevičiūtė, genitalia slide no. AG 128♂ ( ZIN). Paratypes : 2 ♂, same label data as holotype, 30°08’13.73”N, 78°19’55.12”E, elevation ca. 450 m, at light, 9.viii.2010, A. Šimkevičiūtė, genitalia slide nos AG 125♂ , AG 126♂ ( ZIN) .

Diagnosis. This new species belongs to the Acalyptris platani species group. A. noctilucus sp. nov. is most similar to the Oriental A. auratilis Puplesis & Diškus, 2003 , A. acontarcha (Meyrick, 1926) , and some Afrotropical Acalyptris with modified, simple lobe-shaped ventral carina, a truncated proximal lobe of vinculum, and valva without a pronounced inner lobe, including A. umdoniensis (Scoble, 1980) and A. rubiaevora (Scoble, 1980) .

Externally, males of A. noctilucus differ from all similar species of the A. platani group by the presence of shiny, brightly blue iridescent scales on the dark forewing.

Internally, in the male genitalia, A. noctilucus differs from all similar species in the absence of lateral carinae of the phallus ( Fig. 225 ) and the unique-shaped ventral carinae as a long and slender single lobe ( Fig. 226 ).

Male ( Fig. 81 ). Forewing length 1.7–1.8 mm; wingspan 3.8–4.0 mm (n = 2).

Head. Palpi cream, frontal tuft pale ochre orange; collar pale ochre; scape very large, golden cream to ochreous cream; antenna shorter than one half the length of forewing; flagellum golden cream.

Thorax. Tegula, thorax and forewing densely covered with dark, grey-brown scales; these dark scales with a strong blue iridescence, especialy in the apical half and apex of the forewing; fringe pale grey-brown, without a fringe line; underside of forewing pale grey-brown, without spots or androconia. Hindwing brownish cream without androconia on upper side and underside, with little purple iridescence; fringe ochreous cream to grey cream depending on angle of view. Legs ochreous cream with some pale brown scales on upper side.

Abdomen. Colouration of the scaling is unknown. Genitalia ( Figs 224–229 ) with capsule about 290 µm long, 195 µm wide. Pseuduncus ( Figs 224 ) triangular-shaped, rounded or truncated distally. Valva ( Figs 224, 227, 229 ) about 200 µm long, widened in the basal 1/3, but without a prominent, individualized inner lobe ( Fig. 224 ). Vincu-lum with short or very short, distally rounded lateral lobes and a truncated proximal lobe, strongly chitinized along caudal margin ( Fig. 224 ). Phallus ( Figs 225, 226, 227, 229 ) about 315 µm long, without lateral carinae, with a modi-fied ventral carinae as a long and slender single lobe ( Fig. 226 ); cornuti tiny and pointed apically ( Figs 225, 226 ).

Female. Unknown.

Bionomics. Host plant is unknown. Adults fly in August. Otherwise, biology is unknown.

Distribution. Known from a single locality in the western Himalaya (Uttarakhand: Rishikesh), at the elevation of about 500 m ( Fig. 1 : wHi).

Etymology. The species is named after other night luminous insects (including the beetle Pyrophorus noctilucus (L.)), in reference to the bright blue lustrous (iridescent) scales on the dark forewing of the new species.

Figures

FIGURES 81–86. Adults of Acalyptris spp. 81, A. noctilucus Rocienė & Stonis, sp. nov., male holotype; 82, A. brunipexus Stonis, Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov., female paratype; 83, same, male holotype; 84, A. auratilis Puplesis & Diškus, specimen AG127; 85, A. nasutus Diškus & Navickaitė, sp. nov., female holotype; 86, same, forewing venation, slide AD479b (ZIN).

FIGURES 224–229. Male genitalia of Acalyptris noctilucus Rocienė & Stonis, sp. nov. 224, holotype, genitalia slide no. AG128, capsule with phallus removed; 225, 226, same, phallus; 227, 228, paratype, genitalia slide AG126, capsule with phallus inside; 229, paratype, genitalia slide no. AG125, capsule with phallus and ventrally bent carina (ZIN)

FIGURES 1–6. A geographical map (courtesy of T. Patterson, USA) and new host plants of Nepticulidae. 1, localities in this study; 2, 3, Ototropis elegans (DC.) H. Ohashi & K. Ohashi, Fabaceae, a host plant of Stigmella longa sp. nov.; 4, Viburnum cotinifolium D. Don., Adoxaceae, a host plant of Acalyptris nasutus sp. nov; 5, Ototropis sp., Fabaceae, a host plant of Stigmella pyramidata sp. nov.; 6, Spiraea canescens D. Don., Rosaceae, a host plant of Ectoedemia orbiculata sp. nov.