Elachista olekarsholti, Sruoga, 2021

Sruoga, Virginijus, 2021, A new species of Elachista Treitschke, 1833 (Lepidoptera, Elachistidae, Elachistinae) from China, with identification keys to the Asian species of the Elachista saccharella species group, ZooKeys 1068, pp. 41-50 : 41

Elachista olekarsholti sp. nov.

Figures 1-3 , 4-8 , 9-12

Material examined.

Holotype. CHINA • ♂; Henan Prov. [ince], Tongbai ; 300 m alt.; 11-13 Sep. 2000; O. Karsholt leg.; NKU VS501 . Paratype. CHINA • 1 ♂; same label as holotype; ZMUC VS502 .

Diagnosis.

Elachista olekarsholti belongs to the E. saccharella species group. It is a small, dark-coloured species with indistinct wing markings and a dorsoventrally flattened head. In wing pattern and male genitalia, the new species is most similar to E. albrechti Kaila, 1998, known from Nepal. The main differences between E. albrechti (cf. Kaila 1998) and E. olekarsholti are: (1) spinose knob of gnathos very long and narrow in E. olekarsholti , in E. albrechti , it is club-shaped, with large distal dilation; (2) digitate process in E. olekarsholti is short and narrow, in E. albrechti , it is strongly dilated; (3) saccus in E. olekarsholti very short, whereas it is three times longer than wide in E. albrechti ; (4) phallus in E. olekarsholti strongly curved beyond the middle, with cornutus, in E. albrechti , it is strongly curved before the middle, without cornutus.

Male

(Figs 1-3 ). Forewing length 3.5-3.6 mm; wingspan 7.7-7.9 mm (n = 2). Head: frons shiny, creamy white; vertex whitish-brown; neck tuft greyish-brown; labial palpus upwards curved, diverging, about 1.7 times as long as width of head, whitish-creamy, distal part of second and third segment with few dark brown scales; scape creamy white below, with few dark brown scales above, without pecten; flagellum blackish-brown above, weakly annulated with paler rings, basal part creamy white below. Thorax and tegula greyish-brown, mottled with dark brown tipped scales. Forewing: ground colour blackish-brown, basal part slightly paler, intermixed with few rusty scales; indistinctly delimited oblique whitish-creamy streak from 1/3 of costa to fold where there is a small group of raised black scales; indistinct whitish creamy spot at 2/3 length of costa and similar one on dorsum just before it; fringe scales brownish-grey, fringe line brownish-black. Hind-wing brownish-grey, with fringe concolorous.

Female. Unknown.

Male genitalia (Figs 4 - 12 ). Uncus lobes very small, triangular-shaped, apex with few tiny setae. Basal arms of gnathos very long, heavily melanised and strongly bent towards posterior direction, apically fused; spinose knob about two times as long as wide, apically widened. Costa of valva almost straight; basal fold of costa meets distal fold at 1/3 from base. Cucullus medially deeply incised, thus divided into two lobes: triangular lobe where sacculus meets cucullus and another longer distal lobe. Digitate process short and slender, three times as long as its width, distally with few short setae. Juxta lobes large, about 1/4 length of valva, mesially somewhat produced, medial incision between juxta lobes very short (Figs 4 and 10 ), distal margin medially slightly concave, ventral surface with short setae medially and long setae laterally. Vinculum with broad median ridge, tapered to short and broad saccus. Phallus about 1.6 length of valva, twisted and strongly curved at basal 1/2 and 4/5; vesica with group of minute spines and long folded cornutus.

Biology.

Unknown.

Flight period.

Based on the specimens available, adults fly in September.

Distribution.

So far, this species is known only from east-central China.

Etymology.

The new species is named in honour of Ole Karsholt (Copenhagen, Denmark) who collected the type specimens.

Remarks.

The phallus of the holotype is slightly distorted during slide mounting and, therefore, looks somewhat skewed in Fig. 5 .

Figures

Figures 1 - 3. Elachista olekarsholti sp. nov. 1 male adult, holotype 2 same, head, frontal view 3 head, paratype, lateral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figures 4 - 8. Elachista olekarsholti sp. nov. 4 general view of male genitalia (phallus removed), holotype 5 phallus, holotype 6 phallus, paratype 7 apical part of phallus, holotype 8 apical part of phallus, paratype. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.

Figures 9 - 12. Elachista olekarsholti sp. nov. 9 uncus lobes and distal part of phallus, paratype, in glycerol before permanent mounting in Euparal 10 apical part of juxta lobe, paratype 11 vinculum and saccus, paratype 12 same, in glycerol before permanent mounting in Euparal. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.