Pseudosophronia exustellus (Zeller, 1847)

Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Karsholt, Ole, Kravchenko, Vasiliy & Šumpich, Jan, 2019, An annotated checklist of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) of Israel with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4677 (1), pp. 1-68 : 9

Pseudosophronia exustellus (Zeller, 1847)

Ypsolophus exustellus Zeller, 1847 —Isis von Oken 1847 (11): 820.

Sophronia catharurga Meyrick, 1923 , syn. nov. — Exot. Microlep. 3 (1–2): 34.

Sophronia parahumerella Amsel, 1935 , syn. nov. —Mitt. zool. Mus. Berl. 20 (2): 297.

Sophronia buvati Nel, 1998 —Alexanor 20(4): 228, figs 17–23.

Records. Amsel 1933: 126; Amsel 135a: 297, pl. 11, fig. 95; Amsel 1935c: 265; Bodenheimer 1937: 102 ( parahumerella ; catharurga ); Bytinski-Salz & Sternlicht 1967: 130; Halperin & Sauter 1992: 122.

Material examined. Holotype of S. parahumerella ♀, Tel Aviv, Paläs., Düne , 17.ix.1930 (Amsel) ( SMNK); 2 ♂, 1 ♀ Kefar Shemuel, 15.iv.1968 (gen. slide 128/ 18♂, 129/ 18♀, O. Bidzilya ( TAU); 4 ♂, Jericho, Kalia, v.2004 (Kravchenko) ( TAU, ZMUC).

Remarks. Specimens from Israel match both externally and genitally ( Figs 1–4 ) Pseudosophronia exustellus ( Nel 1998; Corley 2001). They also agree in all details with the female holotype of Sophronia catharurga collected in Akka, Israel ( Clarke 1969: 376, pl. 188, figs 1–1b). The female holotype of Sophronia parahumerella described from the vicinity of Tel Aviv is identical to P. exustellus too ( Fig. 2 ). Hence, we propose the following synonymy: Sophronia catharurga Meyrick, 1923 and Sophronia parahumerella Amsel, 1935 syn. nov. of Pseudosophronia exustellus (Zeller, 1847) .

Host plant. Unknown. The record of Quercus ithaburensis Decne. as a host plant for larvae of P. exustellus in Israel ( Bytinski-Salz & Sternlicht 1967: 130; Halperin & Sauter 1992: 122) requires verification.

Distribution. Spain, Portugal, France, Italy (including Sicily) ( Karsholt & Riedl 1996: 118), Israel.

Figures

FIGS 1–4. Pseudosophronia exustellus Z. 1. Adult, Israel, ♀ (gen. slide 129/18, O. Bidzilya). 2. Adult, Israel, ♀ (holotype of S. parahumerella). 3. Male genitalia (gen. slide 128/18, O. Bidzilya). 4. Female genitalia (gen. slide 129/18, O. Bidzilya).