Stigmella quercipulchella

Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Navickaitė, Asta & Rocienė, Agnė, 2013, Description of new species of oak leaf-miners (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae), with notes on the species groups of Stigmella Schrank associated with Quercus as a host-plant, Zootaxa 3737 (3), pp. 201-222 : 218-219

The quercipulchella group

Diagnostic characters ( Fig. 42 ): forewing always with fascia, androconial scales sometimes developed; in male genitalia, uncus always with two short broad lateral lobes, gnathos always with two posterior processes, anterior processes of gnathos usually long, transtilla with very short (or none) sublateral processes, aedeagus always with numerous spine-like cornuti aggregated into a band, manica always present (large or small); in female genitalia, accessory sac always strongly developed (very long or broad) and always spiral (coiled), without spines, corpus bursae always without signa.

Host-plant preferences. Subgenus Quercus , section Lobatae ( Fig. 37 ).

Distribution and taxonomic diversity. Comprises five species. Nearctic: Stigmella quercipulchella (Chambers, 1878) ; S. variella (Braun, 1910) ; S. altella (Braun, 1914) .

Neotropical (Central American): Stigmella guatemalensis Diškus & Stonis, 2013 ; S. species 515 (Stonis et al. 2013a).

The ruficapitella group

Diagnostic characters ( Fig. 43 ): forewing predominantly unicolorous, sometimes with fascia or with spots; androconial scales often developed; in male genitalia, uncus almost always with two long, narrowed, well separated lateral lobes, gnathos almost always broadly U-shaped, anterior processes of gnathos either very short or absent, aedeagus always with numerous spine-like cornuti aggregated into a full or broken band, manica often developed; in female genitalia, accessory sac often large or very large, usually with short or large spines (sometimes spines absent), corpus bursae often reduced, signa absent.

Host-plant preferences. Usually genus Quercus (subgenus Quercus ), sections: Quercus , Cerris, Mesolobatus ; sometimes other genera of Fagaceae ( Castanopsis , Castanea : a few oligophagous representavites of the ruficapitella group) or Betulaceae : monophagous Stigmella tristis (Wocke) on Betula ( Fig. 37 ).

Distribution and taxonomic diversity. Comprises 29 species, all in the Palaearctic Region.

West Palaearctic: Stigmella atricapitella (Haworth, 1828) ; S. ruficapitella (Haworth, 1828) ; S. samiatella (Zeller, 1839) ; S. basiguttella (Heinemann, 1862) ; S. tristis (Wocke, 1862) ; S. suberivora (Stainton, 1869) ; S. ilicifoliella (Mendes, 1918) ; S. zangherii (Klimesch, 1951) ; S. svenssoni (Johansson, 1971) ; S. dorsiguttella (Johansson, 1971) ; S. roborella (Johansson, 1971) ; S. eberhardi (Johansson, 1971) ; S. szoecsiella (Borkowski, 1972) ; S. macrolepidella (Klimesch, 1978) ; S. trojana Z. Laštuvka & A. Laštuvka, 1998 ; S. fasciata van Nieukerken & Johansson, 2003; S. cocciferae van Nieukerken & Johansson, 2003; S. bicuspidata van Nieukerken & Johansson, 2003; S. karsholti van Nieukerken & Johansson, 2003; S. kasyi van Nieukerken & Johansson, 2003.

East Palaearctic: Stigmella aladina Puplesis, 1984 ; S. omelkoi Puplesis, 1984 ; S. fervida Puplesis, 1984 ; S. fumida Kemperman & Wilkinson, 1985 ; S clisiotophora Kemperman & Wilkinson, 1985 ; S. kao van Nieukerken & Liu, 2000; S. crenatiella Hirano, 2010 ; S. azuminoensis Hirano, 2010 ; S. hisakoae Hirano, 2010 .

Note. S. dentatae Puplesis, 1984 (because the basally bulbous aedeagus with coiled vesica), and S. circumargentea van Nieukerken & Liu, 2000 (because the feeding on Lithocarpus ) are excluded from the ruficapitella group here for the first time and transferred to the castanopsiella group.

Figures

FIGURE 37. Feeding preferences of the species groups of Stigmella associated with Quercus as a host-plant. Some species of the ruficapitella group may feed on more than one host-plant, thus the total percentage of host use for the group exceeds 100 %.

FIGURES 42, 43. Diagnostic characters of the quercipulchella and the ruficapitella species groups.