Megacraspedus bilineatella Huemer & Karsholt, 1996

Huemer, Peter & Karsholt, Ole, 2018, Revision of the genus Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839, a challenging taxonomic tightrope of species delimitation (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae), ZooKeys 800, pp. 1-278 : 87-89

Megacraspedus bilineatella Huemer & Karsholt, 1996

Megacraspedus bilineatella Huemer & Karsholt, 1996: 251, figs 1-10.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, "ITALIA sept. Prov. Bergamo Alpi Orobie W Ca. San Marco, 1800-1900 m, 22.7.1992 leg. Huemer & Tarmann" "Holotype Megacraspedus bilineatella Huemer & Karsholt, 1995" (TLMF). Paratypes. Italy. 7 ♂, same data as holotype, but genitalia slides GEL 355 Huemer, GEL 561 Huemer, GEL 562 Huemer (TLMF, ZMUC).

Redescription.

Adult. Male (Figure 68). Wingspan 12-13 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with comparatively short scale brush, brown on outer and inner surface, white on upper and lower surface; segment 3 shorter than segment 2, white with some black towards tip. Antennal scape with a single white pecten, flagellum blackish brown. Head whitish brown; thorax and tegula as forewing. Forewing brown; a broad white streak from base through fold to termen; costa white almost from base to apex; an indistinct white line along dorsum; fringes whitish grey. Hindwing light grey with concolorous fringes.

Female. Unknown.

Variation. The few examined specimens show only slight variation.

Male genitalia (Figure 202). Uncus moderately small, approximately 1.25 times length of maximum basal width, sub-ovate, gradually tapered from base to rounded apical edge; gnathos hook massive, slightly longer than uncus, strongly sclerotised with weakly curved apex; anterior margin of tegumen with shallow excavation, medially with additional weak emargination, with short and slightly converging sclerotised ridges in anteriomedial third; pedunculi small with peg-like sclerotisation; valva moderately long and slender, straight, digitate, apex rounded, extending to about middle of uncus, almost entire length of valva weakly lobed ventrally; saccular area covered with some microtrichia, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum with weak medial emargination, indistinct lateral humps, vincular sclerites broadly sub-ovate, posterior edge strongly sclerotised; saccus elongated sub-triangular, apically pointed, ratio maximum width to length approximately 0.75, posterior margin shallowly arched, with indistinct medial emargination, medial part smooth, without sclerotised ridge, lateral sclerites short, approximately 0.7 times length of maximum width of saccus; phallus about two-thirds length of genitalia capsule, straight, with bulbous coecum, distal two-thirds slender, rod-like, with sclerotised longitudinal ridge.

Female genitalia. Unknown.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus bilineatella is unique within the genus in having the forewings brown with two distinct, longitudinal white streaks along costa and through the middle of the wing and no other markings. The male genitalia are somewhat similar to several other congeners and differ from the closest, M. andreneli (Figure 203), in the massive and strongly sclerotised gnathos hook without subapical widening, the small pedunculi and the elongated sub-triangular saccus. From the nearest neighbour in DNA barcode M. albovenata (Figure 213), it differs furthermore in the shape of the uncus.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:ABU7227 (n = 1). The distance to the nearest congeneric neighbour M. fallax is extraordinarily large with 14.9% (p-dist), whereas several other Gelechiidae in BOLD have smaller distances.

Distribution.

Northern Italy (Prov. Bergamo).

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The adults have been collected in the last third of July, flying freely around low vegetation in the early morning, just after sun rise. The habitat includes mainly grazed, south-exposed slopes with rich vegetation on siliceous soil at altitudes between about 1800 to 1900 m ( Huemer and Karsholt 1996: 252).

Remarks.

Megacraspedus bilineatella was described from nine males collected in the Orobian Alps in northern Italy ( Huemer and Karsholt 1996: 251).