Scythris tigrensis Nupponen, 2022

Nupponen 1, Kari & Sihvonen, Pasi, 2022, Revision of Neotropical Scythrididae moths and descriptions of 22 new species from Argentina, Chile, and Peru (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea), ZooKeys 1087, pp. 19-104 : 19

Scythris tigrensis Nupponen sp. nov.

Figs 26 , 55

Type material.

Holotype. Argentina • ♂; prov. Mendoza, Andes Mts., Cordillera del Tigre, Mendoza River valley near Uspallata village; 32°35.9'S, 69°22.9'W; 1900 m a.s.l.; 25 Jan. 2017; K. Nupponen & R. Haverinen leg.; [BOLD sample ID] KN01042; [genitalia slide] K. Nupponen prep. no. 1/8 Dec. 2019; coll. NUPP (MZH).

Paratype. Argentina • 1 ♂; same data as for holotype; coll. NUPP.

Diagnosis.

Wings elongated without any distinct pattern, and genitalia examination is indispensable for reliable determination. In the male genitalia of S. tigrensis , a narrow distal arm of the gnathos, broad valvae and a conspicuous bifurcate formation attached anteriorly to tegumen are distinctive.

Description.

Wingspan 14 mm. Head, haustellum, tegula and thorax beige mixed with cream. Neck tuft white, collar pale beige. Scape dark brown, ventrally with few paler scales; pecten brown and longer than diameter of scape. Flagellum dark brown, 0.65 × length of forewing. Labial palp: palpomere I and base of palpomere II white, otherwise brown more or less mixed with white. Legs: femur and tibia pale beige mixed with fuscous, tarsi fuscous. Abdomen grey, dorsally each segment paler grey scales at posterior margin. Forewing pale beige; indistinct blackish spot in fold at 0.4, and small fuscous spot at cell end; greyish white scales densely scattered in apical area. Hindwing pale fuscous.

Male genitalia. Uncus narrow, digitate, slightly bent downwards. Gnathos base rectangular hood; distal arm narrow, downcurved. Phallus as long as width of valva, bent at middle. Valvae broad and straight, slightly asymmetrical: left one basally with round flap and distally more tapered. Anteriorly to tegumen large bifurcate structure of uncertain homology is attached; left furca (when viewed ventrally) funnel-shaped, longer than valva; right furca 1/2 × shorter, cylindrical, tip pointed, apex with very long and thick seta. Sternum VIII rectangular, 1.7 × higher than wide; posteriorly sclerotised with two narrow and curved projections. Tergum VIII asymmetrical, semi-trapezoid plate.

Etymology.

Latinised adjective in the nominative singular. The species is named after the type locality, the mountain range of the Tigre in the Andes.

Distribution.

NW Argentina.

Habitat.

The collecting site is a dry and xerothermic valley of the River Mendoza at medium altitude of the Andes, surrounded by rocky slopes with sparse and low vegetation.

Genetic data.

BIN: BOLD:ADZ5721 (n = 1 from Argentina). Nearest neighbour: North American Neoscythris sp. (BIN: BOLD:ABA1135, 6.57%).

Remarks.

Female unknown. Based on the COI maximum likelihood phylogeny, taxon Scythris tigrensis belongs to an isolated lineage, being sister to a large lineage containing taxa classified in Scythris or in Scythrididae on BOLD (Suppl. material 2). Its morphology does not resemble any other species covered in the study, and even though the barcode gap analysis suggests Neoscythris as the nearest neighbour, it does not have the diagnostic characters of that genus ( Landry 1991). For practical reasons, we classify Scythris tigrensis in Scythris , but more research is needed.

In our COI maximum likelihood analysis, there are five species, which are structurally heterogenous from each other, and which are distributed in different lineages in the middle-part of the tree (Suppl. material 2, marked with red vertical bar). These are difficult to combine with any North American Scythrididae genus as diagnosed in Landry (1991). We classify these five species, and morphologically similar species without DNA barcodes, to Scythris (incertae sedis), highlighting the need for further research. Potentially these taxa should be classified in several genera. These taxa are S. bicoloristrigella species group ( Scythris bicoloristrigella , Scythris saldaitisi , Scythris wikstromi ), S. andensis species group ( Scythris andensis , Scythris mendozaensis ) and S. dividua species group ( Scythris dividua , Scythris medullata , Scythris notorrhoa ).

Figures

Figures 24 B- 29. Scythrididae adults, genus Scythris 24 B S. tibicina Meyrick, 1916, male 25 A S. sanfranciscoensis Nupponen sp. nov., male, holotype 25 B S. sanfriscoensis Nupponen sp. nov., male, paratype 26 S. tigrensis Nupponen, sp. nov., male, holotype 27 A S. bicoloristrigella Nupponen sp. nov., genus combination incertae sedis, male, holotype 27 B S. bicoloristrigella Nupponen sp. nov., genus combination incertae sedis, male, paratype 28 S. saldaitisi Nupponen sp. nov., genus combination incertae sedis, male, holotype 29 S. wikstromi Nupponen, sp. nov., genus combination incertae sedis, male, holotype.

Figures 55 - 56. Male genitalia of Scythris 55 S. tigrensis Nupponen sp. nov., holotype, slide 1 / 08 Dec. 2019 KN 56 S. bicoloristrigella Nupponen sp. nov., genus combination incertae sedis, holotype, slide 1 / 9 Dec. 2019 KN.