Rhopalovalva connata Zhang and Li

Zhang, Aihuan, Bai, Xia & Li, Houhun, 2017, Descriptions of two new species of Rhopalovalva Kuznetzov, 1964 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from China, Zootaxa 4231 (1), pp. 114-118 : 116-118

Rhopalovalva connata Zhang and Li , sp. nov.

( Figs. 2, 4 )

Diagnosis. Rhopalovalva connata can be separated easily from its congeners by the absence of an uncus and the fused socii, with few hairs on their termination laterally. In other species the uncus is clubbed or Y-shaped, and the socii are paired and situated on each side of the uncus.

Description. Male ( Fig. 2 ). Head: Vertex with grayish yellow scales tufted between antennae; frons white. Antenna pale yellow. Labial palpus with outer surface gray, inner surface white; second segment with pale brown termination; third segment relatively long, porrect, concealed in long scales of second segment. Thorax: Dorsum and tegula grayish yellow. Legs gray, with brown scales on tibiae and tarsi. Forewing length 6.0 mm; forewing nearly rectangular; apex protruded, falcate; termen concave below apex; ground color grayish brown; a dark grayish fascia extending from intersection of Sc and costa to apex; basal patch, median fascia, and ocellus patch indistinct; tornus blunt; costa with five pairs of white short strigulae from costal 1/3 to apex, the last strigulae composed of only one short stria extending from near apex toward cell; costal 1/3 with four brown spots, basal two slightly larger than other two. Fringe grayish yellow, with brown subbasal line. Hindwing and fringe gray. Abdomen: Male genitalia ( Fig. 4 ) with tegumen bearing a long sclerite on top. Uncus absent. Socii fused and produced into a rectangular sclerite, weakly sclerotized, with few hairs on termination laterally. Valva broad at base, deeply concave ventrally and produced into very slender neck; sacculus angle with broad, very short, hairy lobe directed dorsad; cucullus somewhat parallelogram-shaped, hairy. Phallus slender, with tapering end; cornuti undetected.

Female unknown.

Holotype. ♂, CHINA: Yunan Province : Xishuangbanna, Wild Elephants Valley (22.17˚N, 100.87˚E), 762 m, 19.vii.2014 (Kaijian Teng, Wei Guan, Xiuchun Wang and Shurong Liu), genitalia slide no. ZAH15026.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin connatus, referring to the fused socii in the male genitalia.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Rhopalovalva spp. 1. Adult of R. Macrocuculla, sp. nov., ♂, paratype. 2. Adult of R. connata, sp. nov., ♂, holotype. 3. Male genitalia of R. macrocuculla, sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZAH 15016. 3 a. Socii of R. macrocuculla, sp. nov., paratype, slide No. BX 15085. 4. Male genitalia of R. connata, sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZAH 15026. 5. Female genitalia of R. macrocuculla, sp. nov., paratype, slide No. BX 15087. (Scale bars Figs. 1, 2 = 2.5 mm; Figs. 3 – 5 = 0.5 mm; Fig. 3 a = 0.25 mm).