Ptychocroca, Brown and Razowski

Brown, John W. & Razowski, Józef, 2003, Description of Ptychocroca, a new genus from Chile and Argentina, with comments on the Bonagota Razowski group of genera (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Euliini), Zootaxa 303, pp. 1-31 : 3-5

PTYCHOCROCA Brown and Razowski , New Genus

Type species: Haemateulia galenia Razowski, 1999 .

Description. Head: Antenna slightly serrate in male, cilia dense, length of cilia ca. 0.7–1.0 times width of flagellomere; antenna unmodified in female, longer cilia extremely sparse, ca. 0.4 times width of flagellomere. Labial palpus whitish mesally, mostly brown laterally, all segments combined ca. 1.2–1.4 times horizontal diameter of compound eye, segment II weakly upturned, rough scaled, expanded distally by scaling, segment III ca. 0.2 times as long as II, smooth­scaled, tip only exposed. Maxillary palpus rudimentary. Dorsal portion of frons with short overhanging tuft of scales; lower portion smooth­scaled; lower frons white; upper frons with grayish scales tipped with white. Ocellus moderate in size. Chaetosema present. Proboscis present, presumably functional. Thorax: Smooth­scaled, mostly grayish brown. Legs unmodified, male foreleg hairpencil absent. Forewing length

6.8–8.0 mm (x = 7.4 mm; n = 20) in male, 7. 0–8.2 mm (x = 7.5 mm; n = 20) in female; length ca. 1.8 times width; length of DC ca. 0.6 times FW length; width of DC ca. 0.18 times DC length; CuA2 originates ca. 0.70 along length of DC; all veins separate beyond DC; chorda absent; M­stem absent; CuP present at margin; scaling gray black in basal half, with dark scaling extending to ca. 0.33 distance from base to apex along costa, and ca. 0.67 distance from base to tornus along dorsum; remainder white with variable grayish overscaling; a small black blotch at upper edge of DC ca. 0.75 distance from base to apex of DC; an ill­defined short, gray­black, rectangular, costal patch ca. 0.65 distance from base to apex; in some specimens forewing pattern obscured by grayish overscaling; upraised scale tuft at base of costa present (in crocoptycha , galenia , simplex ) or absent (all others); male without costal fold. Hindwing with Sc+R and Rs approximate; Rs to costa before apex; Rs and M1 connate or short­stalked; M2 and M3 approximate at base; M3 and CuA1 connate or short­stalked; CuP present; M­stem absent; patch of fine, slender, elongate, external scales from near base of 1A+2A in both sexes; male usually with variable patch of modified sex scaling (=hairpencil) concealed in deep fold of CuP, frequently with dense beige­orange or gray­black scaling adjacent to fold; HW scaling white, with faint gray marbling. Abdomen: Dorsal pits absent; no modified corethrogyne scaling in female. Male genitalia with uncus simple, moderately slender, rodlike, bent subbasally, naked. Socius moderate in size, ca. 1.2 times length of gnathos arms, pendant; not fused to gnathos; hairy and scaled. Gnathos complete, arms moderately narrow, joined distally into narrow, usually elongate, triangular plate. Subscaphium and hami absent. Transtilla bandshaped, broadest at base, with dorsoposterior fold medially. Valva moderately broad, attenuate distally, well sclerotized in distal 0.33; costa nearly straight, weakly differentiated; valva with (in crocoptycha ) or without row or comblike teeth in discal area; venter of valva variably undulate­sinuate, with rounded concavity near middle; sacculus confined to basal 0.33, usually without free apical process, but with small, rounded lobe at lower base; short, blunt thorn from near middle of venter (in crocoptycha and galenia ). Pulvinus absent. Vinculum complete, well developed. Juxta a large, sclerotized, subrectangular plate. Aedeagus moderately long, curved near middle; vesica with one or two dense patches of small, non­capitate cornuti extending nearly throughout; phallobase simple.

Female genitalia with papillae anales slender. Apophyses anteriores and posteriores moderately short, slender, anteriores slightly longer. Sterigma a broad, transverse, sclerotized band, usually with large, rounded mesal portion and curved lateral arms; a pair of elongate lateral lobes anteriorly. Antrum moderately large. Ductus bursae moderately broad, long. Well­developed, rounded accessory bursa from membranous ductus on left side of ductus bursae, usually arising just anterad of junction of ductus bursae and ostium. Corpus bursae rounded, finely punctate; signum lacking. Ductus seminalis from near junction of corpus bursae and ductus bursae.

Diagnosis. Adults of Ptychocroca are characterized by a distinct black­and­white forewing pattern, with a dark basal area and a light apical region. In a few species, the forewing is variably overscaled with gray, diminishing the contrast in markings or partially obscuring the pattern. Superficially, adults of Ptychocroca are most similar to Apotomops and Bonagota . Males of all species of Ptychocroca (except P. apenicillia and P. wilkinsoni ) possess a distinct hairpencil and/or modified sex scales on the hindwing; neither Bonagota nor Apotomops has these structures; Acmanthina possesses a similar hairpencil of 17–20 extremely long, sex scales concealed in a deep fold along the basal 0.6 of hindwing vein CuP. Females of Ptychocroca have a well developed accessory bursa from the ductus bursae that is considerably more developed than the pouch of Bonagota and Apotomops . In Bonagota and Apotomops the aedeagus is short and broad, and the vesica bears one large capitate cornutus; in Ptychocroca the aedeagus is long, curved near the middle, and the vesica bears one or two rows of short, non­capitate, spinelike cornuti. In Bonogota and Apotomops the valva is broad throughout, with an upcurved costa and rounded apex; in Ptychocroca the valva is attenuate in the distal 0.33, and the costa is nearly straight. The female genitalia of Ptychocroca are characterized by a distinct rounded lobe at the middle of the sterigma.

Etymology. The generic name is an anagram of the specific name crocoptycha ; it is interpreted as feminine in gender.

The assignment of Ptychocroca to Euliini is based on its hypothesized phylogenetic relationship with Apotomops , Bonagota , Haemateulia , and Acmanthina . The presence of a gnathos excludes Ptychocroca from Cochylini , which it resembles superficially.

Table 1 presents six male characters useful in discriminating the species. An examination of the genitalia usually is necessary for accurate determination. In the table, “costal tuft” refers to the small patch of erect scales near the base of the costa of the forewing; “HW pencil” refers to the dense hairpencil of scales concealed in the fold of vein CuP in the hindwing; “color of scales” refers to the scales adjacent to vein CuP in the region of the hindwing fold; “valva thorn” refers to a thornlike process in the basal 0.33 of the ventral margin of the valva; “valva comb” refers to the linear patch of thorns extending along the middle of the valva characteristic of P. crocoptycha ; and “aedeagus keel” refers to the triangular subdistal process of the aedeagus characteristic of P. keelioides .