Megacraspedus faunierensis, Huemer, Peter & Karsholt, Ole, 2018

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 : 53-55

Megacraspedus faunierensis sp. n.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, "Italien, Prov. Cuneo Alpi Cozie, Demonte NW Colle Valcavera NE, 2420 m 7°6'23"E, 44°23'04"N 2.8.2010, leg. Huemer TLMF 2011-010" (TLMF). Paratypes. Italy. 26 ♂, 9 ♀, same data as holotype, but genitalia slides GEL 1219 ♂ Huemer, GEL 1235 ♀ Huemer (TLMF, ZMUC); 12 ♂, Prov. Cuneo, Demonte NW, Colle Fauniera Umgebung, 2480-2500 m, 3.viii.2008, leg. P. Huemer; 3 ♂, same data, but Colle Valcavera Umgebung, 2400-2500 m, 5.viii.2008, leg. P. Huemer; 1 ♂, same data, but Colle Valcavera NE, 2420 m, 4.viii.2008, leg. P. Huemer; 2 ♂, same data, but 23.vii.2009, leg. P. Huemer; 21 ♂, 3 ♀, same data, but 28.vii.2009, leg. P. Huemer (all TLMF); 11 ♂, 1 ♀, same data, but 2420 m, 27.vii.2009, leg. T. Mayr; 1 ♂, same data, but 17.vii.2012, leg. T. Mayr; 2 ♂, same data, but 18.vii.2012, leg. T. Mayr; 1 ♀, same data, but 16.viii.2013, leg. T. Mayr; 10 ♂, same data, but 17.viii.2013, leg. T. Mayr; 4 ♂, same data, but 2450 m, 22.vii.2018, leg. T. Mayr; 1 ♂, Prov. Cuneo, Gias Valcavera, 2050 m, 23.vii.2009, leg. T. Mayr; 14 ♂, 1 ♀, same data, but 22.vii.2018, leg. T. Mayr (all RCTM); 2 ♂, Prov. Cuneo, Valdieri N, RN Juniperus phoenicea, 900-1000 m, 29.vi.2008. leg. P. Huemer; 1 ♂, same data, but 8.vi.2009 (all TLMF).

Description.

Adult. Male (Figure 40). Wingspan 13-14 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with moderately long scale brush, brown on outer surface, white mottled with brown on inner surface, white on lower and upper surface; segment 3 cream-white. Antennal scape without pecten; flagellum dark brown ringed with white. Head, thorax and tegula cream-white. Forewing cream coloured mottled with some brown-tipped scales, especially in apical part; base of costa dark grey; a black dot in fold at 2/5 and two black dots at 3/5 in middle of wing and at end of cell; some black-tipped scales along termen; fringes light grey. Hindwing light grey with concolorous fringes. Female (Figure 41). Wingspan 11 mm. Forewing with apical part pointed, light yellowish brown, darker towards apex, fringes whitish. Hindwing lanceolate, whitish grey. Otherwise similar to male.

Variation. The amount of black scales on the forewings is variable. Rarely the black dot before the apex is absent. There is a slight variation in the colour of the forewings; worn specimens look more greyish.

Male genitalia (Figure 174). Uncus small, nearly sub-rectangular, basally weakly widened, apical corners rounded, apical edge straight with weak medial emargination; gnathos hook moderately slender, straight, apically pointed, approximately 1.2 times length of uncus; anterior margin of tegumen with suboval emargination, sclerotised ridges from anterior edge converge in medial part of tegumen; pedunculi small, suboval, with small transverse ridge; valva slightly broader than uncus, stout, extending slightly beyond base of uncus, digitate distal part, apex broadly rounded; saccular area densely covered with setae, with longitudinal ridge, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum weakly emarginated, without distinct lateral humps, vincular sclerite elongated sub-ovate, with sclerotised posterior edge; saccus prominent, slightly longer than valva, slender V-shaped, ratio maximum width to length 0.6, posterior margin with distinct projections, separated by broad incision, medial part with long sclerotised ridge from posterior margin to apex, lateral sclerites approximately 0.8 times length of maximum width of saccus; phallus weakly curved at about one-quarter, with weakly inflated coecum, 1.5 times wider than distal part, distal part 3 times length of coecum, sclerotised dorsal ridge, ventrally wrinkled, apex broadly rounded; ductus ejaculatorius with linear internal sclerotisation.

Female genitalia (Figure 275). Papilla analis small, apically rounded; apophysis posterior slender rod-like, 2.5 mm long, with short, bifurcate posterior end, bordered by minute sclerotised field; segment VIII 0.8 mm long, membranous; subgenital plate with sub-triangular subostial sclerotisation, posteriorly extended into long and pointed sclerites delimiting small ostium bursae, anterior margin with rod-like edge connected with apophysis anterior, medially with moderately short nearly tubular projection; apophysis anterior slender, rod-like, about half length of segment VIII, posteriorly becoming rod-like venula of segment VIII, extending to posterior margin of segment VIII; ductus bursae short, moderately broad; corpus bursae, moderately short and broad, weakly delimited from ductus bursae, entire length of ductus and corpus bursae nearly 2 mm; signum small, rounded spiny plate.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus faunierensis sp. n. is characterised by its cream coloured forewings with three distinct black spots. It resembles M. tristictus (Figure 48) which has darker forewings, but M. faunierensis sp. n. has the head white and the antennae darker. It is also similar to M. pentheres (Figure 130), which shares the yellowish brown colour of the forewings with M. tristictus , but has the dot at the end of the cell largely reduced, and there are several small dark spots in the terminal area. The male genitalia differ from the probably closest species M. neli sp. n. (Figure 173) particularly in the smaller uncus, broader valva, and the shape of the saccus. They somewhat resemble those of M. leuca (Figure 237) in this character, although the saccus is V-shaped and not U-shaped, but differ in many other structures. The female genitalia are similar to several species such as M. sumpichi sp. n. (Figure 279) and differ in particular by the tubular rather than sinusoid projection of the anterior edge of segment VIII. However, this character is unknown for related species and maybe of limited diagnostic value in the delimitation of species.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:AAJ3164 (n = 3). The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is considerable with mean 1% and maximum divergence of 1.6%. However, this divergence is exclusively based on a divergent specimen from a lowland locality (Prov. Cuneo, Valdieri N, RN Juniperus phoenicea, 900-1000 m, 29.vi.2008. leg. P. Huemer). The distance to the nearest congeneric neighbour M. sumpichi sp. n. is 11.9%, the distance to the nearest BIN in BOLD, an unnamed Limacodidae , is 9.1% (p-dist).

Distribution.

North-western Italy.

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The adults have been collected from early June to mid-August, depending on the altitude. In alpine habitats they were found flying freely in the early morning about sunrise. At this time several specimens could be collected in copula, mainly sitting on low vegetation, particularly on blades of grass. The altitudes range from ca. 900 to 2500 m.

Etymology.

This species is named after the place of occurrence of part of the type series: the Colle di Fauniera pass in northern Italy. The name is a noun in apposition.