Meleonoma robustijuxta, Zhu & Wang, 2022

Zhu, Xiaoju & Wang, Shuxia, 2022, Taxonomy of the genus Meleonoma Meyrick, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae) from China (IV), with descriptions of twelve new species, Zootaxa 5087 (4), pp. 501-521 : 507-508

Meleonoma robustijuxta sp. nov.

( Figs 6 , 18 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6CC49453-582E-4DB4-AD4B-C62F38C35630

Type material. CHINA, Sichuan: Holotype ♂, Mt. Sigu'niang (30.98°N, 102.83°E), Xiaojin County, 3243 m, 3.VII.2016, leg. KJ Teng & XF Yang, slide No. ZXJ19449.

Diagnosis. The new species is similar to M. jigongshanica ( Wang, 2003) in the male genitalia. It can be distinguished by the costa with a process medially, the stout juxta and the aedeagus without a row of tiny teeth along the distal half. In M. jigongshanica , the costa lacks a process medially, the juxta is slender and the aedeagus has a row of tiny teeth along the distal half ( Wang 2003: 207, Fig. 17 ).

Description. Adult ( Fig. 6 ). Forewing length 10.0 mm.

Head with vertex blackish brown, frons yellow. Labial palpus with first palpomere blackish brown on outer surface, yellow on inner surface; second palpomere blackish brown except yellow on basal 3/5 of inner surface; third palpomere yellow, slender, approx. 1/2 length of second palpomere. Antenna blackish brown on dorsal surface; scape yellow, flagellum blackish brown alternated with yellow on ventral surface.

Thorax and tegula blackish brown. Forewing blackish brown, with ill-defined discal, discocellular and plical dots; fringe greyish brown. Hindwing and fringe greyish brown. Legs yellow; on ventral surface, fore- and midlegs blackish brown except tarsi yellow at apex of each tarsomere, hind femur and tibia with blackish-brown scales, hind tarsus blackish brown except yellow at apex of each tarsomere.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 18 ). Uncus wide at base, gradually narrowed to basal 3/4, distal 1/4 abruptly narrowed, forming a small, heavily sclerotized rectangular process; lateral margin sclerotized from distal 1/3 to apex. Tegumen uniformly wide medially; lateral arm narrowed to rounded apex. Valva narrowed at base, widened medially, distal 1/4 distinctly narrow, thumb-shaped; ventral margin roundly convex medially, with dense setae running from basal 1/4 to apex; costa banded, heavily sclerotized, reaching tip of costal margin, with a large median process asymmetrical in shape: process of left valva longer, narrowed from base to pointed apex, process of right valva stout, rounded at apex. Sacculus wide at base, slightly narrowed to apex; apex straight, dorsoapically produced to a conical process extending upward to basal 1/4 of valva. Saccus nearly as long as uncus, rounded at apex. Juxta indistinctly joined by membrane anteriorly; lateral arm stout, sub-rectangular, slightly widened to obtuse apex, heavily sclerotized. Aedeagus longer than valva, basal 4/7 more sclerotized, distal 3/7 membranous; slender, heavily sclerotized band running from basal 4/7 to apex, with a small sub-rectangular process near apex, with a few denticles in vesica apically.

Female unknown.

Distribution. China (Sichuan).

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin robustus and the term juxta, referring to the stout juxta.

Figures

FIGURES 4−9. Adults of Meleonoma spp. 4, M. aculeolata sp. nov.; 5, M. rectivalva sp. nov.; 6, M. robustijuxta sp. nov.; 7, M. varilobata sp. nov.; 8, M. basitriangula sp. nov.; 9, M. biprocessa sp. nov. All holotypes and males. Scale bars = 2.0 mm.

FIGURES 16−21. Male genitalia of Meleonoma spp. 16, M. aculeolata sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZXJ19527; 17, M. rectivalva sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZXJ19511; 18, M. robustijuxta sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZXJ19449; 19, M. varilobata sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZXJ19451; 20, M. basitriangula sp. nov., paratype, ZXJ19590; 21, M. biprocessa sp. nov., holotype, slide No. ZXJ19369. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.