Aponoea obtusipalpis Walsingham, 1905 (Dichomeridinae)

Li, Houhun & Sattler, Klaus, 2012, A taxonomic revision of the genus Mesophleps Hübner, 1825 (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) 3373, Zootaxa 3373, pp. 1-82 : 57-58

Aponoea obtusipalpis Walsingham, 1905 (Dichomeridinae)

Aponoea obtusipalpis Walsingham, 1905 , Entomologist’s mon. Mag. 41: 125. Syntype ♀, ALGERIA: Biskra, 7.iii.1903 (Walsingham, no. 96644) (BMNH) [examined].

Mesophleps cinerellus Turati, 1930 , Atti Soc. ital. Sci. nat. 69: 80, pl. 2, fig. [unnumbered]. LECTOTYPE ♂ [not ♀], LIBYA: Cyrenaica , Banghazi (‘Bengasi’), 21.iii.1922 (Krüger) (BMNH), here designated [examined]. Comb. nov., syn. nov.

Remarks. A. obtusipalpis was described from ‘Type ♀ (96644); ♂ (96648)’; Walsingham’s description was made from the female, which should be designated as the lectotype. M. cinerellus was described from three specimens: one male, Al Marj (‘Barce’), 1.vii.1929, and two females, Banghazi (‘Bengasi’), iii.1922 and x.1929. Only fragments of the badly damaged March specimen (a male, not female as stated in the original description) have survived: the head and wings pasted onto card; this is here designated as the lectotype. The head with the labial palpi, and the wings, leave no doubt that M. cinerellus is an Aponoea and a synonym of A. obtusipalpis Walsingham, 1905 .

Biology. Larva suspected on Limoniastrum guyonianum (Plumbaginaceae) (Walsingham 1905: 125).

Distribution. Spain, North Africa ( Algeria, Libya).

Material examined (3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, including 1 ♂, 1 ♀ genitalia preparations)

Algeria: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Biskra, 7, 21.iii.1903 (Walsingham) , 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Hammam Salahine (‘Hammam-es-Salahin’), 15, 16.v.1903 (Walsingham) (all syntypes of A. obtusipalpis ) . Libya: 1 ♂, lectotype of M. cinerellus , as above .