Megacraspedus nupponeni, 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 : 128-130

Megacraspedus nupponeni sp. n.

Examined material.

Holotype ♂, "RUSSIA S-Buryatia 51°11-13'N 106°10-12'E 700 m, Hamar Daban mnts Murtoy river, Gusinoe Ozero vill. 6 km NW, forest steppe 27.5.2006 K. Nupponen leg." "prep. No. 8/8.X.2006 K. Nupponen" "DNA sample KN00089 Lepid. Phyl." (RCKN). Paratypes. Russia. 1 ♀, same data as holotype but genitalia slide 4/16.7.2017 K. Nupponen; 1 ♂, Buryatia rep., Chikoy valley, 10 km Novoselengnisk vill., 550-600 m, sand dunes/sandy steppe, 2.vi.2006, leg. K. Nupponen (RCKN).

Description.

Adult. Male (Figure 105). Wingspan 10.5 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus with scale brush as long as segment 3, black mottled with white, especially on inner and upper surface; segment 3 almost as long as segment 2, white. Antennal scape with pecten of several hairs; flagellum blackish brown. Head, thorax and tegula as forewing. Forewing rather broad, white, mottled with black-tipped scales especially along margins; base black; a black dot at end of fold, one sub-costal at one-quarter, one in middle of wing and one before apex; black-tipped scales along termen; fringes white at base, light grey beyond black fringe line. Hindwing grey, with light grey fringes.

Female (Figure 106). Wingspan 8 mm. Antenna ringed blackish brown and whitish grey. Forewing short and broad (only 3.5 times as long as broad). Hindwing about one-third as broad as forewing, apex tapered. Otherwise similar to male.

Variation. Unknown.

Male genitalia (Figure 232). Uncus large, suboval, basal width about entire length, apical edge rounded with weak medial emargination; gnathos hook stout, evenly curved, apically pointed, slightly longer than uncus; anterior margin of tegumen with broad and shallow U-shaped emargination, anteromedially small additional emargination; pedunculi moderately small, suboval; valva stout, extending to about middle of uncus, basally weakly inflated, broadly digitate distal part weakly tapered to slightly pointed apex; saccular area densely covered with setae, longitudinal ridge present, without separated sacculus; posterior margin of vinculum with U-shaped medial emargination, without distinct lateral humps, vincular sclerite broadly elongated, with sclerotised proximo-posterior edge; saccus large, slightly shorter than valva, almost V-shaped, apex rounded, ratio maximum width to length approximately 0.7, posterior margin strongly bulged with rounded shallow projections, separated by small incision, medial part with long sclerotised ridge from posterior margin to subapical area of saccus, lateral sclerites slightly shorter than maximum width of saccus, with massively bulged apex; phallus with distinctly inflated coecum, about two times wider than distal part, distal two-thirds digitate, medial part with two groups of 2-3 small spinules.

Female genitalia (Figure 291). Papilla analis weakly sclerotised, large, apically rounded; apophysis posterior slender rod-like, short, approximately 1.3 mm long, posterior end with small sclerotised zone; segment VIII short, approximately 0.4 mm long, large sclerotised dorso- and ventrolateral zone, medially largely membranous, covered with microtrichia; subgenital plate with sub-triangular subostial sclerotisation, posteriorly extended into very short, distally pointed sub-medial sclerites, anteriorly with rounded sclerotised and projected ring delimiting ostium bursae, anterior margin with broadly rod-like edge connected with apophysis anterior; apophysis anterior moderately stout, rod-like, almost twice length of segment VIII, posteriorly broadly connected with segment VIII by sclerotised band; colliculum short, weakly sclerotised; ductus bursae slender, widening to weakly delimited, suboval corpus bursae, entire length of ductus and corpus bursae approximately 1.8 mm; signum moderately small, oblong and weakly spiny plate.

Diagnosis.

Megacraspedus nupponeni sp. n. is characterised by its small size, its relatively short and broad forewings, the antennal scape with several hairs, and by its clear white forewings with scattered black scales and dots. It resembles some forms of M. attritellus (Figure 108), but that species has more slender forewings with a whitish longitudinal streak and a shorter segment 3 of the labial palps. Megacraspedus nupponeni sp. n. diffes from other species of the M. consortiella -group in several characters of the male genitalia, particularly the short and stout gnathos hook, the almost V-shaped saccus, and the characteristic spinules of the phallus. The female genitalia are similar in particular to M. multispinella sp. n. (Figure 290) from which they differ e.g., in the much longer apophysis anterior.

Molecular data.

BIN BOLD:ACB0748 (n = 1). The distance to the nearest neighbour M. multispinella sp. n. is 8.1% (p-dist).

Distribution.

Russia (Buryatia rep.).

Biology.

Host plant and early stages are unknown. The adults have been collected from late May to early June in forest steppe and sandy habitats at altitudes from ca. 550 to 700 m.

Etymology.

The species name (a noun in the genitive case) is dedicated to Kari Nupponen, Finland, who collected the type series of this species and significantly contributed to our work with extremely valuable material from Russia.