Micropterix sikhotealinensis Ponomarenko & Beljaev, 2000

Tarasova, Anastasiia A. & Ponomarenko, Margarita G., 2025, New data on Microlepidoptera (Lepidoptera: Micropterigidae, Adelidae, Glyphipterigidae, and Yponomeutidae) from the Far East of Russia, Zootaxa 5715 (1), pp. 456-475 : 463-465

Micropterix sikhotealinensis Ponomarenko & Beljaev, 2000

( Figs 5, 6, 9, 10 , 17 , 26, 27 , 30 , 33, 34 )

Material examined. Type material. Holotype, 1 ♂, Russia, Primorskii Krai , Chuguevskii district, 16 km SSE Yasnoe village, Sister stream, 1000 m a.s.l., 43°33’48” N, 134°04’01” E, 17.vi 1998 (leg. E. Beljaev), GS 350 MP . Paratypes: 1 ♂, same locality, date and collector; 1 ♂, Russia, Primorskii Krai , 16 km SE Yasnoe village, valley of Ussuri river, 43°36’05” N, 134°06’46” E, 20.vi 1998 (leg. E. Beljaev), GS 351 MP , all in FSCB.

Additional material. 1 ♀, Russia, Primorskii Krai , 30 km NW Lazo, Lazovskii pass, 896 m a.s.l., 43°33’08” N, 133°34’57” E, 11.vii 2001 (leg. M. Ponomarenko), GS 346 MP, FSCB .

Diagnosis. M. sikhotealinensis is similar to M. aureatella ( Scopoli, 1763) by cucullus curved dorsally almost at a right angle and significantly expanded in the distal part, by dorsal and lateral processes having similar shape and position on annulus in the male genitalia. It differs by a forewing with an inverted groundcolour and pattern of forewing ( Figs 5, 6, 9, 10 ). It can be also distinguished by dorsal process of annulus, which wider basally, proximal part of valva with longer inflated part, which about 3/5 of total valval length in the male genitalia ( Fig. 26 ). M. aureatella has dorsal process of annulus narrower basally and proximal part of valva with shorter inflated part, about half of total valval length in the male genitalia. In the female genitalia, M. sikhotealinensis differs from the related species by narrower sternal sclerotisation of 9 th segment, split in two more or less equal lobes, with smoothly sloped lateral edge in the female genitalia ( Figs 30 , 33, 34 ).

Adult. Wingspan 9.1–9.5 ( ♂) and 8.9 mm ( ♀); length of forewing 4.2–4.5 ( ♂) and 4.1 mm ( ♀) ( Figs 5, 6 ). Head with raised brown hair-like scales ( Fig. 17 ). Antenna brown and monochromatic. Thorax and tegula dark brown, covered by iridescent violet and bronze scales. Forewing golden-yellow with violet two transverse fasciae at 1/8 and 1/3 of wing length, and one costal spot at half of wing length, two indistinct spots formed by accumulated iridescent violet scales before tornus and at the end of cell; fringe brown. Hindwing brown, slightly darker distally, with iridescent violet and bronze shine; fringe brown ( Figs 5, 6 ).

Comparative morphological notes. The forewing of M. sikhotealinensis has golden groundcolour and pattern formed by violet two transverse fasciae at 1/8 and 1/3 and one small costal spot at half of wing length ( Figs 5, 6, 9, 10 ). M. aureatella has violet groundcolour and two golden fasciae at 1/3 and about half of wing length and more or less costal spot sometimes almost reaches dorsal edge of wing ( Figs 7, 8 ). In the male genitalia both species differ by width of basal part of dorsal process of annulus: M. sikhotealinensis has wider dorsal process compared to that in M. aureatella . The subspecies M. aureatella shikotanica Kozlov described from the Far East of Russia has not only narrower dorsal process of annulus but smaller and shorter one than that in the nominotypical subspecies. The inflated proximal part of valva in this subspecies about half of total valval length (after Kozlov 1988: fig. 2), which corresponds to that in European M. aureatella illustrated by Zeller-Lukashort et al. (2007), but longer than in M. aureatella from Japan ( Hashimoto 2006). M. sikhotealinensis has longest inflated proximal part of valva, exceeding half of total valval length ( Fig. 26 ). Females of M. aureatella from Europe and Japan, and M. sikhotealinensis from the Russian Far East have different shape of sternal sclerotisation of 9 th segment. M. sikhotealinensis has shorter (along to longitudinal body axis) sclerotisation split in two more or less equal lobes ( Figs 33, 34 ), European M. aureatella with longer sclerotisation split in two lobes different in size ( Figs 35, 36 ), Japanese specimen of the same species with slightly longer sclerotisation than in European one and without distinct split ( Figs 37, 38 ).

Host plant. Unknown.

Distribution. Russia (south of Far East: Primorskii Krai).

Figures

FIGURES 1–10. Adults (1–6) and schemes of forewing pattern (7–10). 1—Cauchas storozhenkoi sp. nov., male, holotype; 2—Kessleria fasciapennella, female; 3—Metanomeuta fulvicrinis, male; 4—Glyphipterix maritima, female; 5, 6—Micropterix sikhotealinensis: 5—male, holotype; 6—female; 7, 8—M. aureatella, after Zeller-Lukashort et al. (2007: figs 30, 32); 9, 10—M. sikhotealinensis: 9—male, holotype; 10—female. Scale bar 1 mm.

FIGURES 11–17. Heads with appendages. 11–13—Cauchas storozhenkoi sp. nov., male, holotype: 11—head, lateral view; 12—flagellum with ventral ciliation; 13—head, frontal view, measurements for calculation of interocular index, shown by arrows; 14—Kessleria fasciapennella, head of female, lateral view; 15—Metanomeuta fulvicrinis, head of male, lateral view; 16—Glyphipterix maritima, head of female, latero-frontal view; 17—Micropterix sikhotealinensis, head of male, holotype, lateral view. Abbreviations: md—minimum distance between the eyes across the frons, vd—vertical eye diameter.

FIGURES 18–27. Male genitalia. 18–21—Cauchas storozhenkoi sp. nov., holotype, GS 345 MP: 18—genitalia, ventral view, aedeagus removed; 19—uncus, socii and medial sclerite of transtilla, ventral view; 20—aedeagus, dorsal view; 21—apex of aedeagus, dorsal view. 22–25—Metanomeuta fulvicrinis, GS 343 AT: 22—genitalia, ventral view, aedeagus removed; 23— aedeagus, lateral view; 24—sacculus of left valva with thorns; 25—sacculus of right valva with thorns. 26, 27—Micropterix sikhotealinensis, holotype,GS350 MP:26—genitalia,lateralview,aedeagusremoved;27—aedeagus,lateral view.Abbreviations: a.l—accessory lobe, cor—cornuti, d.p—dorsal tegminal process, g—medial sclerite of gnatos, jx—juxta, l.aed—left lobe of aedeagus apical part; l.p—lateral tegminal process, m.p—medial process of W-shaped plate of transtilla, pr.vl—inflated proximal part of valva, r.aed—right lobe of aedeagus apical part; s—socii, sc—saccus, scl—sacculus, t.p—tegminal part of annulus, teg—tegumen, tr—transtilla, s.p—sternal part of annulus, unc—uncus, v—valva, vs—vesica, vn—vinculum. Scale bar 0.5 mm with the exception of enlarged figures 19, 24, 25.

FIGURES 28–32. Female genitalia and female abdomen. 28, 29—Kessleria fasciapennella, GS 344 AT: 28—genitalia, ventral view; 29—sternal area of 8th segment and antrum. 30—Micropterix sikhotealinensis, GS 346 MP, lateral view. 31, 32, Glyphipterix maritima, GS 348 MP: 31—genitalia, ventral view; 32—antrum, fragment with thorns near its bottom is shown. Abbreviations: a.a—apophysis anterioris, ant—antrum, a.p—apophysis posterioris, c.b—corpus bursae, d.b—ductus of corpus bursae, d.s—ductus seminalis, l.pv—lobe of lamella postvaginalis, ost—ostium, p.a—papillae anales, r.th—ring of thorns near the bottom of the antrum, st.sc—sternal sclerotisation of 9th segment, t.p—terminal papillae, v.s—sclerotisation of ventral arms of apophyses anteriores. Scale bar 0.5 mm with the exception of enlarged figures 29, 32.

FIGURES 33–38. Micropterix spp., female terminalia (33, 35, 37) and shapes of sternal sclerotisation of segment 9 (34, 36, 38), lateral view. 33, 34—M. sikhotealinensis; 35, 36—M. aureatela, Europe; 37, 38—M. aureatella, Japan. 35—photo after Zeller- Lukashort et al. (2007: fig. 109), 37—figure after Hashimoto (2006: fig. 13). Scale bar 0.2 mm with the exception of figures 34–36, 38. Abbreviation as in Fig. 30.