Phyllonorycter silvicola, De Prins, 2012

Prins, Jurate De & Kawahara, Akito Y., 2012, Systematics, revisionary taxonomy, and biodiversity of Afrotropical Lithocolletinae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), Zootaxa 3594 (1), pp. 1-283 : 154

The silvicola group

The silvicola group, consisting of one species, P. silvicola De Prins , n. sp., is very similar to the rhynchosiae and hibiscina species groups. However, differences in female genitalia prevent its placement to either of those groups. Since the male is unknown, its discovery might help to resolve the taxonomic placement of this species. Female genitalia possess a large sterigma shaped into a broad triangular fold, and the ostium bursae opens at the junction of segments VIII and VII as in the rhynchosiae species group. The silvicola species group has a signum that is needleshaped and positioned posteriorly on the corpus bursae, which differs from corpus bursae of the encaeria species group and the rhynchosiae species group, which have a stellate signum positioned caudally.