Rhigognostis canariella, Baraniak, Edward, Larsen, Knud, Kubasik, Wojciech & Grzegorczyk, Tomasz, 2017

Baraniak, Edward, Larsen, Knud, Kubasik, Wojciech & Grzegorczyk, Tomasz, 2017, A new species of Rhigognostis (Lepidoptera, Plutellidae) from the Canary Islands, Zootaxa 4244 (3), pp. 355-366 : 356-360

Rhigognostis canariella sp. nov. Baraniak & Larsen

( Figs 1, 2 , 6 , 7 )

Type specimens: 5 females;

Holotype: female, Canarias, Gomera, Vega Opala, Ermita de Las Nieves, 1000 m, 25.02.[20]01, ad. luc., Meyer M. leg, previously identified as Ornativalva plutelliformis (Staudinger, 1859) , det. Meyer M. (24956, coll. Macaron), deposited in the collection of Zoologisk Museum, University of Copenhagen ( ZMUC), Denmark .

Paratypes:

1 female, Spain, Tenerife , San Andrés, 5 km N., 25.0 4.1998, K. Larsen leg.;

1 female, Spain, Tenerife , Las Cañadas: Boca de Tauce, 2000 m, 24.0 4.1998, K. Larsen leg.;

1 female, Spain, Tenerife , Vilaflor: Las Lajas, 1800 m, 24.0 4.1998, K. Larsen leg.;

1 female, Spain, Tenerife , Güimar, La Ladera, 800 m, 23.0 4.1998, K. Larsen leg.;

All paratypes are preserved in the private collection of Knud Larsen, Copenhagen.

Head. White, with a small proportion of grey scales. Labial palpus composed of 3 palpomeres: first palpomere greyish white; second palpomere bicoloured, its base greyish white, its inner side pure white at half its length, tuft of scales greyish white, only apex with pure white scales; last palpomere longest, curved, bicoloured, outer side greyish white, inner side pure white ( Fig.2 ). Antennae: scape pure grey, other flagellomeres grey, with a conspicuous admixture of white scales, forming narrow bands at the base of each flagellomere.

Thorax ( Fig. 1 ). White. Forewing ground colour dark brown, with white patches and a small proportion of white-yellow scales in its central part. Costal area white, its proximal part (half of wing length) with small dark square spots on white background, its distal part with 3 large, rectangular, dark grey patches. Wing base white, with a small proportion of scattered dark scales. In central part of wing, to 2/3 of its length, a broad, dark grey patch, containing a narrow streak composed of black scales present. This patch is notched at half its length, the notch is triangular, pure white, reaching to half of wing width. At base of this triangular notch, near its lower margin, a large dark spot. From the notch towards the wing apex, in the apical part of the patch, a band of light yellow scales is visible. In the apical part of the wing, immediately behind the central patch, a conspicuous lighter area extends to the costal margin. Fore wing apex uniformly greyish white. Posterior margin white from base to 1/3 of its length, with only a few small groups of dark scales; from 1/3 of wing length to apex, posterior margin light brown. Cilia long, greyish white, with 2 dark cilia lines. Hindwing light grey, with similarly coloured, long cilia. Foreleg and midleg, short and thin, covered with dark brown scales; an area near connection of segments with white scales. Hind leg, long and thin, covered with light grey scales. Tarsomeres dark brown with white scales apices and bases, near the connection of tarsal segments. Fore leg without epiphysis on tibia, mid leg with one pair of apical spurs, and hind leg with median and apical spurs on tibia.

Abdomen. White-grey.

Male genitalia. Unknown.

Female genitalia ( Figs 6 , 7 ). Posterior and anterior apophyses short and thin; the latter markedly shorter than posterior ones. Antrum triangular in outline, its apex deeply notched, with gently rounded edges near ductus bursae. Short section of ductus bursae near antrum dilated, weakly sclerotized; next section tapered, similarly short but strongly sclerotized; remaining part of ductus bursae of even width but strongly sclerotized at half its length, resulting in its twisting; immediately behind sclerotized part a short membranous section. Inception of bursa copulatrix strongly sclerotized, partly strengthening it, connected with a long ductus bullae, also initially strongly sclerotized; its remaining part membranous of even width. Bursa copulatrix oval, strongly sclerotized, signum absent. Bulla seminalis large, elongated irregular, with partly sclerotized walls.

Diagnosis. R. canariella sp. nov. is, in respect of forewing colour and the pattern of patches on forewings, similar to R. annulatella , R. kovacsi and R. schmaltzella in spite of small differences ( Figs 1–5 ). These 4 species differ in the structure of female genitalia ( Figs 6–10 ), and the diagnostic characters are presented in Table 1 . The deep notch in the antrum of this species resembles that of R. marmorosella Wocke ( Baraniak 2016a) , but other features of the structure of female genitalia differ. The triangular shape of antrum in R. canariella is similar to that of the Tibetan species R. barkamensis ( Baraniak, Larsen 2017 in press), but other features of female genitalia are different.

Analysis of the structure of the genital apparatus of female of three species similar in terms of the morphological characteristics, allows for clear identification of the features characteristic of the described species ( Table 1 .)

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. Spain, Canary Islands: La Gomera, Tenerife.

Etymology. The species is named after its type locality, the Canary Islands.

Note. The specimens collected from the Canary Islands by Klimesch (1995) and classified as Rhigognostis annulatella were not found in his collection preserved in the Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich. Determination of the species was verified by G. Friese which is clearly mentioned in Klimesch (1995). However, in the Friese collection in Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut in Müncheberg, we could not find specimens of this species from the Canary Islands, nor genitalia slides used for determination ( Baraniak et al. 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 6. R. canariella female genitalia: a, general view; b, part of ductus bursae.

FIGURE 7. R. canariella female genitalia: c, antrum; d, antrum at inception of ductus bursae; e, ductus bursae at inception of bursa copulatrix; f, denticles on corpus bursae; g, bursa copulatrix at inception of ductus bullae; h, bulla seminalis.

FIGURES 1, 2. Rhigognostis canariella, holotype, Spain, Canary Islands, La Gomera, Vega Opala, Ermita de Las Nieves, 1000 m, 25.02. [20] 01, ad luc., M. Meyer leg. 1, habitus. 2, labial palpus.

Tables

TABLE 1. A summary of differences in genitalia characters between Rhigognostis annulatella, R. canariella, R. schmaltzella and R. kovacsi.

Characters	R. annulatella	R. canariella	R. schmaltzella	R. kovacsi
Antrum	round, markedly narrowing, shallowly notched (Fig. 8a)	triangular, deeply notched (Fig. 7c)	triangular, shallowly notched (Fig. 10a)	oval, small, notch, very shallow and small (Fig. 9a)
Ductus bursae below antrum	strongly dilated, poorly sclerotized (Fig. 8b)	dilated, markedly sclerotized (Fig. 7d)	dilated, sclerotized (Fig. 10b)	slightly dilated, poorly sclerotized (Fig.9b)
Ductus bursae	sclerotized at 2/3 of its length, at inception of bursa narrow strongly sclerotized ring (Fig. 8d)	membranous, only short sections near antrum sclerotized (Fig. 7e)	sclerotized, only short sections membranous with small single sclerotized plate at inception of bursa (Fig. 10d)	membranous, sclerotized at 1/3 of its length (Fig. 9d)
Bursa copulatrix	membranous, walls of bursa with small teeth Fig. 8c)	walls of bursa strongly sclerotized (Fig. 7f)	membranous, walls of bursa with small teeth (Fig. 10c)	membranous, walls of bursa with very small teeth (Fig. 9c)
Signum	absent	absent	present, large (Fig. 10f)	present, small (Fig. 9f)
Ductus bullae	long, membranous, only inception of bursa copulatrix sclerotized (Fig. 8e)	long, with a short sclerotized section near bursa copulatrix (Fig. 7g)	long, membranous (Fig. 10e)	short, tiny membranous (Fig. 9d)
Bulla seminalis	large, oval, membranous, walls partly sclerotized (Fig. 8f)	large, irregular, membranous, walls partly sclerotized (Fig. 7h)	large, irregular, membranous, walls partly sclerotized (Fig. 10g)	small, irregular membranous (Fig. 9g)