Coenochroa ablutella ( Zeller, 1839 )

Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Budashkin, Yuriy & Yepishin, Viktor, 2020, Review of the tribe Anerastiini (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Phycitinae) from Ukraine, Zootaxa 4718 (1), pp. 1-24 : 15-16

Coenochroa ablutella ( Zeller, 1839)

Anerastia ablutella Zeller, 1839: 177 . Type locality: Italy: Sicily.

= Anerastia flaveolella Ragonot, 1887: 260 . Type locality: Uzbekistan: Margilan.

= Anearstia bimaculata Ragonot, 1888: 49. Type locality: India.

= Anerastia stigmatella Ragonot, 1888: 49 . Type locality: India.

= Anerastia seeboldi Ragonot, 1894: 177 . Type locality: India.

= Anerastia korbi Caradja 1910: 117 . Type locality: Russia: Makhachkala. Syn. nov.

= Anerastia majorella Rothschild, 1913: 138 . Type locality: Algeria.

= Heterographis buxtoni Rothschild, 1921: 176 . Type locality: Iraq: Bagdad.

Material examined. Ukraine: 2♂, 2♀ , Kherson reg., Arabat Spit, Shchaslyvtseve , 7-11.viii.2014 (O. Bidzilya). Genitalia slide: O. Bidzilya prep. no. 219/ 18♀ , 228/ 18♀, 214/ 18♂. ♂ , Kherson reg., Hola Prystan dstr., vic. Burkuty , 14.ix.2019 (O. Bidzilya); 1♂ , Crimea, Karalar steppe 3-4 km NE Zolote, at light, 19.v.2009 (Yu. Budashkin). Genitalia slide: O. Bidzilya prep. no. 25/19 (all ZMKU). 1♂ , Bulgaria, Nessebar , 24.vi–5.vii. [19]60 (J. Soffner) ( MfN). 1♂ , Azerbaijan, Jelisavetpol [Ganja], 30.vi.1909. 1♂ , SE Kazakhstan, Alma - Ata reg., Uigur distr., 12 km W Chundzha, Charyn river , Jasenevaya roshcha, at light, 28.vii.1990 (I. Pljushch). 1♂ , Uzbekistan, Margilan. Genitalia slide: O. Bidzilya prep. no. 50/19 ( MfN). 1♀ , Kyrgyzstan, Osh ( Fergana or.), 11.v.1908 (I. Bojarsky). Genitalia slide: O. Bidzilya prep. no. 220/18 (all ZMKU) .

Diagnosis. Coenochroa ablutella can easy be recognized externally by prominent frontal process covered with scales and light brown forewing with black spot in the cell corner. The male genitalia are characterized by subtriangular lobes of uncus, short apically rounded gnathos and aedeagus with long, weakly swollen at base beak-shaped cornutus in the vesica. The inflated, weakly sclerotized antrum in combination with an extremely narrow ductus bursae with a very indistinct transition to short corpus bursae are characteristic for the female genitalia. For the wings venation see Arora (2000: 92, fig. 13).

Re-description. Adult ( Figs 36–43 ). Wingspan 16–21 mm.

Head yellow, frons with prominent process terminated in oblique cut, crater-like apex, labial palpus twice as long as diameter of an eye, dark yellow, down curved, scape yellow, flagellum light brown, yellow on underside, antenna in male thicker than in female, proboscis about as long as the length of labial palpus.

Thorax and tegulae yellow to light grey. Forewing uniformly straw-yellow to grey or light brown, brown spot in the cell corner, cilia yellow; hindwing and cilia light grey.

Variation. Veins and area along dorsal margin mottled with dark-brown or grey in some specimens; ground colour of the forewing varying from yellow to light grey or light brown; brown spot in the cell corner may be reduced or divided into two dots.

Male genitalia ( Figs 44–47 ). Uncus broadly divided into two subtriangular lobes with short outwardly curved tip. Basal branches of gnathos narrow, strogly sclerotized, distal sclerite elongated, three times as long as broad, weakly constricted in middle, apex rounded. Tegumen slightly broader than long, subrectangular or trapezoidal, weakly narrowed posteriorely, transition to uncus indistinct. Valva 2.5 times as long as broad, parallel-sided to 2/3 length, then both margins narrowed towards rounded apex, densely covered with short setae in the distal 1/3. Juxta plate rounded. Saccus short, rounded. Aedeagus slightly shorter than valva, elongated, distal portion weakly broadened, vesical with one cornutus with broad basal and narrow distal half, tip beak-shaped, about half as long as aedeagus.

Variation. Uncus lobes varying in length and width. Saccus ranges from U- to V-shaped.

Female genitalia ( Figs 48, 49 ). Papillae anales elongated, sub-trapezoidal, with distinct anteromedial sclerotization. Apophyses anteriores as long as apophyses posteriores and four times as long as papillae anales. Segment VIII weakly sclerotized, about 1.5 times as broad as long, subgenital plates 1/3 width of segment VIII, broadly separated by wide membranous area, anterior margin strongly edged and weakly sinuated, with short rounded or triangular posterior projecting. Ductus bursae extremely slender, colliculum very broad, goblet or parallel-sided, with very indistinct transition to extremelly narrow corpus bursae, slightly extending beyond the top of the apophyses posteriores, signum absent.

Biology. The species is known as a pest on Saccharum officinarum and Zea mays , but occurs also on Erianthus munja and Saccharum spontaneum ( Arora 2000: 93) . In Ukraine, adults have been collected in May, August and mid September.

Distribution. Spain (Canary Islands), Italy (Sicily), Portugal (Madeira), France, Romania, Algeria, Egypt, Middle East, Russia (Dagestan), Turkey, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, DR Congo, Sudan, South Africa ( Caradja 1910; Hampson 1918; Arora 2002; Asselbergs 2008; Leraut 2014; De Prins & De Prins 2018), Ukraine: Crimea and Kherson region (new records).

Remarks. Anerastia korbi was described from a single male collected in Petrovsk (now Makhachkala, Dagestan Republic of Russia). Thicker and longer antenna was considered as character for separating A. korbi from A. ablutella . We studied additional male ( Figs 36, 40, 42 ) from Gjandzha (former Elizavetpol, Azerbaijan) that matches externally to the holotype of A. korbi ( Fig. 37 ). The male genitalia of this specimen ( Fig. 44 ) leave no doubt on its conspecifity with C. ablutella . Hence, the following synonymy is established: Anerastia korbi Caradja, 1910 syn. nov. of Coenochroa ablutella ( Zeller, 1839) . This synonymy was earlier suspected by Amsel, who wrote “ Raphimetopus ablutella Zeller , det. H. G. Amsel” on the genitalia slide of the holotype of A. korbi (http://clasate.cimec. ro/).

Figures

FIGURES 36–43. Adults of Coenochroa ablutella. 36–39. General view. 40, 41. Head (dorsal view). 42, 43. Head (lateral view). 36, 40, 42. ♂, Azerbaijan. Prep. no. 218/18. 37. Holotype of A. korbi, Russia (courtesy of the “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History, Bucharest). 38. ♂, Crimea. Prep. no. 25/19. 39. ♂, Kherson reg. 41. ♀, Kyrgyzstan. Prep. no. 220/18. 43. ♂, Kherson reg.

FIGURES 44–49. Genitalia of Coenochroa ablutella. 44–47. Male genitalia. 48, 49. Female genitalia. 44. ♂, Azerbaijan. Prep. no. 218/18. 45. ♂, Crimea. Prep. no. 25/19. 46. ♂, Uzbekistan. Prep. no. 50/19. 47. ♂, Kherson reg. Prep. no. 214/18. 48. ♀, Kyrgyzstan. Prep. no. 220/18. 49. ♀, Kherson reg. Prep. no. 219/18.