Sattleria sophiae Timossi

Huemer, Peter & Timossi, Giovanni, 2014, Sattleria revisited: unexpected cryptic diversity on the Balkan Peninsula and in the south-eastern Alps (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), Zootaxa 3780 (2), pp. 282-296 : 285-287

Sattleria sophiae Timossi , sp. nov.

Type material. Holotype ♂, ‘ Italy, prov. Trento, Pale di San Martino, San Martino di Castrozza, rif. Pedrotti alla Rosetta 2581m, 27.vii.2012: leg. Timossi G.’ (coll. Timossi, MSNVe).

Paratype. Italy: 1 ♂, same data as holotype, gen. slide 1133, DNA barcode id TLMF Lep 0 8580 (coll. Timossi, MSNVe); 2 ♂, same data as holotype, but 4.viii.2013 (coll. Timossi, MSNBr); 1 ♂, same data as holotype, but 4.viii.2013, gen. micro capsule in glycerin 1324 ( TLMF); 1♂, same data as holotype, but 4.viii.2013 ( RCLM); 1 ♂, same data as holotype, but 6.viii.2013 leg. Huemer, DNA barcode id TLMF Lep 11181 ( TLMF).

Description. Adult ( Fig. 1 ). Male. Head white with long scales; labial palpus white with base of second segment and tip of third segment brown, white scales covering also basal part of haustellum; antenna dark brown, white scales under scapus and flagellum; thorax covered with white and brown scales; tegula brown with white scales at posterior part. Wingspan 17.0–19.0 mm; forewing ground colour varies from light creamy brown to darker grey brown, base pale brown; costa from base to costal spots dark brown, from costal spots to apex cream with two brown spots before apex; fold with black-brown scales poorly defined, tornal spots light brown, indistinct angulate cream fascia at 4/5, the inside bordered by subcostal stain in shape of inverted omega with brown scales; black spot of a few scales in middle; termen with black dots, fringes concolorous with ground colour, weaklydefined fringe line present; hindwing light grey with concolorous fringes. Forelegs and middle legs brown with white scales, hindlegs white with long white bristles.

Female unknown.

Male genitalia ( Figs 5 , 13 ). Uncus with evenly rounded apex, culcitula weakly defined, gnathos a large hook; tegumen anteriorly widened, broadly and deeply emarginated anterior margin; pedunculi long, slender; valva long, slender, extending almost to apex of uncus, somewhat arcuate, with pointed tip and long apical setae; sacculus with convexly-humped basal part, distally slender with hooked apex; primary process of vinculum long, needle shaped, almost level with basal hump of sacculus; secondary process of vinculum about one-third length of primary process, arising in basal third of primary process at acute angle, acanthoid, with slender base and acute distal end; saccus moderately long, truncated; phallus slender, straight, without medial projection, coecum weakly inflated with minute basal sclerite, apex with small hooklet.

Female genitalia. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Sattleria sophiae is externally very similar to other small to medium-sized species of the genus and is hardly separable without dissection. The male genitalia somewhat match those of S. styriaca ( Figs 6 , 14 ) from the easternmost part of the Alps, but differ by several characters, particularly the broader convexly-rounded hump of the sacculus with a longer distal part and the more slender secondary process of the vinculum. The very similar S. angustispina from the Pyrénées differs by the evenly-curved distal part of the sacculus and the different shape of the basal lobe, the more basally arising secondary process of the vinculum, and the tapered saccus (see Pitkin & Sattler 1991).

Molecular data ( Fig. 21 ). The intraspecific divergence of the barcode is unknown (n=1). The distance to the nearest neighbour S. breviramus is 3.21% (p-dist) (n=5).

Bionomics. Host-plants and early stages are unknown but probably the larvae feed on Caryophyllaceae or Saxifragaceae as reported for other taxa of Sattleria ( Pitkin & Sattler 1991) . The adults have been collected from late July to early August and in the first half of the night at light. Habitats are rock formations on a karst limestone plateau with sparse vegetation at elevations of about 2500 m.

Distribution. Only known from the type-locality in the eastern Dolomites (Prov. Trento, Italy, Paneveggio Pale di San Martino Park).

Etymology. The species is dedicated to my daughter Sophia and to all children who live for a short time due to genetic diseases.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Neighbour joining tree of Sattleria from central and south-eastern Europe (Kimura 2 parameter, built with MEGA 5; cf. Tamura et al. 2011) based on sequences of the mtDNA COI gene (barcode fragment 5 ’, 658 bp), except for S. basistrigella (599 bp, 1 specimen), S. dzieduszyckii (623 bp, 1 specimen), S. triglavica (540 bp, 1 specimen). Width of triangles represent sample size, depth the molecular variation within the cluster. Source: DNA Barcode data from BOLD (Barcode of Life Database, cf. Ratnasingham & Hebert 2007).

FIGURES 1 – 4. Adults of Sattleria. 1, S. sophiae, sp. nov., holotype; 2, S. dolomitica, sp. nov., holotype; 3, S. dinarica, sp. nov., holotype; 4, S. haemusi, sp. nov., holotype.

FIGURES 5 – 8. Male genitalia of Sattleria. 5, S. sophiae, sp. nov., slide 1135 Timossi; 6, S. styriaca Pitkin & Sattler, slide 0 0 1 Wiesmair; 7, S. dolomitica, sp. nov., holotype, slide Mus. Vind. 1832; 8, S. basistrigella Huemer, slide GEL 1139.

FIGURES 13 – 16. Male genitalia of Sattleria, details of vincular processes (seconardy process marked with arrow) and valva. 13, S. sophiae, sp. nov., slide 1135 Timossi; 14, S. styriaca Pitkin & Sattler, slide 0 0 1 Wiesmair; 15, S. dolomitica, sp. nov., holotype, slide Mus. Vind. 1832; 16, S. basistrigella Huemer, slide GEL 1139.