Phiaris bipunctana ( Fabricius, 1794 )

Landry, Jean-François, Nazari, Vazrick, Dewaard, Jeremy R., Mutanen, Marko, Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, Huemer, Peter & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2013, Shared but overlooked: 30 species of Holarctic Microlepidoptera revealed by DNA barcodes and morphology, Zootaxa 3749 (1), pp. 1-93 : 41

30. Phiaris bipunctana ( Fabricius, 1794) ( Tortricidae : Olethreutinae)

Pyralis bipunctana Fabricius, 1794: 250 . Type locality: Italy.

BOLD:AAC2476

Palearctic distribution. Central and northern parts of Europe to Eastern Palaearctic and Russian Far East.

New North American records. Canada: Manitoba, Churchill , 8–27 Jul 2007, 1 ♂ ( CNC) .

Diagnosis. In wing maculation bipunctana resembles Olethreutes glaciana (Möschler) , O. carolana (McDunnough) , O. polluxana (McDunnough) , and O. heinrichana (McDunnough) . In bipunctana , the broad dark median fascia has a small white dot at the level of the radial vein; in the other species this dot is black or tends to be darker than the surrounding median fascia; in bipunctana , the distal white fascia is narrower than the median dark fascia, whereas in heinrichana , it is wider. In male genitalia, it is most similar to glaciana from which it is distinguished by the narrower uncus, narrower cucullus, deeper emargination of the ventral margin of the valva, and small cluster of spines at the apex of the phallus (absent in glaciana ). In female genitalia it is also most similar to glaciana but the lateral lobes of the sterigma have their apices at the level of the ostium (markedly extended posterad of the ostium in glaciana ), the ostium margin is notched (straight in glaciana ), and the sclerotized distal section of the ductus bursae is twice the length of the sterigma (subequal in glaciana ).

Larval host. Vaccinium spp. (Ericaceae) .

Note. Undoubtedly more widespread, especially in the North, than the single record indicates. The barcode and genitalia similarity suggests that glaciana , long placed in Olethreutes , is a member of Phiaris . At some point the latter genus was considered a synonym of Olethreutes ( Brown 2005) but more recently has been restored to full generic status ( Fauna Europaea 2013; Gilligan et al. 2012). Obviously the two genera are closely related and one could even be paraphyletic to the other. However, we refrain from proposing a formal transfer of glaciana as we believe that this is best done in the context of a proper taxonomic revision.