Stigmella purpurimaculae, Remeikis & Stonis, 2014

Stonis, Jonas R., Remeikis, Andrius & Davis, Donald R., 2014, Ten new species from the Patagonian Andes (Argentina and Chile), mostly belonging to a newly designated Stigmella purpurimaculae group (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae), Zootaxa 3887 (3), pp. 321-353 : 351

Designation of Stigmella purpurimaculae group

Species groups in Nepticulidae are highly valuable for diagnostic purposes to make associations easier, especially in such large genera as Stigmella Schrank , with about 400 species described worldwide (also see Stonis et al. 2013a). In the present paper, we designated one more species group, the purpurimaculae group, for the species which possess remarkable genitalia characters: the partially reduced tube of the phallus ( Figs 5, 6 ), the dentate cornuti ( Figs 5, 6 ), and the strongly developed utriculus in the female genitalia, which can be equal or longer than the corpus bursae ( Fig. 4 ). The later two characters are unique among Nepticulidae and hitherto were unknown in the family, while the partial reduction of the phallus is also shared with two other species described in the current paper but not attributed to the purpurimaculae group.

Characters of morphology: forewing often with an apical purple spot; androconial scales absent; frontal tuft varies from fuscous brown to orange ( Fig. 3 ); in the male genitalia, gnathos often broadly U-shaped, anterior processes of gnathos short or absent, chitinization of phallus reduced on distal part (partial reduction of phallus), vesica with numerous small dentate cornuti, manica absent; in the female genitalia, accessory sac weakly defined, ductus spermathecae strongly chitinized; utriculus unusually developed (as a large sac, sometimes even longer than corpus bursae); unique short, thickened spines sometimes occur in distal part of corpus bursae, signa absent.

Host-plant preferences unknown. More than 16 male and female adults of three species of the purpurimaculae group ( S. purpurimaculae sp. nov., S. cana sp. nov., S. truncata sp. nov.) were collected around the Lenga beech – Nothofagus pumilio (Poepp. & Endl.) Krasser , Nothofagaceae , but there is insufficient evidence that Nothofagus is the host-plant.

Distribution and taxonomic diversity: the group currently comprises 7 species (all described as new in the current paper, and all occurring in the southern Andes.

Figures

FIGURES 3–6. Details of morphology of the newly designated Sigmella purpurimaculae species group. 3, the color variation of the frontal tuft in Stigmella truncata Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov.; 4, female genitalia of non type-series specimen of S. sceptra Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov., genitalia slide no. RA452; 5, phallus of S. pseudoconcreta Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov., holotype, genitalia slide no. RA 505; 6, phallus of S. concreta Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov., holotype, genitalia slide no. RA498.