Lecithocera anthologella Wallengren, 1875

Park, Kyu-Tek & Prins, Willy De, 2019, A review of the Lecithoceridae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea) of southern Africa, based on type specimens deposited in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (TMSA), with descriptions of three new species, Zootaxa 4623 (1), pp. 61-89 : 71

Lecithocera anthologella Wallengren, 1875

Lecithocera anthologella Wallengren, 1875: 129 . TL: Transvaal, South Africa [SNHM].

Adult. Wingspan 19 mm. Wallengren (1875) noted that this species is similar to the European species, L. luticornella Zeller.

Material examined. The species has not been represented in any references, except the list by Meyrick (1925). It is listed by J. and W. De Prins (2018) and these authors noted that the holotype is deposited in the Swedish Natural History Museum, Stockholm, referring to Horn & Kahle (1936), where it is written: “Lepidopt.-Typen im Naturhist. Riksmus., Stockholm ”. However, recently the curator in that museum informed the second author that the type could not be found, and that actually none of the types of the species described in the 1875 publication of Wallengren are deposited in the SNHM, though many other of his types are (T. Malm, pers. comm. 08.i.2019). It is possible that the types of the species described by Wallengren in his 1875 paper ended up in either the Zoological University Museum, Lund or in the Museum of Natural History, Malmö, both in Sweden ( Horn & Kahle 1936: 295). Sachtleben (1961: 535), however, precised that the indication in Horn & Kahle (1936) ought to be altered, implying that the entire collection of Wallengren went to the Museum in Malmö, where the specimens were perhaps not recognized as types. Hence, it is in this museum that the Wallengren 1875 types should be searched for. Thus far, the curators in the Museum in Malmö failed to retrieve these specimens.

Distribution. South Africa (Transvaal) ( Wallengren 1875).