Argyresthia luteella (Chambers, 1875) Chambers, 1875

Sohn, Jae-Cheon, Davis, Donald R. & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2015, Revision of the genus Philonome Chambers and its proposed reassignment to the family Tineidae (Lepidoptera, Tineoidea), ZooKeys 494, pp. 69-106 : 92-93

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Yponomeutidae

Argyresthia luteella (Chambers, 1875) comb. n. Figs 16, 67-69

Eurynome luteella Chambers, 1875: 304.

Busckia luteella (Chambers): Dyar 1903: 563.

Philonome luteella (Chambers): McDunnough 1939: 100; Davis 1983: 8.

Adult

(Fig. 16). Head missing from the holotype. Chambers (1875) stated that "head, eye caps and palpi white, the latter stained with yellowish".

Thorax: Patagium pale saffron yellow ( Chambers 1875); mesonotum yellowish white, suffused with pale orange laterally and on posterior 1/3. Foreleg with coxa pale orange; other segments missing from holotype. Mid- and hindlegs with coxa, femur, and tibia pale orange dorsally, lustrous yellowish white ventrally; tarsomeres pale grayish brown dorsally, lustrous yellowish white ventrally. Forewing 3.4 mm (n = 1), lustrous yellowish white; basal and apical areas yellowish orange; antemedian, postmedian, and subterminal fasciae yellowish orange, oblique, indistinctly outlined; fringe yellowish orange on basal 1/3, purplish gray on distal 2/3. Hindwing lustrous yellowish white; fringe yellowish gray.

Male unknown.

Female genitalia (Figs 67-69): Papillae anales subrectangular, slightly protruding dorsolaterally. Apophyses posteriores nearly as long as apophyses anteriores including basal fork. Ostium bursae on posterior margin of sternite VIII. Ductus bursae as long as corpus bursae, funnel-shaped on posterior 2/5; antrum extending caudally over 1/3 of ductus bursae, cylindrical. Corpus bursae elongate, elliptical; signum at anterior area of corpus bursae, denticulate, with two diverging, large, spiniform sclerites posteriorly.

Type.

Holotype: female, "Kentucky [sic] Chambers", "Type 14964" [red label], " Eurynome luteella Chambers" [hand-written on folded paper], "Genitalia slide MCZ-L122 Prep. by JC Sohn" [label with black border lines].

Distribution.

Western United States (Colorado). Chambers (1875) stated "Spanish Bar", now Fall River in Larimer County, Colorado, as the collecting locality. On the label of the holotype of Philonome luteella , “Kentucky” was given as collecting locality with strikethrough mark indicating that the locality is not correct.

Remarks.

The forewing pattern and the female genital morphology of Eurynome luteella suggest that it is not congeneric with Philonome . Its forewing pattern is similar to some species of Argyresthia , especially Argyresthia cupressella Walsingham, 1891, and Argyresthia freyella Walsingham, 1891. The female genitalia of Eurynome luteella include a denticulate signum of which the shape is typical for Argyresthia . This species, consequently, has been reassigned to Argyresthia .