Lecithocera bigeminata, Yu & Wang, 2024

Yu, Shuai & Wang, Shuxia, 2024, The genus Lecithocera (Lepidoptera: Lecithoceridae) from China, with descriptions of twenty-one new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 924, pp. 1-74 : 10-12

Lecithocera bigeminata sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0A724F62-A592-4EB8-8841-721BA5EF3019

Figs 2A , 6E , 11A , 15G , 18C

Diagnosis

The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the thickened third palpomere of the labial palpus, the juxta with horn-shaped posterior lobes extending dorsad in the male genitalia, and the corpus bursae with two signa in the female genitalia.

Etymology

The specific epithet is derived from the Latin “ bigeminatus ”, referring to the corpus bursae with two signa in the female genitalia.

Type material

Holotype

CHINA – Chongqing • ♂; Mt Simian ; 29º19′ N, 106º22′ E; 1000 m a.s.l.; 21 Jul. 2010; X.C. Du and L.F. Song leg.; slide no. YS18192 ; NKU.

Paratypes (87 ♂♂, 46 ♀♀)

CHINA – Chongqing • 8 ♂♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype except 20–21 Jul. 2010; slide nos LSR11045 ♀, LSR11052 ♂, YS20003 ♂; NKU • 12 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀; 1200–1280 m a.s.l.; 14–19 Aug. 2012; Y.H. Sun and A.H. Yin leg.; slide nos LSR12170 ♂, LSR12272 ♂, LSR12273 ♀; NKU • 7 ♂♂, 14 ♀♀; Mt Simian ; 1280 m a.s.l.; 11–12 Aug. 2012; X.F. Yang and T.T. Liu leg.; slide no. LSR12267 ♂; NKU • 6 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; Mt Jinyun ; 29–30 Jul. 2010; X.C. Du and C.W. Bi leg.; slide nos YS18191 ♂, YS18193 ♀, YS18194 ♀; NKU • 24 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀; Mt Jinyun ; 550 m a.s.l.; 16–17 Jul. 2011; X.C. Du et al. leg.; slide nos YS18214 ♂, YS18215 ♀, YS18134 ♂, YS18135 ♂, YS18136 ♀; NKU • 7 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀; Mt Jinyun ; 550 m a.s.l.; 29–30 Jul. 2012; Y.H. Sun and A.H. Yin leg.; slide no. LSR12276 ; NKU • 1 ♂; E’mei City, Wanniansi ; 830 m a.s.l.; 13 Jul. 2013; Teng et al. leg.; slide no. YS18178 ; NKU • 1 ♂; Qiuyang County, Mt Jinyin ; 660 m a.s.l.; 25 Jul. 2012; Y.H. Sun and A.H. Yin leg.; NKU . – Fujian Province • 1 ♂; Mt Wuyi, Sangang ; 740 m a.s.l.; 25 Jul. 2008; W.C. Li et al. leg.; slide no. ZMR10136 ; NKU . – Hubei Province • 1 ♂; Lichuan City, Maoba Region ; 700 m a.s.l.; 29 Jul. 1999; H.H. Li leg.; slide no. ZMR10209 ; NKU . – Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region • 10 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; Pingxiang City, Shaoping Forest Farm; 280 m a.s.l.; 1–3 May 2012, 14–17 Jun. 2013; X.F. Yang leg.; slide nos LSR12077 ♂, LSR13368 ♂, LSR13371 ♂, LSR13373 ♂, LSR13407 ♂; NKU • 4 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀; Huaping ; 950 m a.s.l.; 6–8 Aug. 2006; W.C. Li leg.; NKU . – Guizhou Province • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; Jiangkou County, Heiwan ; 600 m a.s.l.; 27–28 Jul. 2001; H.H. Li and X.P. Wang leg.; slide nos LSR11074 ♂, ZMR10264 ♂, ZMR10303 ♀; NKU . – Yunnan Province • 2 ♂♂; Mengla County, Menglun ; 570 m a.s.l.; 15 Aug. 2005; Y.D. Ren leg.; slide no. ZMR10334 ; NKU • 1 ♂; Wenshan City, Malipo County; 1470 m a.s.l.; 26 Jul. 2016; Teng et al. leg.; slide no. YS19013 ; NKU .

Description

ADULT ( Figs 2A , 6E ). Wingspan 16.0‒ 16.5 mm. Head pale yellowish brown, orange white laterally. Antenna orange white; flagellum ringed with dark brown distally on dorsal surface. Labial palpus orange white on inner surface, yellowish brown on outer surface, third palpomere thickened, shorter than second palpomere. Thorax and tegula pale yellowish brown. Forewing with costal margin slightly arched, apex roundly produced, termen oblique; ground colour brownish yellow, mixed with dark brown scales, becoming denser toward apex; dense orange yellow scales along costal margin from distal ⅓ to before apex; markings blackish brown: basal streak slender, about ⅓ as long as costal margin; distal stigma small and rounded; discocellular stigma larger, oblong; tornal streak ill-defined; fringe pale greyish orange; R 3 and R 4+5 short-stalked, R 4 and R 5 stalked for about half length of R 5, R 5 to termen, M 2 and M 3 subparallel, CuA 1 and CuA 2 short-stalked. Hindwing and fringe greyish brown; fringe with pale yellow basal line; M 3 and CuA 1 stalked for about half length of M 3.

MALE GENITALIA ( Fig. 11A ). Uncus V-shaped; caudal lobe digitiform, rounded apically. Gnathos with basal plate undeveloped; median process wide at base, narrowed to distal ¼, then slender to pointed apex, curved ventrad at distal ¼ by right angle. Valva broad basally, narrowed before cucullus; cucullus about half length of valva, slightly narrowed to broadly rounded apex, shallowly concave on costal margin, setose on ventral half, with row of bullet-shaped setae along basal half of ventral margin; costal bar narrow, triangularly produced at middle on dorsal margin; sacculus taenioid. Vinculum broad; saccus not developed. Juxta shield-shaped, concave on lateral margin, straight on posterior margin, triangular on anterior margin; posterior lobe nearly horn-shaped, extending obliquely dorsad. Aedeagus shorter than valva, tubular, arched, with two dorsal denticles, with dense granules in vesica; cornuti consisting of long, basally plate-shaped sclerite bearing basal and apical tooth, plate with large apical horn, and bundle of spines placed at ventrobasal 3/5.

SEVENTH ABDOMINAL STERNITE ( Fig. 15G ). Anterior margin roundly convex, with horn-shaped process at middle; anterolateral rib bar-shaped, curved in middle, reaching before posterior margin of sixth abdominal sternite; posterolateral lobe weakly sclerotized, semiovate.

FEMALE GENITALIA ( Fig. 18C ). Eighth abdominal sternite concave at middle on posterior margin. Apophyses posteriores about twice as long as apophyses anteriores; both apophyses posteriores and anteriores rectangularly broadened anteriorly. Antrum cup-shaped, spiculate. Ductus bursae nearly as long as corpus bursae, weakly sclerotized and wrinkled near ductus seminalis; ductus seminalis arising from about posterior ¼. Corpus bursae ovate; signa two, at posterior 3/5: one elliptical, denticulate, with heavily sclerotized ridge; another smaller, denticulate.

Distribution

China (Chongqing, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Yunnan).

Remarks

This species is slightly different from the other species of the genus Lecithocera in having a slightly thickened third palpomere of the labial palpus, but other characters including the venation and the male genitalia agree well with those of Lecithocera . Hence, we placed this species in Lecithocera .

Figures

Fig. 2. Adults of species of Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer, 1853 (NKU), dorsal view. A. L. bigeminata sp. nov., holotype, male. B. L. chersitis Meyrick, 1918, male. C. L. duplicispinea sp. nov., holotype, male. D. L. flavalba sp. nov., holotype, male. E. L. flavistriata sp. nov., paratype, female. F. L. furvibasis sp. nov., paratype, male. Scale bars =2.0 mm.

Fig. 6. Wing venations of species of Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer, 1853, all paratypes (NKU). A. L. angustifolia sp. nov., male, slide no. YS19608. B. L. asticta sp. nov., male, slide no. YS20005. C. L. balteiformis sp. nov., male, slide no. YS18197. D. L. bicornuta sp. nov., male, slide no. YS19610. E. L. bigeminata sp. nov., male, slide no. YS20003. F. L. duplicispinea sp. nov., female, slide no. ZMR10313. Scale bars =2.0 mm.

Fig. 11.Male genitalia of species of Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer, 1853(NKU).A. L. bigeminata sp. nov., holotype, slide no. YS18192. B. L. chersitis Meyrick, 1918, slide no. YS19205. C. L. duplicispinea sp. nov., paratype, slide no. ZYM06270. D. L. flavalba sp. nov., holotype, slide no. YS19060. E. L. flavistriata sp. nov., paratype, male, slide no. YS19661. F. L. furvibasis sp. nov., holotype, slide no. YS18169. Scale bars=0.5 mm.

Fig. 15. Male seventh abdominal sternite of species of Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer, 1853 (NKU). A. L. alpestra Park, 2005, slide no. YS19101. B. L. alpina Park, 2016, slide no. YS19008. C. L. angustifolia sp. nov., holotype, slide no. YS19607. D. L. asticta sp. nov., holotype, slide no. YS19603. E. L. balteiformis sp. nov., holotype, slide no. LSR13346. F. L. bicornuta sp. nov., holotype, slide no. YS19614. G. L. bigeminata sp. nov., paratype, slide no. LSR13407. H. L. chersitis Meyrick, 1918, slide no.YS19635.I. L. duplicispinea sp. nov., paratype, slide no. ZYM06270. Scale bars =0.5 mm.

Fig. 18. Female genitalia of species of Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer, 1853, all paratypes (NKU). A. L. alpestra Park, 2005, slide no.YS19093.B. L. alpina Park, 2016, slide no.YS19464.C. L. bigeminata sp. nov., slide no. YS18194. D. L. cherstis Meyrick, 1918, slide no. YS19206. E. L. duplicispinea sp. nov., slide no. ZMR10313. F. L. flavalba sp. nov., slide no. YS19061. Scale bars =0.5 mm.