Neotischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2021

Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Orlovskytė, Svetlana, Solis, Alma, Paulavičiūtė, Brigita, Xu, Jiasheng & Dai, Xiaohua, 2023, Genera of Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera): a review of the global fauna, with descriptions of new taxa, Zootaxa 5333 (1), pp. 1-131 : 85-86

8. Genus Neotischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2021

( Figs 365–410 )

Neotischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2021: 149 . Type species: Neotischeria neotropicana ( Diškus & Stonis, 2015: 457–465) .

Diagnosis. In the male genitalia, species of Neotischeria are characterized by a simple, slender valva without dorsal lobe(s), a strongly developed, laterally thickened, caudally bilobed anellus usually possessing three pairs of lateral chetae, and a slender, distally bifurcated phallus. In the female genitalia, the genus is characterized by the hardened membrane between the inner prela and often large 6–10 coils of ductus spermathecae. Leaf mines of Neotischeria are irregular blotch-like on Asteraceae (occasionally Malvaceae ) host plants and, unlike the most similar Astrotischeria , with a distinctive rounded nidus. See Tabs 2 , 3 for occurrence of these diagnostic characters in other genera of Tischeriidae .

Notes. External characters of the adults and wing venation characters are not informative and, therefore, insufficient for differentiation of Neotischeria because of their general uniformity or, in some cases, variability of these characters within the entire family. Molecular analysis showed Neotischeria as a separate clade from other genera. In the case where all genera are included in the analysis, Neotischeria forms a monophyletic group with Pafazaria ( Figs 62–64 ); with the omission of Pafazaria , it clusters with Astrotischeria ( Fig. 77 ).

Adult. Head: frontal tuft overlapping the frons, comprised of long, slender lamellar scales; pecten distinctive; collar distinctly paired, comprised of slender lamellar scales. Forewing usually without a distinctive pattern, speckled with darker scales, sometimes with irregular spots that are especially distinctive (large and bright) in females. Hindwing slender, androconia absent.

Male genitalia. Unlike the similar Astrotischeria , uncus always with long lobes; however, lobes usually widened basally or uncus with additional pair of very short rounded inner lobes; occasionally there are two pairs of long lobes. Socii membranous, large to very large, usually distinctly paired (occasionally unpaired), and always distinctly spinose. Tegumen long (except for a single species, A. tubifex , with a very short tegumen); diaphragm without spines; pseudognathos absent. Unlike the similar Astrotischeria , valva usually simple and slender, always without dorsal lobe(s); basal process of the valva long, occasiobally medium long. Transtilla and juxta absent. Anellus membranous, well developed, caudally bilobed, laterally usually thickened and with three (occasionally four) pairs of lateral chetae. Vinculum usually short or medium short, sometimes long, with rounded or widely rounded ventral plate (occasionally ventral plate of vinculum angular). Phallus slender, rod-like, apically divided, without spines or wide lobe-like projections.

Female genitalia. Ovipositor lobes small to large; the gap between ovipositor lobes wide; second pair of ovipositor lobes usually two, sometimes three times smaller in comparison to main ovipositor lobes. Unlike the similar Astrotischeria , lateral lobes very short, usually indistinctive, occasionally, in N. neotropicana , distinctive but short. Apophyses long or very long; anterior apophyses often equal in length with posterior apophyses, or slightly shorter, or longer. Prela with three pairs of relatively long rod-like projections; inner pair is the longest; membrane between inner prela is thickened. Caudal sclerite weakly developed, inverted U-shaped, pointed caudally; sometimes caudal sclerite invisible.Antrum absent. Accessory sac usually indistinctive or absent, occasionally relatively larger, rounded but weakly folded, membranous; ductus spermathecae slender, with usually 10 (sometimes 6–9) large coils; vesicle large, rounded. Corpus bursae long, gradually narrowing towards caudal end or with a very long and slender “neck”; pectinations of main body of corpus bursae absent but occasionally there are weakly chitinized, indistinctive tiny spines on slender “neck” of the bursa.

Bionomics. The genus is trophically associated with Asteraceae host plants (although a single species is known to feed on Malvaceae ). Leaf mines of Neotischeria are irregular blotch-like, without frass, and, unlike the similar Astrotischeria , with a distinctive rounded nidus.

Species diversity and geographical distribution. The genus is widespread in the Americas (predominantly Central American and South American; only a couple of species occur in the southern states of the USA), but is not known to occur outside the Western Hemisphere. Recently, a few new Neotischeria species were described: the South American (Andean) N. conexa Diškus & Stonis, N. ochripennata Diškus & Remeikis, N. longa Diškus & Stonis , and Central American N. poseidonia Diškus & Stonis ( Stonis et al. 2021c). In the same publication, several earlier described species were transferred to Neotischeria from other genera: the South American N. capnota (Meyrick) , N. guarani (Diškus & Stonis) , Central American N. robinsoni (Diškus & Stonis), N. tubifex (Diškus & Stonis) , N. belizensis (Remeikis & Stonis), N. mesoamericana (Diškus & Stonis) , and N. neotropicana (Diškus & Stonis) ; the latter species is known to have the largest distribution area from Mexico to Bolivia ( Stonis et al. 2020b).

The following two species described by Braun (1923, 1972) from the USA, and previously attributed to Astrotischeria by Puplesis & Diškus (2003), are transferred here to Neotischeria : N. explosa ( Braun, 1923) (comb. nov.) from California and N. pallidipennella ( Braun, 1972) (comb. nov.) from Arizona.

Therefore, together with two Central American species described here ( N. antigua Diškus & Remeikis , sp. nov. and N. subantigua Diškus & Remeikis , sp. nov., see below), the genus Neotischeria is now comprised of 15 species, the majority of which are from Central America.

Figures

FIGURE 62. The Maximum Likelihood tree of 11 randomly selected sequences of species representing 11 genera of Tischeriidae (Table 1 + downloaded Paratischeria ferruginea HM244395, Neotischeria neotropicana HM244391, Dishkeya bifurcata LNAUT3265-15, Coptotrichoides serjaniphaga OK017167) based on the 608 bp long mtDNA CO1-5’ sequences). The Kimura 2-parameter model (1.000 replicates) was used to calculate divergence. The best supported and resolved dichotomies are highlighted. The morphological differences of genitalia are shown to the right of the tree

FIGURES 63, 64. The Maximum Likelihood trees of Tischeriidae based on the 608 bp long mtDNA CO1-5’ sequences. The Kimura 2-parameter model (1.000 replicates) was used to calculate divergence. The best supported and resolved dichotomies are highlighted. 63, using the same (as in the Fig. 62) 11 randomly selected sequences of species representing 11 genera of Tischeriidae; the families of host plants are shown to the right of the tree; 64, same, but omitting Rytietia uncinata sp. nov.; the distribution of species is shown to the right of the tree

FIGURES 365–371. Details of male genitalia of Neotischeria spp. 365, N. guarani (Diškus & Stonis), holotype, genitalia slide AD988 (MfN) (after Stonis et al. 2020b); 366, 367, N. neotropicana (Diškus & Stonis), genitalia slide 010316205 (NHMUK); 368, N. belizensis (Remeikis & Stonis), holotype, genitalia slide 010316193 (NHMUK) (after Stonis et al. 2020a); 369–371, N. conexa Diškus & Stonis, holotype and paratype (after Stonis et al. 2021c)

FIGURES 372–383. Adults of new Neotischeria species. 372–376, N. antigua Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov. (MfN); 377–383, N. subantigua Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov. (MfN)

FIGURES 384–389. Male genitalia of Neotischeria antigua Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov. 384–386, details of holotype, genitalia slide AD1110, ventral view; 387, paratype, genitalia slide no. AD1075, lateral view; 388, 389, general view of capsule, focused on phallus, holotype, genitalia slide AD1110, ventral view; (MfN)

FIGURES 390–396. Female genitalia of Neotischeria antigua Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov. 390, 392, 394, 395, general view and details, paratype, genitalia slide no. AD1073; 391, 393, 396, another paratype, genitalia slide no. AD1074 (MfN)

FIGURES 397–402. Male genitalia of Neotischeria subantigua Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov. 397, holotype, genitalia slide AD1087, ventral view; 398, paratype, genitalia slide AD1092, lateral view, with phallus removed; 399, 400, ventral view of capsule, focused on phallus, holotype, genitalia slide AD1087; 401, phallus, paratype, genitalia slide AD8742; 402, same, another paratype, genitalia slide AD1092 (MfN)

FIGURES 403–410. Female genitalia of Neotischeria subantigua Diškus & Remeikis, sp. nov., paratype, genitalia slide no. AD1112 (MfN). 403, ovipositor lobes; 404, spines on “neck” of corpus bursae; 405, general view; 406–410, details

FIGURES 77, 78. The Maximum Likelihood trees of Tischeriidae based on the 608 bp long mtDNA CO1-5’ sequences. Divergence was calculated using the Kimura 2-parameter model. 77, using the sequences of Neotischeria spp., Paratischeria spp., and Astrotischeria trilobata; the host-plant families and species distribution are shown to the right of the tree. 78, using the sequences of Astrotischeria species