Manitischeria 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 : 63

5. Genus Manitischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2021

( Figs 265–274 )

Manitischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2021: 253–256 . Type species: Manitischeria ptarmica ( Meyrick, 1908: 399) .

Diagnosis. In the male genitalia, species of Manitischeria are characterized by the unique valva with a lateral “arm” (process), frame-like thickening of tegumen, presence of juxta, and a slender, rod-like phallus with basal projections laterally. In the female genitalia, the genus is characterized by a strongly developed antrum and short lateral lobes of ovipositor. Leaf mines of Manitischeria are blotch-like, occasionally very slender; in contrast to many other Tischeriidae , except for Coptotriche and Coptotrichoides , fully developed leaf mines of Manitischeria are characterized by the folded or rolled-up margin of the mined leaf; a round nidus inside the leaf mine is inconspicuous. See Tabs 2 , 3 for occurrence of these diagnostic characters in other genera of Tischeriidae .

Notes. External characters of the adults are not informative and, therefore, insufficient for the differentiation of Manitischeria from other genera. Molecular data provided the relatively strong support for the distinctness of this genus. Manitischeria reliably separated from the cluster composed of Astrotischeria , Gnathitischeria , Neotischeria , Pafazaria , and Paratischeria genera ( Figs 62 , 63 ) or appeared to be a sister clade with Pafazaria ( Fig. 67 ).

Adult. Head: frontal tuft overlapping the frons, comprised of long, slender to relatively wide lamellar scales; pecten sometimes small; collar paired, comprised of slender to relatively wide lamellar scales. Forewing without a distinctive pattern, irregularly speckled, sometimes with an irregular tornal spot or more irregular spots, occasionally dark. Hindwing slender, without androconia.

Male genitalia. Uncus with two long and slender lateral lobes. Socii membranous, slightly or distinctly paired, weakly, indistinctly spinose. Tegumen short, with a distinctive frame-like thickening, occasionally also with anterior projections; diaphragm without spines; pseudognathos absent. Valva with an “arm” (slender lateral process) apically, wide basally, usually gradually tapering towards apex; basal process of the valva varies: usually long to very long, occasionally short. Transtilla and anellus absent. Juxta present, well-developed, usually comprised of large horn-like processes, weakly demarcated (or not demarcated) from the phallus; sometimes juxta much longer and wider than phallus. Vinculum medium large, occasionally small; ventral plate triangular, pointed, truncated or rounded distally. Phallus relatively short, rod-like, with strongly developed lateral projections basally, occasionally rounded, plate-like basally.

Female genitalia. Ovipositor lobes usually small, occasionally medium; the gap between ovipositor lobes medium wide; second pair of ovipositor lobes twice as small in comparison to main ovipositor lobes. Lateral lobes usually short and wide, occasionally indistinctive. Apophyses usually equal in length, occasionally anterior apophyses slightly or distinctly shorter than posteriorapophyses. Prela with three pairs of rod-like projections or two pairs of rod-like projections and one pair with widened, plate-like proximal part. Caudal sclerite present, sometimes weakly developed, inverted V-shaped, occasionally with a slender and pointed projection caudally. Antrum present, variously developed (see Stonis et al. 2021d).Accessory sac absent; ductus spermathecae short to very short, slender, with a few or without coils; vesicle small to medium large, rounded or irregular in shape. Corpus bursae medium long to long, usually gradually narrowing toward caudal end, sometimes with short spines proximally, occasionally with some indistinctive pectination in the main body of corpus bursae.

Bionomics. The majority of the species of Manitischeria are associated with Malvaceae host plants, and occasionally with Rhamnaceae and Betulaceae . Larvae mine leaves and produce blotch-like leaf mines with no frass deposited; occasionally being very slender and long, the leaf mine looks like a gallery. Some species with fully developed leaf mines are characterized by a folded or rolled up margin of the mined leaf; a round nidus inside the leaf mine is inconspicuous.

Species diversity and geographical distribution. The genus was recently reviewed, and many species illustrated (see Stonis et al. 2021d). Currently, the genus is comprised of 18 species and is only known from the Eastern Hemisphere: East, South East and South West Asia, and equatorial and southern Africa.

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 265–275. Genitalia of Manitischeria. 265, M. armata, South Africa, paratype; 266, M. sparmanniae, South Africa, paratype; 267, M. ptarmica, Laos; 268, M. antilope, Namibia, holotype; 269, M. unca, Far Eastern Russia, paratype; 270, M. tyrocnistis, India, lectotype; 271, M. martinkrugeri, South Africa, holotype, lateral view; 272, M. unca, Far Eastern Russia, holotype; 273, M. tyrocnistis, India, lectotype; 274, M. baryshnikovae, Laos, holotype; 275, M. unca, Far Eastern Russia, paratype (after Stonis et al. 2021d)

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 66, 67. The Neighbor-Joining tree based of the 608 bp long mtDNA CO1-5’ Tischeriidae sequences. The Kimura 2-parameter model was used to calculate the divergence. 66, using the sequences of Coptotriche, Dishkeya, Rytietia gen. nov., Pafazaria gen. nov., Manitischeria, and Tischeria species; 67, using sequences of genera with a juxta in the male genitalia (Remark: this was also performed applying Maximum Likelihood method and the results were similar)