Rogasodes scytaloptericola, Quicke & Shaw, 2005
|
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930500392782 |
|
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6A16E23F-8033-9566-7744-FA02FD04FC4E |
|
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
|
scientific name |
Rogasodes scytaloptericola |
| status |
sp. nov. |
Rogasodes scytaloptericola View in CoL sp. nov. Quicke and Shaw
( Figures 1–7 View Figures 1–4 View Figures 5–8 , 9 View Figure 9 )
Holotype: female, ‘‘Ex [indecipherable] Phyllopteryx elongata Sn. leg. R. Awilowo, Keboeme [indecipherable], (N. Java) iv.1933 I.v Pl.’’, ‘‘Ex. Caterp. Phyllopteryx elongata , Leg. R. Awilowo. Keboemen. IV-’33. I.v Pl’’. [‘‘I.v Pl’’ printed on both labels and appears to refer to a person’s collection], and ‘‘101’’. Mounted on micropin on same mount as mummified host remains, which are missing some posterior segments (USNM).
Lengths. Length of body 5.8 mm; length of fore wing 4.25 mm.
Head ( Figures 1, 2 View Figures 1–4 ). Antenna with.35 flagellomeres (incomplete in available female specimen); with long setosity. Median flagellomeres oblique in lateral view, 2.8 times longer maximally than wide. Basal flagellomere 4.1 times longer than wide, rather oblique apically, 1.7 and 1.9 times longer than second and third, respectively. Third flagellomere 2.2 times longer than wide. Face strongly protruding. Height of clypeus: inter-tentorial distance: tentorio-ocular distance51.0:3.4:1.6. Head short, 1.5 times wider than maximally long in dorsal view (length measured from occipital carina to front of face). Width of head 2.4 times shortest distance between eyes. Eyes very large, strongly emarginate. Height of eye 1.3 times shortest distance between eyes. Horizontal length of eye (in dorsal view, perpendicular to face) 4.3 times horizontal length of head behind eye. Frons flat, smooth, with deep mid-longitudinal carina. Posterior ocellar line: transverse diameter of posterior ocellus: shortest distance between posterior ocellus and eye51.0:2.25:2.25. Head strongly narrowed behind eyes. Occiput largely smooth and shiny with weak transverse punctate striations. Occipital carina strong, forming a laterally protruding flange; with some crenulation next to it on its lower third before it joins hypostomal carina.
Mesosoma ( Figures 3, 4 View Figures 1–4 ). Mesosoma 1.6 times longer than deep. Pronotum strongly protruding in front of mesoscutum; lateral depressed area coarsely crenulate, finely coriacious-aciculate below this, smooth and shiny posterodorsally. Mesoscutum largely smooth and shiny, with little setosity. Middle lobe of mesoscutum strongly protruding in front of lateral lobes. Notauli strongly impressed and crenulate along whole length; posteriorly merging into a weakly depressed strongly longitudinally striate area. Mesosternum weakly, finely coriaceous. Mesopleuron smooth and shiny; mesopleural sulcus deep and crenulate, sloping ventrally posteriorly. Scutellar sulcus with three carinae between the outer ones. Scutellum smooth and shiny. Propodeum strongly arched in lateral profile; with pair of posteriorly strongly diverging carinae arising near mid-anterior margin; with transverse striae between these anteriorly; medio-posteriorly with several welldeveloped longitudinal striae.
Wings. Fore wing ( Figure 9 View Figure 9 ): length of veins r:3-SR:SR151.0:3.0:5.9. Vein r-m 0.65 times vein 2-SR. Lengths of veins m-cu:2-SR+M52.0:1.0. Vein 1-SR+M very weakly sinuate. Veins 1-M and m-cu weakly curved. Vein cu1b almost absent. Vein cu-a interstitial. Hind wing ( Figure 5 View Figures 5–8 ): vein 2-SR+M interstitial. Vein M+CU 1.1 times length of vein 1-M. Vein m-cu absent.
Legs. Claws with large, acutely pointed basal lobe. Length of fore femur (excluding trochantellus): tibia: tarsus51.0:1.17:1.23. Apex of hind tibia with setal comb on inner face. Length of hind femur (excluding trochantellus): tibia: basitarsus51.7:1.9:1.0. Hind basitarsus 9.3 times longer than maximally deep.
Metasoma ( Figures 6, 7 View Figures 5–8 ). Metasoma largely strongly longitudinally striate with interspaces coriaceous; with six fully exposed, sculptured tergites. First tergite 1.3 times longer than posteriorly wide; with longitudinal striation and complete strong mid-longitudinal carina. Second metasomal tergite 1.1 times wider posteriorly than medially long; largely finely longitudinally striate, with a well-developed mid-basal triangular area occupying one-third basal width of tergite, and with complete mid-longitudinal carina. Second suture bisinuous. Third tergite 1.9 times wider than medially long. Ovipositor strongly down-curved.
Colour. Largely yellow-brown; antenna becoming somewhat darker distally; stemmaticum, pronotum mid-anteriorly, mesoscutum narrowly laterally, axillary region, propodeum medially, metasomal tergites 1–6 medially, and ovipositor sheaths almost black. Wings hyaline with pale brown venation and dirty yellow pterostigma.
Biology. The single known specimen is mounted with an almost transparent, thinly walled and scarcely tanned mummy of an undoubted drepanid larva ( Figure 8 View Figures 5–8 ), presumed to be the species recorded on the data label that is now known as Scytalopteryx elongata (Snellen) (see below). The emergence hole is situated approximately mid-ventrally in the 5th abdominal segment, and the portion of the mummy posterior to that is missing.
Notes. The recorded host, Phyllopteryx elongata , is now correctly placed in the genus Scytalopteryx Ritsema, 1890 , which was created because Phyllopteryx Snellen, 1889 was found to be a junior homonym of the sea horse genus, Phyllopteryx Swainson, 1839 ( Holloway 1998; http://www.mothsofborneo.com/part-8/drepaninae/drepaninae_18_1. php). Van Achterberg (1989) reported that he had seen a specimen of a rogadine reared from Scytalopteryx [as Phyllopteryx ] elongata in the collection of the Bogor Institute for Research on Food Crops, Indonesia, which ‘‘…most likely belongs to [ Darnilia ]…’’, a genus described on the basis of a species reared from the limacodid genus Darna . It is hard to see how Darnilia could be confused with Rogasodes as these two genera differ in numerous features including the far shorter hind wing vein M+CU (less than 0.5 times length of 1-M in Darnilia ), lack of the strongly basally curved hind wing vein SR, and lack of a mid-basal triangular area and mid-longitudinal carina on the 2nd metasomal tergite in Darnilia ( Chen and He 1997) . Therefore it is possible that Scytalopteryx is attacked by more than one genus of non- Aleiodes Rogadinae .
Placement of the new species in Rogasodes requires some discussion. This genus is very similar to Rogasella Baker ( Baker 1917) , currently known only from the Philippines and Indonesia, though the original description of Rogasodes ( Chen and He 1997) only makes comparisons with two Afrotropical genera because of the availability of a recent key for that region ( van Achterberg 1991). These two genera differ in that Rogasella has only a minute mid-basal area on the 2nd metasomal tergite and has a longer sclerotized part of hind wing vein SR (C. van Achterberg, personal communication). The new species has a distinct midbasal area on the 2nd tergite (basally occupying one-third the width of the tergite) though vein SR is tubular for approximately one-quarter of its length. These two genera will probably need to be synonymized when the Indo-Australian Rogadinae are fully revised (C. van Achterberg, in preparation). There are no host records for Rogasella .
The new species is also remarkable in that it has fore wing vein cu-a interstitial, a feature that in other rogadines might be taken to be of generic importance. However, as the species is otherwise extremely similar to R. masaicus we have no hesitation in including them in the same genus.
The host moth of Rogasodes scytaloptericola sp. n., Scytalopteryx elongata , is reported as a pest species, having been recorded as attacking two palm genera in South-East Asia, Cocos L. and Elaeis Jacq. (Arecaceae) , and also, more dubiously, Coffea L. ( Rubiaceae ) and Lablab Adans. (Fabaceae) ( Yunus and Ho 1980), but in the taxonomic literature Holloway (1998) notes that it is rare, having seen only a single individual with precise data. Several related drepanids attack Arecaceae , and whether it is S. elongata , or a species whose larva resembles it, that can reach pest status is not clear.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.