Gelechia adi, Nandhini & Shashank, 2025

Nandhini, D. & Shashank, P. R., 2025, Three new species of Gelechiinae (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) from India, Zootaxa 5728 (1), pp. 163-172 : 164-167

Gelechia adi sp. nov.

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

( Figs. 2A–K )

Type material. Holotype. 1 ♂, India, Arunachal Pradesh, Ramsing , 28°23'24''N, 94°34'48"E, 630 m MSL, 02.VIII.2024, Mercury vapour lamp, coll. Nandhini & Santosh; genitalia slide no. L00055186, INPC ; Paratypes. 4 ♂, 4 ♀, India, Arunachal Pradesh, Ramsing , 28°23'24''N, 94°34'48"E, 630 m MSL, 02.VIII.2024, Mercury vapour lamp, coll. Nandhini & Santosh; genitalia slide no. L00055189 ( ♀), INPC .

Diagnosis. The male genitalia of Gelechia adi sp. nov. have short gnathal hook similar to Gelechia sirotina Omelko, 1986 ; G. adi can be distinguished by its ivory-white forewings with a black streak across the base, a black triangular spot at 1/3 rd, and a semi-circular black spot at 2/3 rd of wing length; whereas in G. sirotina the forewing is light grey with an angulated marking at 1/4 th with distinct spots and a streak running from tornus into the cell with an apical spot. The ratio of the length of valva, sacculus and saccus is 8.5:3.5: 3 in G. adi whereas it is 7:2.5: 3 in G. sirotina . In female genitalia, the lateral margin of the subgenital plate is curved in G. adi whereas it is straight in G. sirotina ; the colliculum is shorter in G. adi than in G. sirotina .

Description.

Head. White, smoothly scaled. Compound eyes black. Vertex and frons white. Basal labial segment black; second segment basally black, white-scaled towards apex, with a tuft of small white scales underneath; third segment long, sharply pointed, black with white ring before middle and apex ( Fig. 2C ). Antenna filiform with black scales.

Thorax. White scales, wingspan 12–14 mm, forewing ivory white with distinct black markings, a black streak across base, a black triangular spot on the costa at 1/3 rd of wing length, a semi-circular black mark at 2/3 rd of wing length, apex rounded, termen and tornus fringed with long ivory-white scales. Hindwing slightly trapezoidal, grey, scaled with creamish-grey cilia.

Wing venation. Forewing R 1 branched out just behind half of the cell; R 2 closer to R 3 than R 1, twice as far from R 1 as from R 3. R 4 and R 5 stalked at base in the middle; R 4+5 and M 1 stalked near the upper angle, R 4+5 and M 1 stalked, M 3 and CuA 1 arise just above lower angle of cell ( Fig. 2D ). In hindwing, costa slightly sinuate just behind middle of wing; Sc and R 1 veins run in close approximate and fade away in the middle; Rs bends downwards and reaches costa before apex. R s and M 1 stalked at the base; M 2 and M 3 subparallel; M 3 and CuA 1 arise at the same point from the lower angle of cell ( Fig. 2E ).

Abdomen. Creamy white, with anal tuft of pale white scales.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 2 G-I): Distal portion of eighth tergite gradually narrowed apically. Uncus broadly rounded, twice as wide as long basally, posterior margin weakly serrated, bordered with long setae; gnathal hook short, culcitula narrow relatively to uncus, fultura superior as long as 2/3 rd length of tegumen, tegumen nearly parallel-sided from distal 2/3; cucullus slender, extends up to uncus apex, sacculus digitiform, narrower than cucullus, extended to half the length of cucullus; vinculum broad, medial processes two-paired, widely separated at base, first pair shorter extended distally and pointed, second pair as long as sacculus, dilated medially and pointed towards apex; saccus tapered; phallus short, stout, proximal end distinctly inflated, apically pointed, lateral process at left short, thorn-shaped, medial portion broad, short; phallic tube with well-developed basal sclerite, bulbus ejaculatorius sack-shaped, with small dome-shaped lamina.

Female genitalia ( Figs. 2 J-K): Papillae anales elongate, subovate; subgenital plate projecting laterally with notch in posterior margin and almost rounded anterolateral corners with a membranous median zone; apophyses posteriores three and half times as long as segment VIII, apophyses anteriores fused to lateral wall of sternum VIII; sternum VIII about 1.3 times longer than width, with sclerotized lateral margins; wrinkled along medial membranous zone, with strongly sclerotized short anterolateral drop-shaped processes confluent with apices of apophyses anteriores; proximal part of ductus bursae with colliculum as sclerotized ring with membranous gap; ductus bursae very long, broadened towards corpus bursae; corpus bursae long and globose; signum small and asymmetrically diamond-shaped with marginal serrations ( Fig. 2K ).

Etymology. The new species Gelechia adi sp. nov., is named after the Adi tribe living in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, India.

Remarks. DNA barcoding was carried out targeting the barcoding fragment of mtCOI gene and the sequence was submitted to the NCBI GenBank and assigned the accession number PV806685. BLAST analysis of sequences showed a 97% query coverage and 91.65% sequence identity with the genus Gelechia in GenBank.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Gelechia adi sp. nov. A) male habitus. B) female habitus. C) head and labial palpus. D) and E) wing venation: D) forewing. E) hindwing. F) male abdomen. G) eighth abdominal tergite and sternite of male. H) male genitalia. I) distal part of phallus (phallic tube). J) female genitalia. K) signum.