Ancylis diminutana (Haworth, 1811)

Gilligan, Todd, Huemer, Peter & Wiesmair, Benjamin, 2016, Different continents, same species? Resolving the taxonomy of some Holarctic Ancylis Hübner (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), Zootaxa 4178 (3), pp. 347-370 : 365-366

Ancylis diminutana (Haworth, 1811)

Figs. 35–38, 69, 83

Tortrix diminutana Haworth, 1811 , Lepid. Br. (3): 452.

Phoxopteris cuspidana Treitschke, 1830 , Schmett. Eur. 8: 236. syn.rev.

Diagnosis. Ancylis diminutana is distinguished by the reddish-brown coloration on the costal half of the forewing and the shape of the longitudinal line, which curves broadly from the cubitus down to CuA2, and then angles straight to the apex. Both A. christiandiana and A. geminana are similar: A. geminana is grayish brown and the longitudinal line is evenly curved; and A. christiandiana is larger, lacks the reddish brown color of the forewing and the longitudinal line is more angulate.

Redescription. Forewing. FWL Ƌ 6–8 mm (n=16), ♀ 6–7 mm (n=5). The costal half of the wing is reddish brown. The costa is lighter in some specimens, but only at the base. The dorsal half of the wing is brownish gray in the median portion, becoming lighter gray to near white at the tornus and along the termen. The longitudinal line, which is often bordered in white dorsally, starts at A1+2, curves up to the cubitus, back down to CuA2, and then runs in a diagonal line straight to the apex. Small black streaks are often present on R5 just proximal to the termen. Male genitalia. As described for the group. Female genitalia. As described for the group with the following modifications: apophyses posteriores 0.6–0.7 as long as apophyses anteriores; antrum weakly sclerotized just below the ostium; and ductus seminalis arising in the anterior 0.3–0.4 of the ductus bursae.

Molecular data. BIN URI: BOLD:AAB6876. The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is low with average 0.1% and maximum 0.64% (n=21). The minimum distance to the nearest neighbor A. geminana is 4.73%.

Distribution. Ancylis diminutana is locally distributed from the northwestern, northern and central parts of Europe ( Razowski 2003) to central Siberia ( Sinev 2008).

Biology. Adults are present from May to June and from July to August (Schütze 1941). The larval host is willow ( Salix spp.) ( Razowski 2003). The species prefers different kind of hygrophilous to mesophilous woods such as those found in riverine forests.

Remarks. Tortrix diminutana was described from an unspecified number of specimens without precise locality data from Great Britain. According to Sattler (in litt.) no type material could be found in the collections of the Natural History Museum (London, UK). However, the original description precisely points to the comparatively small size and the reddish brown color of the costal half.

Phoxopteris cuspidana was described from an unspecified number of specimens collected in Hungary and Germany (Saxonia). The species was previously synonymized with A. geminana . However, photographs of two type specimens (courtesy of Laszlo Ronkay) verify that the species fully agrees with typical A. diminutana both from the small wingspan and the reddish color of the costal half of the forewing. We therefore formally synonymize P. cuspidana with A. diminutana . To serve stability we furthermore designate the specimen with following labels as the lectotype: “TREITS. 3280” “ cuspidana 3280” “Micropraep. upen. No. 1087 Kuznetsov, 1983“ “ Lectotypus m Phoxopteris cuspidana Tr. design. Kuznetsov, 1983” (Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary) .

The taxonomic confusion surrounding A. diminutana is detailed in the A. geminana species account. DNA barcode data ( Fig. 1 ) and consistent differences in wing pattern clearly demonstrate that the Nearctic A. diminuatana is a separate species from A. diminutana .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Neighbor-joining tree of COI DNA barcode data obtained from BOLD (K 2 P model). Clusters representing morphologically distinct species are color-coded with the corresponding species name.