Elachista triseriatella Stainton, 1854

Kaila, Lauri, 2015, The Elachista dispunctella (Duponchel) complex (Lepidoptera, Elachistidae) revisited, with exceptional level of synonymy, Zootaxa 3980 (3), pp. 301-358 : 340-341

Elachista triseriatella Stainton, 1854

Figs. 48–50 , 114–116 , 140

Elachista triseriatella Stainton, 1854: 261 .

Elachista contisella Chrétien, 1922: 121 . Syn. nov.

Elachista gregori Traugott-Olsen, 1988: 297 . Syn. nov.

Elachista lerauti Traugott-Olsen, 1992: 252 . Syn. nov.

Material studied. Type material. Holotype ♂ of E. gregori : labelled: Holotype [rounded with red margin]; Genital praeparat nr. B. 24.11.86 sex: ♂ E. Traugott-Olsen; Hainburger Berge , Austria inter. 26.5.1962 W. Glaser. Elachista gregorella [sic] n. sp. det. E. Traugott-Olsen; gen. prep. B. 24.11.86. E. Traugott-Olsen, Holotype, Coll. Glaser. LNK. ( SMNK). Other material. Denmark: Kergårda, Pl7, W.J. 16. VI. 1 ♂ P. Falck leg., DNA sample 22227 (Coll. P. Falck); HO, WJ 6.VI.1992 1 ♂ 1♀ P. Falck leg., L. Kaila prep. 3465, 5774, DNA samples 21437, 21438 Lepid. Phyl. (Coll. Kaitila). Great Britain: Devon, Petit Tor Point, Torquay, SX927663 VC3, 3. VII.1987, 1 ♂, J. Tabell prep. 4697, R. J. Heckford leg. (Coll. Tabell). Latvia: Tal., Slitere, Vaide, 21.6.2000, 1 ♂, N. Savenkov leg., J. Tabell prep. 4755 (Coll. Tabell). Slovakia: 1 km N. Muráň, 12. VI.1987, 1 ♂, B.. Bengtsson leg., Bengtsson prep. 2699 (Coll. Bengtsson); Slov. kras-Zádiel, 27. V.2001, 1 ♂, Z. Tokár leg., L. Kaila prep. 5440, DNA sample 21349 (Coll. Tokár); 8, Hliník. 2.H.46, 1 ♂, J. Patocka leg., L. Kaila prep. 3067 ( ZMUC). Spain: Granada, Sierra Nevada, 1.5 km S Puerto de la Ragua, 2000 m, 7. VI.2010, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, J. Tabell leg. & Coll., DNA sample 16252 Lepid. Phyl.; 8. VI.2010, 14 ♂, 4 ♀, (two pairs in copula), J. Tabell prep. 4639, 4685, L. Kaila 5743, 5744, DNA samples 16250–1 (Coll. Tabell, MZH); Granada, Sierra Nevada, 2900 m, 20 km SE Granada, 12. VII.2010, 1 ♂, T. Nupponen leg., L. Kaila prep. 5705, DNA sample 15483 (Coll. Nupponen).

Diagnosis. E. triseriatella is a small species, usually with pale grey (sometimes white) forewing ground colour. The male genitalia are characteristized by the narrow uncus lobes, and the distinctly sclerotized, parallelsided and rather long digitate process. The female genitalia have a characteristic signum, consisting of two longitudinal, dentate rows. In the charactrization of E. triseriatella, Traugott-Olsen (1988) depicts the signum of E. gregori as such, but that of E. triseriatella as a single dentate sclerotization. This seems to be a misinterpretation, as Bland (1996) illustrates the signum of a British E. triseriatella as consisting of two rows. E. triseriatella has a characteristic sclerotization laterad of ostium bursae. E. oukaimedenensis has also such a sclerotization, but it is much broader than in E. triseriatella .

Biology. In Britain, E. triseriatella inhabits open grasslands, both coastal and inland ( Heckford 2010). In Denmark it has been found in coastal sand dunes (P. Falck and O. Karsholt, personal communication). The larva may be a leaf-miner within the leaves of Festuca ovina L. (for a review, see Heckford 2010).

Distribution. Austria, Denmark, France, Germany ( Biesenbaum 1995), Great Britain, Latvia, Slovakia, Spain.

Remarks. The holotype of E. triseriatella is depicted by Traugott-Olsen (1988), that of E. contisella by Parenti (1972), and that of E. lerauti by Traugott-Olsen (1992). Theses types, as well as the holotype of E. gregori , are identical to E. triseriatella and here considered conspecific. The artificial distinction of the E. dispunctella and E. triseriatella groups by Traugott-Olsen (1988, 1992) is flagshipped by this species, which appears to occur under two names in both publications. The record from Germany (as E. gregori in Biesenbaum 1995) has not been checked, but is reliable on the basis of illustration of the genitalia of a German specimen ( Biesenbaum 1995). E. triseriatella is referred to as OTU 5 in Mutanen et al. (2015).

Figures

FIGURES 48 – 58. External appearance of Elachista spp. 48 – 50. E. triseriatella Stainton. 48. ♂ (Denmark). 49. ♂ (Spain). 50. E. gregori, holotype. 51 – 52. E. elsaella Traugott-Olsen. 51. ♂ (Sweden, Högsby, type locality of E. elsaella). 52. E. svenssoni Traugott-Olsen, holotype. 53. E. arenbergeri Traugott-Olsen, ♂ (Tunisia). 54 – 55. E. deresyensis Traugott-Olsen. 54. ♂ (Turkey). 55. ♀ (Turkey). 56. E. oukaimedenensis Traugott-Olsen, holotype. Figures 57 – 58. E. galactitella (Eversmann). 57. ♂ (Ural, near type locality). 58. E. madridensis Traugott-Olsen, holotype. Scale bar 2 mm.

FIGURES 114 – 115. Male genitalia of Elachista triseriatella Stainton. 114. England (J. Tabell prep. 4687). 115. Spain (J. Tabell prep. 4639).

FIGURES 116 – 117. Male genitalia of Elachista spp. 116. E. triseriatella Stainton, holotype of E. gregori Traugott-Olsen. 117. E. elsaella Traugott-Olsen, Sweden (L. Kaila prep. 3463).

FIGURES 139 – 140. Female genitalia of Elachista spp. 139. E. hispanica (Spain, L. Kaila prep. 5733). 140. E. triseriatella (Denmark, L. Kaila prep. 5774).