Oiketicoides tedaldii (Heylaerts, 1882)

Arnscheid, Wilfried R., Sobczyk, Thomas & Zerafa, Michael, 2021, Notes on the identity of Oiketicoides tedaldii (Heylaerts, 1882) (Psychidae, Oiketicinae), Nota Lepidopterologica 44, pp. 1-15 : 1

Oiketicoides tedaldii (Heylaerts, 1882) Figs 2 (1), 4

Amicta tedaldii The neotype is labelled as follows: 1) Sicilia, Ficuzza, 16.ix., Krüger Geo. C. 2) det. Dr. Wehrli A. tedaldii Heyl. 3) Oiketicoides tedaldii Heyl., det. Arnscheid, Präp. 4077 4) Slg. Daniel. 5) red label: NEOTYPUS, Oiketicoides tedaldii (Heylaerts, 1882). The neotype is deposited in the MWM.

Description.

Head dorsolaterally long, yellowish brown, hair-shaped scaled. Eyes ovoid, AI: 0.54. Antennae bipectinate with 29 pecten. Pecten ciliated and scaled. Antennae length 5 mm. Wings light brown, forewings costa straight, apex roundish, termen oblique. Underside equally coloured. Fringes yellowish brown with a whitish gloss distally. Wingspan 22 mm, wing length 9 mm, wing width 5 mm, FI: 1.8. Scales short, unstalked or short stalked. Mostly with two dentations, partially with 3 dentations (classes 1-2, after Sauter 1956). Fringes yellowish brown with a whitish gloss distally Fringe scales with 3-5 dentations. Forewing venation with 10 veins from discal cell. Discal cell divided, veins r3+r4 stalked of 1/3 length. Hindwing venation with 7 veins, m1 and m2 short stalked. Genitalia (slide 4077 Arnscheid): Tegumen and vinculum fused. Tegumen ovoid, folded laterally. Valva short and broad, of tegumen length. Distinctly indented above vinculum laterally. Vinculum stretched, triangle shaped. Clasper of sacculus short and slender, covered distally with 6 short spines. Saccus long and stretched, of tegumen length. Phallus very long, thick, weakly curved, vesica without cornuti but with a broad pointed process laterally.

The confirmed distribution of O. tedaldii with both specimens and cases is thus from Italy: Sicily [Ficuzza, Madonie, Caltanisetta], Malta [Imtaħleb, Binġemma, Naxxar Gap, Għargħur: Ġebel San Pietru, Mellieħa]. As has already been shown, there are hints that this species also occurs in Algeria and Tunisia (Fig. 8a, b ).

Figures

Figure 2. 1, 1 a. Neotype of Oiketicoides tedaldii (Heylaerts, 1882) and labels in MWM. 2, 2 a. Holotype and labels of Psyche lutea Staudinge (1871) in MFNB. 3. Holotype of Amicta sera Wiskott, 1880 in UWCP. 4, 5. Case and labels of Amicta heylaertsii Milliere, 1878, erroneously labelled as syntype of Acanthopsyche tedaldii Heylaerts, 1882 (NMNL).

Figure 8. a, b. Habitat of O. tedaldii, Malta, Imtaħleb, 184 m. Photos: M. Zerafa