Nosphistica elliptica Yu et Wang, 2019

Yu, Shuai & Wang, Shuxia, 2019, Taxonomic study of the genus Nosphistica Meyrick, 1911 (Lepidoptera Lecithoceridae) from China, with descriptions of seven new species, Zootaxa 4664 (4), pp. 497-517 : 509-510

Nosphistica elliptica Yu et Wang , sp. nov.

( Figs 11 , 24 )

Type material. CHINA, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region: Holotype ♂, Mt. Daming , Nanning, 24.V.2011, leg. Linlin Yang & Yinghui Mou, slide No. LSR13154.

Diagnosis. This species is similar to N. fenestrata ( Gozmány, 1978) in the wing pattern, but it can be distinguished from the latter by the chocolate-brown forewing, and by the median process of the gnathos distinctly narrowed from broad base to basal 3/ 5 in the male genitalia; in N. fenestrata , the forewing is dark brown, and the median process of the gnathos is uniformly wide from base to basal 3/5.

Description. Adult ( Fig. 11 ) wingspan 16.0 mm.

Head chocolate brown, with pale orange scales on frons and erect ochreous-yellow scales on lateral sides. Antenna with scape elongate, chocolate brown dorsally, pale orange ventrally; flagellum ochreous yellow, annulated with chocolate brown on basal half and on distal 1/6. Labial palpus with second segment thickened, ochreous yellow, mixed with chocolate-brown scales on inner surface, becoming denser on outer surface; third segment slender, approximately as long as second segment, chocolate brown.

Thorax and tegula chocolate brown. Forewing with costal margin extending ventrad from distal 1/4, apex obtuse, termen oblique; ground color chocolate brown with speckled white scales; costal spot at distal 1/5, wedge-shaped, ochreous yellow; discocellular stigma indistinct; fringe chocolate brown, tipped with ochreous yellow. Hindwing with costal margin straight, apex obtusely produced, termen oblique; ground color chocolate brown except area between 3A and dorsum dark brown interrupted by an orange-white spot; with orange-white, wedge-shaped costal spot at middle and before apex respectively; discocellular stigma elliptical, orange white; narrow orange-white stripe present before discocellular stigma; fringe chocolate brown tipped with ochreous yellow along termen, ochreous yellow with a chocolate-brown subbasal line along dorsum; basal line orange white. Legs chocolate brown, with ochreous-yellow scales on femora and tibiae except hind femur white apically and hind tibia ochreous yellow on inner surface; mid tibia roughly scaled; hind tibia with dense long scales; tarsi ochreous yellow.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 24 ). Uncus broad basally, with paired setose processes posteriorly. Gnathos with basal plate strongly curved dorsad posteriorly, forming a large process; median process broad at base, tapered to apex, falculate distally. Valva with basal 1/3 broad, narrowed from basal 1/3 to distal 1/4, uniformly slender from distal 1/4 to obtuse apex, setose distally; costa shallowly concave; sacculus broad at base, narrowed and terminated at 1/4 length of ventral margin. Juxta with basal half sclerotized, sub-quadrate, and deeply concave laterally, with two symmetric sclerites posterior to middle, followed by a trapezoidal plate, triangularly produced anteromedially; lateral process anterior to middle, about 1/5 length of juxta, weakly sclerotized, elongate digitate, setose apically. Vinculum broad, narrowed at middle, straight anteriorly. Aedeagus shorter than valva, narrowed toward blunt apex, curved medially; cornutus horn-shaped, at middle of aedeagus.

Female unknown.

Distribution. China (Guangxi).

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin ellipticus (= elliptical), referring to the elliptical discocellular stigma on the hindwing.

Figures

FIGURES 6-11. Adults of Nosphistica spp. 6. N. acriella, ♂; 7. N. metalychna, ♂; 8. N. bisinuata, ♂; 9. N. abunda sp. nov., paratype, ♂; 10. N. apiculata sp. nov., paratype, ♂; 11. N. elliptica sp. nov., holotype, ♂. Scales=2 mm

FIGURES 24-30. Male genitalia of Nosphistica spp. 24. N. elliptica sp. nov., holotype, LSR13154; 25. N. fenestrata, slide No. LSR13153; 26. N. fusoidea sp. nov., holotype, slide No. YS17123; 27. N. grandiunca sp. nov., holotype, slide No. LSR13227; 28. N. orientana, slide No. LSR13163; 29. N. paramecola, slide No. LSR13156; 30. N. albimaculata sp. nov., holotype, slide No. YS17093. Scales=0.5 mm.