Hesperolyra guajavifoliae
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Ordo: Lepidoptera
Familia: Nepticulidae
Genus: Hesperolyra
Name
Hesperolyra guajavifoliae Stonis & Vargas sp. nov. – Wikispecies link – ZooBank link – Pensoft Profile
Type-specimen
Holotype: male, pinned, with genitalia slide no. RA1033. Original label: Colombia, Departamento de Valle del Cauca, Municipio de Dagua, Cisneros, 3°46'27"N, 76°44'40"W, 450 m, larva on Psidium guajava, fieldcard no. SV003, 11 Feb – 3 Mar 2019, J. R. Stonis and S. A. Vargas. (MPUJ).
Diagnosis
Externally, adults of the new species are distinguishable from all other Neotropical Nepticulidae, including congeneric Hesperolyra, by a dark, oblique fascia and two small, dark, basal and apical spots on the forewing. However, in some specimens, including worn ones, the spots may be inconspicuous or absent. In the male genitalia, a large apical process of the valva, two large, horn-like processes fused with the transtilla and weakly developed cornuti in the phallus distinguish H. guajavifoliae sp. nov. from all other Hesperolyra species. In the female genitalia, the unique, large vaginal sclerite and distally wide vesicles of ductus spermathecae are hypothesized to be unique to this species, but this character may not remain valid for species differentiation because females of many nepticulid species are unknown and remain to be discovered. Hesperolyra guajavifoliae sp. nov. is distinguishable from another guava feeder, Ozadelpha guajavae Puplesis & Robinson, by a dark, oblique fascia and two small spots on the forewing of the adults, and by blotch-like leaf mines (leaf mines of O. guajavae are slender and sinuous, see Remeikis et al. 2015: figs 1, 7).
Description
Male (Figs 21, 30, 31, 34, 35). Forewing length 1.8–2.0 mm; wingspan 4.0–4.5 mm (n = 7). Head: frontal tuft orangish ochre to ochre-brown; collar inconspicuous, comprised of piliform, cream scales; scape yellow cream to pale ochre, with some scattered brown scales; sometimes scape entirely cream, without brown scales, glossy; antenna slightly shorter than length of forewing; flagellum with 27–28 segments, pale grey to dark grey, with little purple iridescence. Thorax, tegula and forewing ochreous cream, sparsely speckled with dark brown scales; forewing with an oblique, postmedian fascia formed by black-brown scales, and with two small, black-brown apical and basal spots (the latter may be absent or inconspicuous in some specimens); fringe cream, fringe line irregular, inconspicuous; on underside, forewing pale grey or cream grey in basal half of wing, pale grey in rest; under fold with a distinct row of special scales, only visible in descaled wings (Figs 34, 35); venation with four distal veins: Rs3, Rs4, M, and A (Figs 28–31). Hindwing glossy, cream to pale grey; on underside, basal third to half usually cream grey, pale grey in rest, or entire hindwing pale grey; fringe pale grey; venation with two distal veins: Rs and M (Figs 32, 33). Legs cream to ochre cream; on upper side, foreleg and midleg usually densely covered with dark grey or black-grey scales. Abdomen grey-brown on upper side, cream to pale ochre with some brown scales on underside; anal tufts cream, short, inconspicuous.
Female (Figs 22–24, 28, 29, 32, 33). Very similar to male but tends to be slightly darker and larger: forewing length 2.0–2.5 mm; wingspan 4.4–5.4 mm (n = 8). Flagellum with about 25–26 segments. Forewing and hindwing undersides pale grey. Abdominal apex wide, truncated, and without anal tufts (Fig. 24). Otherwise as male.
Male genitalia (Figs 36–57). Capsule much longer (ca 325 μm) than wide (ca 185 μm). Vinculum large; ventral plate of vinculum widely rounded, truncated, without lateral lobes. Tegumen almost truncated or forming an inconspicuous, short, widely bilobed pseuduncus, with many setae on each lobe. Uncus thickened, inverted Y-shaped (Figs 41, 42). Gnathos with short but wide central process and slender lateral arms (Figs 36, 37). Valva (Figs 45, 46) 170–200 μm long, 70–90 μm wide, with long apical process (Fig. 45); transtilla without or with short sublateral processes (Figs 50, 54, 55), and with two large, horn-like processes (Figs 47, 48, 50, 55). Anellus thickened laterally (Figs 44, 49, 51, 55) and ventrally (Figs 55–57), membranous dorsally. Phallus (Figs 38, 40) 70–75 μm long; minimal width 35–50 μm, maximal width at base 70–85 μm, without carina; vesica with an inconspicuous cathrema and plate-like cornutus, and thickened folds which in slides resemble cornuti (Fig. 40).
Female genitalia (Figs 58–64). Total length about 560 μm. Anterior apophyses distally bent inwardly, slightly longer or equal to posterior ones (Figs 58, 64). Vestibulum with a wide, complex sclerite (Fig. 63). Corpus bursae rather small (reduced), without pectinations or signa, oval-shaped (Figs 58, 64). Accessory sac enlarged, equal or longer than corpus bursae; ductus spermathecae wide to slender proximally (see Figs 60, 62), with about three shallow convolutions (Fig. 64) and 2–2.5 large, rounded, plate-like vesicles distally (Figs 59, 61). Abdominal apex wide, truncated.
Biology
(Figs 7–20, 25–27). Host plant: Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae). Egg (Figs 25, 27) laid singly on underside of leaf; egg case flat, 0.25 mm long (n = 6), shiny, black-grey when filled with frass. Larvae mine leaves in February to early March; based on numerous older, vacant leaf mines, the mining may start as early as late December and be particularly active in January, i.e., during the drier season from late December to February in the exceptionally humid region of western Colombia (see Distribution); voltinism unknown. Larva pale green with a pale brown head and dark green intestine. Leaf mine (Figs 7–12) starts as a slender gallery filled with black frass; later the gallery almost abruptly widens to a blotch with irregularly scattered brown-black or black frass. Pupation occurs outside the leaf mine, possibly in debris or litter, because no cocoons were observed on the host plants. Exit slit on upperside of leaf. Pupation (Figs 17–20) inside cocoon; immature stages will be described elsewhere (Sergio A. Vargas, personal communication). Cocoon (Figs 13–16) 1.9–2.2 mm long, 1.2–1.5 mm wide (n = 9), brown to blackish brown or dark green-brown (slightly paler when vacant and dried), usually with a rather distinct flat rim around the main body (Figs 15, 16). Adults emerged late February to March; moths were not collected at a light trap in localities where the species occurred, therefore, we do not know how readily moths fly to light. Otherwise, biology is unknown.
Distribution
(Figs 1–6). So far, this species is known to occur at altitudes from 450 to 850 m on the western slopes of the Andes (Valle del Cauca, western Colombia), bordering with the lowland Choco province. The latter is possibly the most humid area on Earth, where annual rainfall reaches 11,770 mm (Wettest places on Earth 2019) and is equally distributed except for only slight dry season(s) (Figs 2–6).
DNA barcode
We barcoded eight specimens of the type series, but not the holotype; sequences are available in GenBank under voucher/sample IDs MN732873, MN732874, MN732875, MN732876, MN732877, MN732878, MN732879, MN732872.
Etymology
The species name derives from the Latin name of the host plant guajava, in combination with the Latin folium (a leaf), in reference to the feeding habit of the new species; although the ending -ae here is not correct Latin (van Nieukerken, personal comm.), we preferred to name the species as guajavifoliae and not otherwise.
Other material examined
13 ♂, 13 ♀, paratypes: Colombia, Departamento de Valle del Cauca, Municipio de Dagua, Cisneros, 3°46'27"N, 76°44'40"W, 450 m, larva on Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae), fieldcard no. SV003, 11 Feb. – 3 Mar. 2019, Jonas R. Stonis and Sergio A. Vargas leg., genitalia slide nos RA1014♂, RA1015♀, RA1016♀, RA1034♀ (MPUJ).
Original Description
- Stonis, J; Remeikis, A; Diškus, A; Orlovskytė, S; Vargas, S; Solis, M; 2019: A new leafmining pest of guava: Hesperolyra guajavifoliae sp. nov., with comments on the diagnostics of the endemic Neotropical genus Hesperolyra van Nieukerken (Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae) ZooKeys, 900: 87-110. doi
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