Leucocercops curatellifoliae Triberti & Staude & Sharp & Lopez-Vaamonde 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Triberti, Paolo
name: Staude, Hermann
name: Sharp, Ian
name: Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gracillariidae
Leucocercops
Leucocercops curatellifoliae

description: 23. Leucocercops curatellifoliae Triberti & Lopez-Vaamonde sp. nov.
(Figs 18–19, 25, 41–43, 77)
Holotype: ♂, South Africa, Limpopo, Hoedspruit, Glenlyden farm, Franklin Park Forest, mn 13/x/2014, pup 16/ x/2014, em 21/x/2014, Parinari curatellifolia, (rearing: M908), A. & I. Sharp leg., CLV7580, slide TRB4459 ♂.
Etymology. The name of this species is derived from the specific name of the host plant, curatellifolia, declined in the genitive.
Diagnosis. Like Leucocercops dasmophora, the new species is characterized by a distinctive forewing pattern that is extremely uncommon among known Acrocercopinae. This pattern consists of a series of orange bands and white spots. The new species can be differentiated from L. dasmophora by the unique design of its forewing. Notably, the new species exhibits a significant reduction in costal strigulae (Figs 18-19). Additionally, there are some distinguishing characteristics in the male genitalia: the walls of anellus are highly modified, forming two asymmetrical toothed lamellae. In the valva, the mid-ventral sclerotization is entirely covered by short bristles, extending into two longer bristles that point distally.
Description of adult (Figs 18–19). Forewing length 4.3 mm. Head. Vertex, frons and palpi white; labial palpus smooth, slightly up curved, only the first two segments visible; maxillary palpus very slender, about as long as the second segment of labial palpi; antenna grey, beneath whitish with scape smooth, very slightly thickened. Thorax. Dorsum and tegulae grey ochre with whitish posterior margins. Legs mostly white but only some segments are visible; foretibia dark fuscous, tarsus with 3 brownish spots; hindtibia with a row of bristly hairs and a subapical patch on outer side. Wings (Fig. 25). Ochreous orange with white makings, almost entirely edged on both sides with dark brown; three dorsal spots, first at base, irregular, from which a thin white costal line starts, edged with dark on both sides; in the second quarter an elongate spot, bent towards the apical end of the wing; in the third quarter a flattened marking along the dorsum but with a median projection not touching the costa; apical area white, edged with dark brown along termen and containing an elongated black point that merges with the dark margin; on costal margin a triangular white spot adjacent to the apical white area. Cilia destroyed apically, light ochre along the termen. Hindwings dark grey, cilia ochreous grey. Abdomen. Segment VIII widely incised ventrally and tergum with a narrow anterior apodeme (Fig. 42). Male genitalia (Fig. 41, 43). Tegumen weakly sclerotized, shorter than vinculum; tuba analis short, not silky and subscaphium weakly sclerotized; valva tapering towards apex, pointed, with a weak sclerotizations just before the centre of inner surface, covered by robust bristles and, more distally, with two long spines, one three times the other long; vinculum long, just shorter than valva, U-shaped, on each sides with a bulge bearing many long androconial scales, saccus not evident; walls of anellus strongly modified, forming two asymmetrical toothed lamellae; phallus longer than valva, with phallobase about one third long, aedeagus of similar width, straight but with a medial narrowing, apex pointed, only slightly truncated; bulbus ejaculatorius 0.7 the length of aedeagus, strongly dilated. Female genitalia. Unknown.
Biology. Parinari curatellifolia Planch. ex. Benth. (Chrysobalanaceae) (Fig. 77).
Distribution. South Africa (Limpopo).
DNA barcodes. Only the barcode of the holotype is known forming a unique BIN (BOLD: AEC3184) which is 9.78 % divergent to its nearest neighbour Leucocercops dasmophora (Table S1).
description: Published as part of Triberti, Paolo, Staude, Hermann, Sharp, Ian & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2024, Exploring the diversity of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera) in South Africa: host plants, distribution, and DNA barcoding analysis, with the description of nine new species, pp. 1-51 in Zootaxa 5529 (1) on page 20, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5529.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14021754