Neopseustis rectagnatha Liao & Chen & Huang 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liao, Cheng-Qing
name: Chen, Liu-Sheng
name: Huang, Guo-Hua
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Neopseustidae
Neopseustis
Neopseustis rectagnatha

description: Neopseustis rectagnatha sp. nov.
Figs 1– 4, 5E–F
Diagnosis. The new species is very similar to N. meyricki in the forewing and male genitalia, but it can be distinguished by the following characters: i) forewing darker than N. meyricki; ii) gnathos more slender and straight, while curved in N. meyricki; iii) lateroposterior process of anellus h-like bifurcated, while Y-like in N. meyricki. In addition, female genitalia of this new species can be distinguished by: iv) smaller and shorter spermatheca and; v) the distinctly broader ductus bursae.
Description. Male. Forewing length 9.0– 10.4 mm; wingspan 19.0– 21.5 mm.
Head. Vertex and frons pale brown. Antennae with about 80 antenomeres; scape and pedicel brown, upper side dark, flagellum brownish to dark brown (Fig. 1). Eyes large, interocular index approximately 1.2. Galeae reduced with dense scales laterally. Maxillary palpi light brown to yellow brown; fourth and fifth segments the longest and of equal size. Labial palpi brownish, elongate, slender.
Thorax. Dorsum brownish fuscous mixed with some white scales; venter brown. Legs yellow brown, tibiae and foretarsi dark color. Forewings with basal 2/3 brownish, mottled with various shades of light brown, with various brown to black spots or markings on basal and medial areas, darker at the base of costa, and mixed with some silvery white scales; veins of R 2+3 and R 4+5 covered with silvery white scales basally; apical 1/3 brownish with some irregular and connected spots along the apical and outer margins. Hindwings with basal 2/3 light brownish fuscous, less mottled with a series of inconspicuous brownish fuscous spots along the edge, particularly at apex of vein (Fig. 1).
Abdomen. Sparsely clothed with slender, brownish scales. Seventh sternite with a stout, minutely bidentate apically, spine-like process meso-caudally; caudal margin of eighth sternite with a pair of spine-like processes bearing 4–5 spines (Fig. 3A).
Note: The GenBank accession numbers of samples LE01 to LE16 are MW804609 to MW804624, correspondingly.
Male genitalia. Gnathos a slender, straight process arising between socii ventrally, gradually sharped from base to apex. Socii densely setose, widely separated on either side. Tegumenal lobes extended to form a bilateral pair of slender, slightly curved arms projecting. Valvae broad, with a small, bilateral pair of clavate lobes with dilated apex arising from sacculus and nearly contiguous along midline. Lateroposterior process of anellus h-like, rather symmetrical in outline deeply forked near base, giving rise to two processes: inner branch more stout, straight, apical half bearing some small spines, the other one slender, curved, apical third with small spines; paired processes of anellus sclerotized, curved, irregularly serrate apically, arising nearly contiguous to one another from median posterior margin of anellus. Juxta with a broadly compressed median lobe extending anteriorly slightly beyond lateral arms of vinculum. Parameres consisting of a pair of slender, serpentine processes, greatly lengthened, densely pubescent over apical 2/3, slightly enlarged near acute apices (Fig. 2).
Female. Forewing length 9.7–12.3 mm; wingspan 21.0–25.0 mm.
Head and thorax. Similar to male.
Abdomen. Fourth sternite with a bilateral pair of membranous, conspicuous, disk-shaped glands near caudal margin (Fig. 3B); seventh sternite strongly sclerotized, caudal margin curved toward center producing a median, broad lobe, with many small tubercles; a slender, spinose sternal process arising ventrally and anterior to median lobe (Figs 4A, C).
Female genitalia. Eighth tergite enlarged, hood-like. Eighth sternite broad, with caudal margin deeply concave medially and forming two rather broad, triangular lateral lobes. Ductus bursae rather enlarged, sigmoid laterally; walls heavily thickened. Corpus bursae ovoid, membranous. Spermatheca small ovoid, about 1/6 of corpus bursae in size. Ninth sternite reduced, consisting of two, lightly sclerotized plates. Apex of ovipositor broad, heavily sclerotized, with a triangular, tricuspidate, and bluntly rounded median lobe; posterior apophyses relatively long, sclerotized, almost extending to anterior margin of eighth tergite. Lateral margin of ninth tergite produced into a bilateral pair of bilobed, somewhat scalloped, ridge-like processes (Figs 4A–B).
Holotype: ♂, China: Jintongshan National Nature Reserve, Nanshan National Park, Chengbu Miao Nationality County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, 1,370 m; 27 Jun. 2020, light trapping, leg. G.H. Huang; voucher number: HAUHL040282 (HUNAU).
Paratypes. All China: 1♂, same data as holotype; 2♂ 1♀, same locality as holotype, 10 Aug. 2020, leg. C.Q. Liao; 3♂, same locality as holotype, 15 Aug. 2020, leg. M.Y. Chen; 1♀, Mao’ershan National Nature Reserve, Xing’an County, Guilin City, Guangxi Province, 1,120 m, 29 Aug. 2020, LT [light trap], leg. C.Q. Liao; 1♂ 2♀, Mangshan National Nature Reserve, Yizhang County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, 705 m, 3 Sep. 2020, LT, leg. C.Q. Liao; 3♀, Nanling National Nature Reserve, Ruyuan County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province, 1,006 m, 4-6 Sep. 2020, LT, leg. C.Q. Liao; voucher numbers showed in Table 1 (HUNAU).
Host. Unknown.
Distribution. China (Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi).
Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin words recto and gnathus, referring to the straight gnathos of the male genitalia.
Remarks. Most specimens were collected from midnight to 1 a.m. and between 4–5 a.m. At rest position, their wings reflex the light and the hindwings get entirely hidden under the forewings, resembling birds’ droppings (Fig. 5F) as other Neopseustidae species (Fletcher 1933; Davis & Nielsen 1980). Two specimens were collected by a flight intercept trap (length to height: 2 m × 1.5 m; about one meter above the ground) (Fig. 5E) in Mangshan National Nature Reserve. The habitats are rich in vegetation at relatively cool and humid environment (Figs 5A–D).
Davis (1975) noted that the female of Neopseustis had been reported only in one species, N. meyricki and figured it. Chen et al. (2009) included female specimens in the type-series of N. moxiensis without describing the genitalia. Thus, the comparison of female genitalia was limited to a single species. In the new species, the spermatheca is smaller and shorter and bears a distinctly broader ductus bursae, when compared to N. meyricki (Davis 1975).
Different individuals from different or even the same areas showed variations on the wing ornamentation and body size (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, the male genitalia and molecular data, COI sequences, can be helpful for reliable identification.
Molecular analysis. Based on DNA barcodes of the Neopseustis species, the maximum intraspecific genetic divergence among individuals of N. rectagnatha sp. nov. is 0.9% (N = 15) (Table. S1). Additionally, the intraspecific genetic divergences are 0.3% within N. archiphenax and 0.6% in N. meyricki, and the minimum interspecific genetic divergence within the genus is 2.1% (N. rectagnatha sp. nov. and N. archiphenax) (Tab. S1). In the ML tree based on COI sequences, N. rectagnatha sp. nov. was closest to N. meyricki and N. archiphenax and these tree species clearly clustered (bootstrap value: 99%) when compared to N. fanjingshana (Fig. 6).
description: Published as part of Liao, Cheng-Qing, Chen, Liu-Sheng & Huang, Guo-Hua, 2021, Notes on the genus Neopseustis Meyrick with description of a new species from China (Lepidoptera: Neopseustidae), pp. 340-352 in Zootaxa 4970 (2) on pages 341-347, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4970.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/4761825