Agnippe tarakanovi Chang & Bidzilya 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Chang, Patricia Esther Corro
name: Bidzilya, Oleksiy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae
Agnippe
Agnippe tarakanovi

description: Agnippe tarakanovi sp. nov.
Figs 8–12
Type material. Holotype ³, Panama, prov. Herrera, Sarigua NP, 9.ii.2020, mercury (P. Corro, S. Tarakanov, O. Bidzilya) (ZMKU). Paratypes: 8³, 2♀, same data as for holotype (gen. slide 36/20³, 46/ 20♀, 51/ 20♀, O. Bidzilya) (MIUP, PCMENT, ZMKU).
Diagnosis. Agnippe tarakanovi sp. nov. is one of the smallest species of Agnippe Chambers, 1872. It is characterized externally by the brown forewing with a darker medial transverse fascia and veins mottled with dark yellow. Agnippe plumata (Meyrick, 1917), A. biscolorella (Chambers, 1872) and especially A. omphalopa (Meyrick, 1917) have a somewhat similar forewing pattern, but they are darker, more uniformly brown with indistinct black markings and without yellow suffusion along the veins. A markedly broadened, rounded ventral lobe of gnathos densely covered with microspines is characteristic of the male genitalia. The Palaearctic species of Agnippe have trifid rather than rounded ventral lobe of gnathos without short spines (Bidzilya & Li 2010). A rounded gnathos is also present in the genus Glauce Chambers, 1875, but in the latter the valva not divided into cucullus and sacculus (Lee & Brown 2008:14). The female genitalia are unmistakably be recognized by the long antrum, accessory sac of the corpus bursae with a cluster of short spines at base, and a characteristic signum with long anterior lobe and very long and narrow medial sclerite.
Description. Adult (Figs 8–9). Head covered with grey brown-tipped scales, frons white, labial palpus upcurved, segment 2 light grey with diffuse brown medial belt, inner and upper surface white, segment 3 white with brown basal and apical rings, slightly narrower and about 1/2 length of segment 3, acute; scape brown mottled with black, flagellomeres blackish brown with narrow light-brown rings. Thorax and tegulae brown. Wingspan 5.6–6.0 mm. Forewing blackish brown, veins, subapical area and dorsal margin distinctly mottled with light brown to ochreous and dark yellow, costal margin and apical 1/4 mixed with black, medial black fascia at 1/3–1/2 of costal margin extended towards nearly half length of dorsal margin, diffuse black antemedial irregular patch at 2/3 of costal margin, white costal spot on half length after medial patch, and white elongate streak at 4/5 after postmedial patch, cilia grey. Hindwing and cilia grey. Abdomen greyish black, segments II–V light grey ventrally, segment VIII with white scales posteriorly; tergum VIII in male bean-shaped, posterior margin gradually rounded, anterior margin with distinct triangular processes separated with rounded medial incision; sternum VIII triangular, elongate, twice as long as broad at base, anterior margin broadly emarginate with short, narrow, elongate lateral corners.
Male genitalia (Figs 10–11) with uncus slender, weakly narrowed after half length, apex rounded with narrow medial incision; dorsal lobe of gnathos sickle-shaped with narrow medial process at 3/4, ventral lobe flat, parallel-sided to 2/3 length, distal 1/3 strongly expanded, rounded, densely covered with fine spines, as long as uncus; tegumen weakly narrowed apically, distinctly constricted at 4/5 length, lateral margins with well developed narrow folds, anteromedial emargination triangular, extended to about half length of tegumen and to apex of gnathos; cucullus slender, nearly straight, weakly broadened on basal and distal portion, apex rounded, covered with long setae after 1/3 length, distinctly extended beyond apex of uncus; sacculus weakly sclerotized, digitate, ventral margin distinctly bent, dorsal margin nearly straight, apex weakly pointed, approximately 1/4-1/5 length of cucullus and slightly broader than its adjacent portion; vinculum narrow, band-shaped; juxta lobes subtriangular, membranous, with strongly sclerotized medial patches, separated by short triangular medial incision, extended to half length of sacculus; saccus narrow, elongate, extended far beyond apex of pedunculus, parallel-sided after 1/4 length, distal 1/4 weakly bent to the left, apex rounded; phallus about as long as cucullus and saccus combined, weakly curved, of even width, distal half with strongly sclerotized filament, apex rounded, strongly edged, ductus ejaculatorius subequal in length to phallus, anterior plate irregularly shaped with distinct narrow medial sclerite. Female genitalia (Fig. 12) with papillae anales slender, covered with short setae, apophysis posterior slender, straight, twice as long as apophysis anterior, segment VIII about 2.5 times broader as long, weakly sclerotized, unmodified, apophysis anterior 2.5–3 times as long as segment VIII, extended to 2/3 length of antrum, ostium indistinct, antrum well defined, approximately 2/3–3/4 length of ductus bursae, folded along lateral margins, broadened in anterior 2/3, anterior 3/4 of ductus bursae membranous, weakly broadened towards corpus bursae, corpus bursae subovate, accessory bursa broader than ductus bursae, extended beyond anterior apex of corpus bursae, with cluster of short spines near entrance of corpus bursae on left side, signum large, posterior lobe very short, subrectangular, anterior lobe distinctly serrated, medial sclerite narrow, twice as long as anterior lobe.
Biology. Host plant unknown. Adults were collected at mercury-vapor lamp in forested habitats dominated by Acacia trees and shrubs during the dry season (Figs 23, 24).
Distribution. Panama: Herrera Province, Sarigua National Park.
Etymology. The species is named in honor of Sergei Tarakanov, the many-years scientific collaborator of the first author and one of the collectors of this new species, in recognition of his active support during the collecting trip to Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas Provinces of Panama in February 2020.
description: Published as part of Chang, Patricia Esther Corro & Bidzilya, Oleksiy, 2020, Three new species of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) from Panama, pp. 407-416 in Zootaxa 4890 (3) on pages 410-412, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4890.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/4306330