Astrotischeria plagifera
Creators: name: Jonas R. Stonis
name: Arūnas Diškus
name: Fernando Carvalho Filho
name: Owen T. Lewis
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tischeriidae
Astrotischeria
Astrotischeria plagifera

description: Astrotischeria plagifera (Meyrick, 1915)
(Figs. 15, 190–216, 233, 245–247)
Tischeria plagifera MEyRICK, 1915: 246.
Astrotischeria plagifera (MEyRICK); DIŠKUS & PUPLESIS (2003: 428).
Material examined. ECUADOR: 1 ♂ (lectotype), Huigra (Parish), elevation 1370 m, 14.vi.1914, genitalia slide no. 28677♂ (BMNH); 4 ♂, 4 ♀ (paralectotypes), same label data as lectotype, genitalia slide nos 28678 ♂, 28679 ♀ (BMNH); 9 ♂, 8 ♀ (not type material), 45 km S Loja, western environments of Vilcabamba, 4°17'42"S, 79°13'15"W, elevation 1950 m, mining larvae on Rhysolepis incana (Pers.) H. Rob. & A.J. Moore (Asteraceae), 23.i.2017, A. Diškus, genitalia slide nos AD 923♂, AD 942♀, AD 943♀ (ZMUC).
Diagnosis. The species belongs to the Astrotischeria trilobata group. The combination of a twisted apex of phallus, unique dorsal lobes of valva (see Fig. 15), distally furcate uncus in the male genitalia, and intense, multicolorous speckling of the forewing distinguishes A.plagifera from all other Astrotischeria, including other members of the A. trilobata group. The fact that it feeds on Rhysolepis also makes this species distinctive.
Male (Figs. 190, 191, 193–195). Forewing length: 3.4–4.2 mm; wingspan: 7.5–8.9 mm. Head: face pale grey to whitish cream; palpi grey, annulated with blackish brown scales; frontal tuft glossy, comprised of wide, either pale ochre-brown lamellar scales with cream tips, or of ochre cream lamellar scales; collar comprised of slender, fuscous-tipped lamellar scales; pecten distinct, cream, annulated with blackish brown scales; antenna distinctly longer than half the length of forewing; flagellum pale grey, annulated with blackish brown scales; sensillae relatively short, rather indistinct. Thorax greyish cream, densely speckled with pale brownish grey scales; tegula densely covered with brownish grey or grey-black scales. Forewing densely speckled with scales of different color: predominantly pale brownish grey and dark brown-grey, also black and orangish ochre scales; the ochre scales mostly scattered in irregular, indistinct patches; fringe formed by brownish cream, piliform scales, annulated with dark grey or pale ochre; fringe-line distinctive, formed by brownish black scales (or indistinct in the holotype); forewing underside brown-grey to pale brown, except slender pale ochre edges; no androconia. Hindwing grey on both upper and underside, without androconia; fringe grey to ochre-grey. Legs brownish cream, on upper side densely covered with blackish brown scales with little purple iridescence. Abdomen glossy, grey to blackish brown with little purple iridescence on both upper and underside, sometime with areas of cream scales on underside; genital plates large, yellowish to brownish cream, contrasting with the collor of abdomen; anal tufts rather long, distinctive, brownish cream.
Female (Fig. 192). Similar to male.
Male genitalia (Figs. 15, 196–201). Capsule about 640 µm long, 315 µm wide. Uncus (Figs. 196, 200) consisting of two distally furcate lateral lobes and one short, rounded median lobe (Fig. 199). Valva divided (Figs. 15, 196, 197): ventral lobe very slender (Fig. 197), about 410 µm long (excluding basal process); dorsal lobe distally slender, with a transverse, lobe-like process (Figs. 15, 196, 200); transtilla absent; basal process of valva long and slightly bent outwardly (Fig. 199). Anellus mostly membranous, thickened only laterally (Fig. 197), with a few setae on each side. Phallus (Fig. 201) about 620 µm long, apically bifurcated and twisted (Fig. 198), without spines.
Female genitalia (Figs. 202–205). Total length 1425–1510 mm. Ovipositor small, clothed with short, stout and darker ‘peg setae’. One pair of prela unusually long (Fig. 203). Ductus bursae slightly widened posteriorly, with scallop-like pectinations (Fig. 202). Corpus bursae small, elongated (Fig. 202), with indistinct pectination but without signum. Ductus spermathaecae with about 2–3 coils (Fig. 202); utriculus absent or lost in slide preparation.
Bionomics (Figs. 206–216). Host plant: Rhysolepis incana (Pers.) H. Rob. & A.J. Moore, Asteraceae (Figs. 206–208, 210, 211). Mining larvae recorded from January. Leaf mine as an irregular blotch (Figs. 209, 212–216), with black-brown frass or with very little frass but epidermis stained brown, therefore old leaf mine may look brown. Larva pale yellowish green to pale yellow, with dark brownish green intestine and brown head (Figs. 213, 216). Adults known from February and June.
Distribution (Fig. 233). Known from the Ecuadorian Andes at an elevation of about 1400–2000 m (Figs. 245– 247).
Remarks. Originally, the species was described from a few specimens collected from Huigra (a mountainous locality E of Guayaquil, Ecuador) but the host plant remained unknown. Only after a century this species was found occurring in abundance in other Andean locality, in southern Ecuador (Figs. 245–247), on distinctive, very brightly flovered plant of Rhysolepis (formerly Viguiera).
description: Published as part of Jonas R. Stonis, Arūnas Diškus, Fernando Carvalho Filho & Owen T. Lewis, 2018, American Asteraceae-feeding Astrotischeria species with a highly modified, three-lobed valva in the male genitalia (Lepidoptera, Tischeriidae), pp. 1-69 in Zootaxa 4469 (1) on pages 49-55, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4469.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1454525