Stigmella confertae Diskus & Stonis, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Stonis, Jonas R.
name: Diškus, Arūnas
name: Remeikis, Andrius
name: Davis, Donald R.
name: Solis, M. Alma
name: Torres, Nixon Cumbicus
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nepticulidae
Stigmella
Stigmella confertae

description: 8. Stigmella confertae Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.
(Figs. 3, 97–104)
Type material. Holotype: ♀ (see Remarks), ECUADOR: Napo Province, ca. 10 km W Papallacta (páramo), 0°21'45"S, 78°11'35"W, elevation 3700–3800 m a.s.l., mining larvae on Baccharis conferta Kunth, 13.i.2005, field card no. 4862, leg. A. Diškus, J. R. Stonis, genitalia slide nos AD638♀ (ZMUC). Paratype: 1 ♀ (see Remarks), same label data as holotype, genitalia slide no. AD642♀ (ZMUC).
Diagnosis. The new species differs from all other known Neotropical Stigmella in the female genitalia by the combination of a very large accessory sac, small corpus bursae with indictinctive comb-like pectinations, and large pointed anterior apophyses. The host-plant Baccharis conferta also makes this species highly distinctive.
Male. Unknown.
Female (Fig. 103). Head: frontal tuft ochre; collar and scape cream; antenna longer than half the length of forewing; flagellum with 27–28 segments (n=2), fuscous. Thorax and tegula fuscous. Forewing unicolorous (fascia indistinct or absent; see Remarks), fuscous with purple iridescence. Abdomen fuscous.
Female genitalia (Fig. 104). Total length about 675 µm. Abdominal apex broadly rounded, about 110–120 µm broad. Anterior and posterior apophyses almost equal in lenght; anterior apophyses very broad proximally, strongly narrowing (pointed) distally; posterior apophyses 110–145 µm long, very slender. Vestibulum very broad, without sclerites. Corpus bursae with folded distal part and with broader, oval-shaped, 260–265 µm long, 180–205 µm broad, basal part, without signa; pectinations comb-like, indistintive, hardly visible (Fig. 104). Accessory sac very large, folded; ductus spermathecae slender, with one distinct, strongly chitinized plate-like structure.
Bionomics. Larvae mine in leaves (Figs 100–102). Host-plant: Baccharis conferta Kunth (Asteraceae) (Fig. 98). Larvae bright green with dark grey-green intestine and dark brown head; mine in early January (and judging on numerous vacant leaf-mines) also in December. Leaf-mine as a gallery strongly widening and contorted in distal third (therefore resembling a blotch) (Figs 100, 101). Usually but not always the distal part of leaf-mine is in distal portion of the leaf-blade (Fig. 102). Black frass (Fig. 101) filling most of gallery except in the final part. Old leafmines appear brownish cream, distinctive (Fig. 102). Larval exit slit on upper side of the leaf. Cocoon grey-ochre to ochre; length 3 mm, maximum width 1.5–1.6 mm.
Distribution (Fig. 3). This species occurs high in the equatorial Andes (Ecuador: Napo Province) at altitudes between 3700–3800 m, in páramo habitats (Figs 97, 99).
Etymology. The species is named after the host-plant Baccharis conferta.
Remarks. This distinctive high altitude new species, associated with Baccharis conferta as a host-plant, is described from the genitalia slides dissected from adults still enclosed within the pupa shell. It seems, that this species is difficult to rear indoors (mortality rate is about 90–95%; the causes of the high mortality remains unknown).
description: Published as part of Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Davis, Donald R., Solis, M. Alma & Torres, Nixon Cumbicus, 2016, The first record of Baccharis L. (Asteraceae) as a host-plant genus for Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera), with description of new Stigmella species from South America, pp. 101-128 in Zootaxa 4136 (1) on pages 124-126, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4136.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/261786