Phyllonorycter pterocaryae
Creators: name: Lu, Ming
name: Yao, Zhicheng
name: Liu, Tengteng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gracillariidae
Phyllonorycter
Phyllonorycter pterocaryae

description: Phyllonorycter pterocaryae (Kumata, 1963)
(Figs 4, 8)
DZỄÎDzš [Chinese name]
Lithocolletis pterocaryae Kumata, 1963: 61; Ermolaev (1977): 113. TL: Japan. TD: EIHU.
Phyllonorycter pterocaryae (Kumata): Ermolaev (1981): 84; Kirichenko et al. (2019): 9.
Diagnosis. See the diagnosis of P. tumoris Lu & Liu, sp. nov.
Material examined. 1♂, CHINA: Shandong, Yantai, Mt. Kunyu, 5.viii.2019, mine on leaves of Pterocarya stenoptera, leg. Encui Wang & Tengteng Liu, field no. WEC00093, SDNU. Ent 012157 (LM0071 ♂).
Adult (Fig. 4). Forewing length 2.5 mm. Frons bright white, mixed with light yellow scales. Piliform scales tuft on vertex white mixed with brown. Labial palpus white, black on dorsum. Antenna slightly shorter than forewing, scape white, flagellum yellowish brown, each flagellomere black ringed. Dorsal thorax and tegula yellowish brown, each side with one white longitudinal stripe, inner side of tegula white. Forewing ground color yellowish-brown, markings beige, edged with black scales basally, one medio-basal streak, one transverse fascia, two costal and two dorsal strigulae; medio-basal streak about 1/3 length of the forewing, apex fused with first dorsal strigula; dorsobasal streak fused at the posterior margin with first dorsal strigula, forming a square patch; first costal strigula at basal 1/3 of forewing, oblique, triangular; transverse fascia at basal 1/2 forewing, angular, twice broader at dorsum than at costa; second costal strigula at distal 1/3, vertical, angular; first dorsal strigula opposite to first costal strigula, rod-shaped, oblique, fused with medio-basal streak; second dorsal strigula at distal 1/3, triangular, parallel to first dorsal strigula, apex occasionally fusing with second costal strigula; cilia grayish white on dorsum, basal half black and distal half yellow on termen. Hindwing and cilia uniformly gray. Legs beige; foreleg tibia with dark-brown scales, tarsus with four wide dark-brown rings; mid tibia with two black twill stripes, tarsus with two wide dark-brown rings; hind tibia with yellowish-brown scales at distal 1/2, tarsus with three wide dark-brown rings. Abdomen dark gray dorsally, grayish white ventrally; genital segments with yellowish-brown tuft.
Male genitalia (Fig. 8). Tegumen triangular, tuba analis beyond apex of tegumen, truncated apically and densely microsetose on lower surface. Transtilla strongly sclerotized. Valvae symmetrical, margins almost parallel, slightly arched upwardly, nearly equal in length to tegumen, base with one triangular process; apex with distal 1/3 of dorsal margin and distal 2/3 of ventral margin sparsely lined with long setae. Saccus triangular, apex rounded. Phallus nearly equal in length to valva, basal 3/4 membranous, center with one sclerotized rod, distal 1/4 strongly sclerotized, near apex with one pair of minute hook-like processes on each side. Eighth sternite almost rectangular.
Female genitalia. Kumata (1963) made a detailed description.
Biology. The mine is located on the underside of the leaf.
Host plants. Pterocarya stenoptera C. DC. (new record), Pt. rhoifolia Sieb. Et Zucc., Juglans ailantifolia Carrière, J. mandshurica Maxim., J. regia L. (Kumata 1963, Ermolaev 1981).
Distribution. China (Shandong) (new country record), Japan, Russia (Kumata 1963, Ermolaev 1977).
Note: Only one male specimen and one mine of this species are available. Additionally, the structure of the male genitalia and the location of the mine differ slightly from the original description. In the original description, there is only one hook-like process at the near apex of the phallus, and the mine is located on the upper surface of the leaves. In the specimens from Shandong, China, there is a pair of hook-like processes at the same place of the phallus, and the mine is located on the underside of the leaf. Unfortunately, no barcode sequence is available for the single specimen. The identification could be more conclusively established in the future.
description: Published as part of Lu, Ming, Yao, Zhicheng & Liu, Tengteng, 2025, Leaf-mining moths of the genus Phyllonorycter Hübner (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Lithocolletinae) associated with Juglandaceae in China, with descriptions of two new species and one newly recorded species, pp. 453-464 in Zootaxa 5621 (4) on pages 459-462, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5621.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/15263104