Scrobipalpa japonica Povolny 1977
Creators: name: BIDZILYA, OLEKSIY
name: HUEMER, PETER
name: ŠUMPICH, JAN
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae
Scrobipalpa
Scrobipalpa japonica

description: Scrobipalpa japonica Povolný, 1977 sp. rev.
Figs 64, 65, 124, 125, 162
Scrobipalpa japonica Povolný 1977d: 222.
Type material examined. Holotype of S. japonica ♂, Yuni, 24.v.1961, Hokkaido, T. Kumata (gen. slide Jp.4844, D. Povolný) (SMNK).
Material examined. 1 ♀, Russia, S-Buryatia, 51°11-13’N, 106°10-12’E, 700 m, Hamar-Daban Mts, Murtoi river, Gusinoe Ozero vill. 6 km NW, forest steppe, 4.vi.2006 (Nupponen) (gen. slide 200/16, OB) (Barcode TLMF Lep 28355) (NUPP); 1 ♂, Tuva, 20 km E Mugur-Aksy, Tsagan-Shibetu ridge, 2200 m, 30.vi.2001 (Ustjuzhanin) (Budashkin) (gen. slide 235/08, OB); 1 ♂, Donetsk reg., Khomutovskaya steppe Nature Reserve, 6.v.1996 (Bidzilya) (gen. slide Bdz. 9, D. Povolný) (all ZMKU).
Diagnosis. Scrobipalpa japonica is characterised externally by the greyish black forewing with a broad black mixed with brown longitudinal streak from base to apex. Scrobipalpa rebeli, S. mixta and S. disjectella are very similar and can hardly be reliably separated without studying the genitalia. However, S. mixta is usually larger, S. disjectella is more contrasting, the rather variable S. rebeli usually has a darker posterior margin of the forewing. The broadly rounded apically sacculus and vincular processes with indistinct tips in combination with the short, distinctly broadened apically cucullus are characteristic of the male genitalia. The most closely related S. rebeli differs in the longer uncus that is folded laterally, the narrower vincular processes and broader saccus. The sacculus and vincular processes are narrower in S. mixta and shorter in S. disjectella. The female genitalia of S. japonica are recognized by the smooth sternum VIII with distinctly sclerotised medially and posteriorly subgenital plates and long, narrow signum. The related species differ additionally in the subgenital plates covered with a small foam sculpture (S. disjectella, S. mixta) or microtrichia (S. rebeli).
Male genitalia (Figs 124–125). Uncus twice as long than broad, apically narrowed. Posterior margin rounded; gnathos short, weakly curved; tegumen moderately broad, anteromedial emargination broadly rounded, extending to 1/3 length; cucullus distinctly broadened in distal portion, with rounded apex, not extending beyond top of uncus; sacculus twice as broad as adjacent part of cucullus, apex broadly rounded with very small indistinct tip, extending nearly to half length of cucullus, of even width; vinculum slightly more than twice as broad as long, posterior margin with deep and narrow triangular basally and parallel-sided distally emargination, vincular process as broad and slightly shorter than sacculus, with short outwardly curved tip; saccus slender, extending far beyond top of pedunculus; distal portion of phallus broad, parallel-sided, apex pointed, apical arm narrow, down-curved, caecum slightly broader and about 1/3 length of phallic tube.
Female genitalia (Fig. 162). Papillae anales subovate, sparsely covered with short setae; apophyses posteriores four time as long as apophyses anteriores; segment VIII 1.5 times longer than broad, sternum VIII with triangular posteromedial emargination, subgenital plates subtriangular, distinctly broadened posteriorly, smooth except for weakly sclerotised patches along medial and posterior edges, ventromedial depression subtriangular distinctly broadened anteriorly, covered with fine microtrichia in posterior portion, anteriorly with large, deep triangular incision, subostial sclerites distinct, narrow; apophyses anteriores slightly shorter than segment VIII, straight; colliculum narrow, ring-shaped; ductus bursae moderately broad, corpus bursae elongate, basal plate of signum subtriangular, with several teeth on inner margin, distal hook long, narrow, curved at obtuse angle at 1/4.
Biology. The host plant in Ukraine is Artemisia lercheana Weber ex Stechm. (first host plant record). Adults have been recorded from late April to early May in Ukraine, late May in Japan, and June in Siberia. In Ukraine the species occurs in various steppe biotopes. The specimen bred from A. lercheana was found in extremely dry sand steppe.
Molecular data. BIN: BOLD:ACT4605. The intraspecific average distance of the barcode region is 1.12% (n=2) (Fig. 9). The minimum distance to the nearest neighbour, S. buryatica sp. nov. (BIN: BOLD:AEC7223), is 4.49%.
Distribution. Ukraine (Povolný 2001: 205); Russia: Tuva (Bidzilya 2009: 6), Buryatia (new record); China: Shaanxi (Bidzilya & Li 2010: 5); Japan (Povolný 2002: 51). The record from Crimea (Povolný 2001: fig. 28; Povolný 2002: pl. 30, fig. 273) should be referred to S. mixta.
Remark 1. Scrobipalpa japonica was described based on a single male collected in Hokkaido, Japan. Later the species was recorded from SE Ukraine (Povolný 2001: 205, fig. 27). The study of the holotype of S. japonica and additional material from China, southern Siberia and Ukraine showed that S. japonica differs clearly from S. rebeli in the genitalia of both sexes and should be taken out of synonymy of the latter, see also the genetic difference in fig 9.
Remark 2. Here we redescribe the male genitalia and describe the female genitalia of S. japonica for the first time.
description: Published as part of BIDZILYA, OLEKSIY, HUEMER, PETER & ŠUMPICH, JAN, 2022, Taxonomy and faunistics of the genus Scrobipalpa Janse, 1951 (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) in southern Siberia, pp. 1-76 in Zootaxa 5218 (1) on pages 35-36, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5218.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7409836