Tasmantrix thula Gibbs, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gibbs, George W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Micropterigidae
Tasmantrix
Tasmantrix thula

description: Tasmantrix thula Gibbs, sp. nov.
(Figs 1 G, 12F–H, 17)
Sabatinca sp. Issiki, 1931: Fig 32 (♂ genitalia) & Fig 34. (head)
Type material. Holotype: ɗ, Australia: The Crater, Mt Hypipamee National Park, North Queensland, 17°26´S 14°529´E, 980 m, 25 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC).
Paratypes: Australia, North Queensland: 23 ɗ 18 Ψ. 2 ɗ Devil’s Thumb, 12 km NW Mossman, 1000 m, 5 Sep 1992, I.D. Nauman (ANIC); 4ɗ Mossman Gorge, 16°28´S 145°18´E, 120 m, 22–23 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 1ɗ Mt Lewis, 16°35´S 145°17´E, 850 m, 23 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 1ɗ Kuranda, F.P. Dodd (ANIC); 1 ɗ 5 km N of Kuranda, 25 Apr 1955, I.F.B. Common (ANIC); 1 Ψ Malanda, 22 Sep 1930, A.J. Turner (ANIC); 3 ɗ 16 Ψ Lake Eacham, 17°18´S 145°38´E, 15 Sep 1985, I.F.B. Common(ANIC); 2 Ψ Lake Barrine, 17°15´S 145°39´E, 750 m, 31 Sep 1937, A.J. Turner, 25 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 2 ɗ 2 Ψ Herberton State Forest, 17°19´S 145°25´E, 25 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 1 ɗ 1 Ψ, The Crater, Mt Hypipamee NP, 25 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 3 ɗ 1 Ψ Millaa Millaa, 23–24 Sep 1930, A.J. Turner (ANIC); 2 Ψ Zillie Falls, near Millaa Millaa, 17°29´S 145°39´E, 25 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 9 ɗ 6 Ψ, 3.7 km E Lamin’s Hill, 17°23´S 145°44´E, 820 m, 25 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC, QMB, NZAC); 1 Ψ Emerald Ck, Lamb Range, 950 m, 11 Oct 1982, G.B. Monteith, Yeates, Thompson (QMB); 3 Ψ Bartle Frere summit, 17°24´S 145°49´E, 1500 m, 6 Nov 1981, at UV light, E.D. Edwards (ANIC); 1 Ψ Bartle Frere NW centre peak, 1500 m, 16 Sep 1982, G.B. & S.R. Monteith QMB); 4 ɗ 3 Ψ. Henrietta Creek, Palmerston National Park, 17°36´S 145°45´E, 360 m, 26 Sep 1981, 29 Oct 1997, 27 Sep 2000, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 2 Ψ, Palmerston Highway roadside, 17°36´S 145°43´E, 600 m, 26 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 1 Ψ Crawford Lookout, Palmerston NP, 15 Jul 1971, Z. Liepa (ANIC); 1 Ψ Lacey’s Ck, Mission Beach, 17°51´S 146°06´E, 20 m, 26 Sep 1981, G.W. Gibbs (ANIC); 1 ɗ Mission Beach, 17°54´S 146°06´E, 29 Aug 1977, I.F.B. Common (ANIC).
Material examined. Type series plus 12 specimens from the above localities.
Diagnosis. Overall maculation of calliplaca - type, but costal streak short, triangular and lying along costa (Fig 1 G). Male valvae unique, strongly bifurcate at apex, with specialised retro-setae on both arms, elbowed, with brush borders (Fig. 12 F–H); Tergum 10 a transverse bar, divided in mid-line.
Description. Head interocular index of male 1.0, female 0.8. Male antenna with 51 ((50–54) flagellomeres; scape and pedicel with pale grey piliform scales; first flagellomere filiform, clothed with silvery-grey lamellar scales, remainder moniliform, black; each ascoid with 7–8 branches. Female antenna with 38 (37–40) flagellomeres; scape and pedicel piliform scales creamy-white tinged with grey; basal 10–11 flagellomeres filiform and clothed with creamy-white lamellar scales, remainder of antenna black. Mandibles functional; maxillary palps long, 1.7x head width at compound eyes.
Head capsule brown, with dense tufts of brown-tipped creamy-white piliform scales, wholly brown in mid-dorsum between antennae; dark brown eye streak from scape through to wing base not evident in this species. Palps with silvery-white scales.
Tegula with a tuft of long creamy white piliform scales with lamellar scales on outer margin; mesoscutum scales black with intense bronze sheen; metascutum with scattered lamellar and piliform scales, bronzy grey; scales of coxae, femora and underside of tibiae shining white; fore-tibia black above, tarsus black with 3 white bands; mid-tibia white with distal black band, tarsus white with black scales at distal end each joint; hind tibia dark grey above, tarsus black with 2 white bands. Abdomen grey-brown scaled, with weak iridescence.
Forewing length of male 3.2 mm (2.9–3.3), female 3.8 mm (3.5–4.2). Maculation typical of calliplaca - group (Fig. 1 G); ground colour dark blackish-brown with strong purple iridescence. Three shining white fasciae and a subtle pattern of silvery-white scale patterns in the apical third; a short basal triangular streak to about one eighth, tapering from full wing width to an acute point behind the costa, separated from the costal margin by a single line of black scales; a broad transverse band of constant width, at about one third; a small triangular area of white scales in the apex; narrow patches of white scales between veins around margin of wing in apical third, and a radiating pattern of fine, single-scale lines along all veins in apical third. Fringes black with grey tips, especially around apex.
Hindwing with 2 or 3 frenular bristles; uniformly dark-grey scaled with weak bronzy sheen, fringes dark grey.
Male abdomen and genitalia. [G924] (Figs. 12 F–H) Trace of a transverse sclerite present in dorsum of A1. Exit area of S5 gland sexually dimorphic; in male situated on the postero-lateral angle of the sternite, a flattened, semicircular sclerotised lobe, 0.7 mm diam, projecting from the sternum margin, its exposed surface devoid of scales or setae but with a fine scale-like pattern of grooves. A8 with a greatly reduced tergite, less than half the area of T7; S8 absent. Sclerite 9 short, 0.8x length of S6 and with short dorsal arms, widely separated, apices bluntly pointed; anterior margin thickened. Valvae erect, each branching into dorsal and ventral arm, separated by a wide semicircular emargination; dorsal arm longer, narrow with slight constriction at mid-length, apex bluntly pointed, interior surface of apex bearing a dense array of specialised ‘retro-setae’, their basal half extending parallel with the arm followed by a slightly more than right angle bend inwards, this tip half feathered on one side; ventral arm tapered to a blunt apex, which also bears a dense array of recurved setae on inner surface near the apex, each with its apical third feathered on one side, ventral margin with unadorned setae, most recurved at tip. Median plate elongated, rod-like, but not fan-shaped. Tergum 10 complex, in two parts separated by a narrow unmelanised “T-shaped area; anterior portion a narrow ‘bridge’ arching across between the dorsal arms of sclerite 9, non-scaled; posterior portion another narrow arch but in two sections with an unmelanised gap in the mid-dorsal line, scaled, and fused to the anterior portion laterally, a very small area of fine setae on the ventral surface at each lateral extremity; anal cone sclerites conspicuous, somewhat rectangular, bearing about 16 setae which increase in length from base to apex of the cone. Phallus short, 1.8x length of S6, gonopore terminal, fish-mouthed, ventral bulb small; phallocrypt with rows of acutely pointed scales.
Female abdomen and genitalia. [G905] Segment 5 gland exit situated on anterior side of sternite, of typical sabatincoid form, a raised protuberance with 5–6 long piliform scales. Segment 9 with a broad band of scattered setae over most of the segment, sclerotisation restricted to a narrow ring around posterior margin, slightly wider ventrally than dorsally. Segment 10 sclerites semicircular, equidimensional. Papilla cup with a ventral shelf supporting entrance to bursa. Spermathecal duct reaching slightly beyond rim of papilla.
Remarks. Although reasonably distinctive from the other calliplaca -group species, T. thula has been included under the Sabatinca calliplaca label since its initial discovery by F.P. Dodd in 1904 (eight specimens in BMNH) and is probably referred to by Turner (1916: 391) in the statement (when discussing calliplaca): “I have also received several examples taken at Kuranda near Cairns by Mr F.P. Dodd. It was clearly recognised as distinct from calliplaca when Issiki (1931) dissected the male genitalia for his systematic study of Japanese Micropterigidae (Fig 32, Issiki, 1931, where he also figured the head in Fig 34b) but he made no attempt to amend the nomenclature. Its North Queensland collection localities overlap both Austromartyria porphyrodes and Aureopterix sterops but extend over a much wider area.
Etymology. The species name is derived from the Greek geographic location thule which refers to a northern land first described by Pytheas and is to signify the geographic location of this species within the calliplaca -group of species.
Distribution (Fig. 17). Eastern Australia, Northern Queensland. From Devil’s Thumb and Mossman Gorge in the north, 16°28´S, to Mission Beach, 17°54´S, a distance of 200 km, and from Herberton State Forest, 64 km from the coast, to Mission beach. It has been taken from near sea level to the summit of Bartle Frere at 1500 m. Collected at almost all times except mid-summer, the wet season, ranging from 25 April until 6 November.
description: Published as part of Gibbs, George W., 2010, establishment of five new genera from Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand, pp. 1-48 in Zootaxa 2520 on pages 32-33, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196244