Istrianis squamodorella Amsel 1935
Creators: name: Bidzilya, Oleksiy
name: Karsholt, Ole
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy

description: 17. Istrianis squamodorella (Amsel, 1935)
Pseudoteleia squamodorella Amsel, 1935: 299, pl. 11, figs 104–106, pl. 18, figs 73–76.
Teleiodes squamodorella (Amsel 1935): Piskunov 1981: 691.
Istrianis squamodorella (Amsel, 1935): Bidzilya & Mey 2011: 205
Material examined. Lectotype ♂, Jordanbrücke, Jericho, Z. 342, Populus euphr., 17.vii.1930, H.G. Amsel (gen. slide 26/11, O. Bidzilya) (SMNK) [here designated].
Paralectotypes of squamodorella: 2♂, 2♀, Kasr el Jehud, Jordan Z., 250, 9.iv.30, Populus euphratica, H.G. Amsel (gen. slide 26/11♀; 44/ 11♂, O. Bidzilya) (SMNK; BMNH); 1♂, Jordanbrücke, Jericho, Z. 342, Populus euphr., 17.vii.1930, H.G. Amsel (gen. slide 26/11, O. Bidzilya) (SMNK); 1♀, Jordanbrücke, Jericho, 29.iv.1930, Lichtfg.(Amsel) (BMNH); 1♂ [abdomen missing], 1♀, Allen by Bridge Jericho, ex l. Populus euphratica, 22(?). iv.30 (Amsel) (gen. slide 400/14, O. Bidzilya) (MFN).
Other material. Pakistan. 2♀, Peshavar, 2.iv.1967, larva on leaves of P. nigra C.I.E. Coll, Teleia nr. Squamodorella Ams., K. Sattler det., 1967 (B. M. genitalia slide 14354; gen. slide 418/14, O. Bidzilya) (BMNH).
Adult (Figs 40–42). Male. Wingspan 10.0– 12.3 mm. Head grey, black-tipped, frons light grey, labial palpus white with narrow black basal and wide medial rings, upper side off-white; scape black, antennal segments black with white basal rings; thorax and tegulae grey, black-tipped. Forewing covered by grey black-tipped scales, indistinct small whitish spot in middle and diffuse larger whitish spot at 2/3 of costal margin, black dash and three pairs of small tufts of raised ochreous scales in fold at 1/3, at mid-length and at 2/3, ochreous sub-costal streak from base to 1/3, subapical area and veins mottled with a few grey scales, whitish pattern gradually narrowed from half width of base to 2/3 of dorsal margin, cilia grey, black-tipped; underside brown, subapical 1/3 mottled with black, especially along veins; hindwing grey mixed with brown except for middle, dorsal margin black from base to half length, dense tuft of long black hairs extending from base to half length, cilia grey.
Female. As male, but hindwing uniformly grey.
Variation. One female paratype (Jericho, 29.iv.1930) differs in having broader forewings with a larger number of brown scales, absence of whitish pattern along costal margin and presence of a black dash in the cell corner.
Male genitalia (Fig. 77). Distal portion of tergite VIII tongue-shaped, nearly parallel-sided, about two times longer than broad, apex rounded, anteromedial emargination broad, triangular, its distal portion comparatively short and narrow; sternite VIII 2.5 times longer than broad, posteriolateral projections long; uncus tapered, 1.5–2 times narrower than gnathos; gnathos slightly longer than uncus, apex with strongly sclerotized hook; tegumen boomerang-shaped, lateral lobes weakly broadened anteriorly, anteromedial emargination broadly rounded; valva moderately broad, evenly curved, nearly of equal width; phallus broad, weakly narrowed in middle, apex rounded, longer than valva.
Female genitalia (Figs 102–104, 132–134). Segment VIII trapezoidal, nearly as long as broad; apophyses anteriores two times longer than segment VIII; anterior margin with rounded, broadly separated and finely papillated lobes; posterior sclerite small, slightly longer than broad; anterolateral sclerite oxhorn-shaped; anterior sclerite narrow, digitate; antrum tubular; ductus bursae long; corpus bursae ovate; signum subhexagonal, posterior lobe gradually narrowed apically, anterior lobe broader than posterior lobe with moderately deep medial emargination, medial ridge narrow, interrupted in middle.
Variation. The female from Pakistan differs in the shape of anterolateral sclerites and broader medial ridge of signum.
Diagnosis. I. squamodorella is very similar externally to I. nigrosquamella in having whitish pattern along dorsal margin, but the forewings are greyish rather than light brown and the head is grey rather than white; there are small differences in the underside of forewing which is brown with blackish apical 1/ 3 in I. squamadorella in contrast to brown with black 2/ 3 in I. nigrosquamella; male hindwing of I. squamodorella is darker being densely mottled with black and bearing dense pencil of long black hairs, whereas the hindwing of I. nigrosquamella is lighter, greyish, the pencil of hairs is more weakly developed and its base is light brown rather than black. The females can be separated by abdominal segments I–IV which are black in I. nigrosquamella and grey in I. squamodorella, but this must be proved by studying additional specimens. The male genitalia are very similar to those of I. piskunovi and I. nigrosquamella, but the lateral lobes of the tegumen are weakly broadened anteriorly, the uncus is narrower apically and the valva is not narrowed in the middle. The female genitalia are close to those of I. piskunovi, but the anterolateral sclerites are broader and the posterior sclerite is longer.
Biology. Larva feed on Populus euphratica Oliv. and P. nigra L. (Salicaceae). Adults have been observed in April and June.
Distribution. Middle East (Palestine), Pakistan. The record from Crimea (Lvovsky & Piskunov, 1989: 553) must be referred to I. femoralis Stgr. The record from Kharkov region of Ukraine (Piskunov, 1981: 691; Lvovsky & Piskunov, 1989: 553; Budashkin & Piskunov, 1990: 81) is in fact I. piskunovi. The record from Iraq (Amsel, 1949: 316, 1959: 32, Wiltshire, 1957:137) must be referred to I. nigrosquamella Ams. (Amsel, 1959).
Notes. Pseudoteleia squamodorella was described from an unspecified number of specimens collected at the border of Palestine and Israel ("Jordanbrücke bei Jericho, ex. l. Populus euphratica Oliv., 9., 29.4. und 17. 7") (Amsel, 1935: 300). The type material is not specified in the description. One female and two males that were figured in the description (Pl. 11, Figs. 104–106), must be considered as a part of type series. In the Amsel collection in Karlsruhe there are also three males and two females of P. squamodorella collected 9.iv. and 17.vii.
and labelled as paratypes. One of these males (Jordanbrücke, 17.vii) is illustrated in fig. 106 in the original description, but the female (Fig. 104) and male (Fig. 105) were not traced. Two paratypes (male and female) are in MFN, another couple in BMNH. The male with label “Jordanbrücke, Jericho, Z. 342, Populus euphr., 17.7.1930, H.G. Amsel (gen. slide 26/11, O. Bidzilya)” is here designated as the lectotype (see under “Material”).
Two females from Pakistan bred from P. ni g r a differ in details of the genitalia (see above), thus their association with I. squamodorella is provisional.
description: Published as part of Bidzilya, Oleksiy & Karsholt, Ole, 2015, Revision of the genus Istrianis Meyrick, 1918 (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) with special regard to the Palaearctic region, pp. 401-445 in Zootaxa 4059 (3) on pages 435-438, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4059.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/237390