Multiquaestia skulei Aarvik & Karisch, new species
Creators: name: Aarvik, Leif
name: Karisch, Timm
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tortricidae
Multiquaestia
Multiquaestia skulei

description: Multiquaestia skulei Aarvik & Karisch, new species
(Figs. 5, 7, 18, 19, 20)
Type material. Holotype, 3, MALAWI, Central Region, Lilongwe District, Lilongwe 1000 m., 13–31.iii.1989, leg. Bjarne Skule, genitalia slide 2008.020 L. Aarvik (ZMUC). Paratype: 13, same data as holotype, genitalia slide 2742 L. Aarvik (NHMO).
Description. Adult (Fig. 7). Wingspan 13.0–13.5 mm. Head: White. Antenna dark grey, scape white. Labial palpus 1.5 times diameter of eye, externally dark grey, internally and on dorsal edge white; due to scale brush, broadly triangular in lateral view. Thorax: Medially white, white area becoming narrower towards abdomen, and edged with blackish; tegulae brownish grey. Legs dark grey, tarsi with paler rings. Forewing upperside with basal 2/3 blackish brown, darkest along costa; terminal 1/3 light ochreous; on dorsum two white triangular marks interconnected with narrow white band along dorsal edge; the inner mark reaching to about 2/5 from dorsum, the distal one reaching to nearly middle of wing; a small white dot present beyond tip of distal white mark; a few dark scales in terminal area suggest two short vertical interrupted lines; a few blackish scales present in white areas along dorsum; cilia light brownish. Hind wing upperside light grey; ochreous hair-pencil from base of hind margin to scale cover on dorsum of abdomen. Abdomen: Dark grey, abdominal brush yellowish. Male genitalia (Fig. 18) with tegumen triangular, dorsally slightly produced, forming an uncus (Fig. 19); socii weak, long, setose; lower edge of sacculus gently curved, neck of valva broad, cucullus inverted drop-shaped, rounded on dorsal edge, acutely angled ventrally; anellus long; aedeagus (Fig. 20) angled at 1/5 from base, then narrow and very slightly curved, widening distally; with 10 cornuti and 29 carinae.
Diagnosis. M. skulei differs from M. purana n. sp., M. iringana n. sp., and M. kingstoni n. sp., by the pure white medial part of thorax and by the longer distal triangular mark on the forewing. In M. andersi n. sp. the forewing distal white mark is even longer than in M. skulei, but otherwise M. andersi is very close to M. skulei in its external characters. In the male genitalia M. skulei differs from the other species except M. agassizi n. sp. by the much broader neck of the valva and the produced distal end of the tegumen. M. agassizi is similar both externally and in the male genitalia, but is distinguished from M. skulei by a completely white thorax, except for the tegulae, and by a valva with a characteristic distal thorn.
Variation. The uncus in the male genitalia is more strongly developed in the holotype (Fig. 19) than in the paratype (Fig. 18).
Distribution. Malawi.
Etymology. The species is named after the collector of the holotype, Bjarne Skule.
description: Published as part of Aarvik, Leif & Karisch, Timm, 2009, Revision of Multiquaestia Karisch (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Grapholitini), pp. 18-32 in Zootaxa 2026 on pages 21-23, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.274748