Argyresthia (Argyresthia) acuminata Liu, Wang & Li, 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Tengteng
name: Wang, Shuxia
name: Li, Houhun
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Yponomeutidae
Argyresthia
Argyresthia acuminata

description: 22. Argyresthia (Argyresthia) acuminata, sp. nov. (Figs. 32, 101, 157, 213, 264)
Description. Adult (Fig. 32) wingspan 12.0 mm. Head white, face tinged with pale yellow. Labial palpus pale yellow, mixed with gray laterally. Antenna with scape white, pecten yellow; flagellum grayish white, ringed with black. Foreleg with femur gray on inner surface, tibia and tarsus blackish fuscous on inner surface, remainder white; midleg mostly pale yellowish white, tibia dotted with blackish gray near base, at middle, and on distal part dorsally, tarsus blackish gray on distal part of each tarsomere; hindleg grayish white on inner surface, gray on outer surface, tarsus blackish gray distally on outer surface of each tarsomere. Thorax white; tegula silvery dark gray. Forewing ratio 4.5; ground color gray; costa interspersed with black and white dots in basal 4/5, black dot before middle largest, with white spot at distal 1/10 and before apex, the latter smaller or absent; black mixed with gray streak below basal 2/5 of fold; black spot at middle of cell; dorsal band white, extending to before tornus, with scattered gray scales distally; dorsal fascia black, from before middle of wing to distal 3/10 of costa, narrowed; black streak along vein R4, below it with suffused white scales extending to termen; black dots at tornus and at lower angle of cell; cilia white adjacent to white costal spots, black around apex, grayish white near tornus. Hindwing and cilia uniformly gray.
Male genitalia (Figs. 101, 157, 213): Tuba analis shorter than width of valva. Socius covered with 17̄19 scale-like setae narrowed to pointed apex, bearing two long setae posteriorly (Fig. 213). Gnathos inflated distally, with six to eight long thick apical setae. Valva more or less heart-shaped, narrowly rounded apically; a row of long thick setae in disc near ventral margin with several similar setae in distal area. Saccus shorter than width of valva, with distal 3/4 nearly linear. Phallus straight, truncate or narrowly rounded apically, 5.6 times as long as width of valva (Fig. 157). Second sternite with about 18 micro-setae in each row; eighth sternite Y or V-shaped. Coremata present.
Female genitalia (Fig. 264): Ovipositor 2.5 times as long as eighth segment. Anterior apophysis 3/4 length of posterior apophysis, bifurcate before middle, branches fused, forming weakly and thinly sclerotized ventral margin of ostium bursae. Lamella postvaginalis triangular. Antrum funnel-shaped, half length of eighth segment. Ductus bursae densely spinulate before and near opening of ductus seminalis; ductus seminalis originating from anterior 2/ 5 of ductus bursae. Corpus bursae small, round, concave slightly on anterior margin, with sparse micro-spines and denticles; signum with basal plate band-shaped, horns short, extending outward almost horizontally, anterior margin rounded.
Type material. CHINA: Holotype, Ƌ, Dadian Forest Station (36.55°N, 111.21°E), Mt. Wulu, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, 1620 m, 19.vii.2013, leg. Tengteng Liu and Peixin Cong, slide no. LTT12740. Paratypes: Shanxi Province: 6♀, same data as holotype, except 19, 20.vii.2013, slide nos. LTT12735, LTT12749̄50; 4♀, Mt. Mian (36.87°N, 111.99°E), Jiexiu County, 1370 m, 25̄ 27.vii.2013, leg. Tengteng Liu and Peixin Cong, slide nos. LTT12313, LTT12453̄4, LTT12752; 4♀, Mt. Lingkong (36.61°N, 112.08°E), Qinyuan County, 1560 m, 31.vii, 1– 2.viii.2013, leg. Tengteng Liu and Peixin Cong, slide nos. LTT12737, LTT12857; 1♀, Mt. Tianlong (37.73°N, 112.37°E), Taiyuan City, 1280 m, 12.vii.2013, leg. Tengteng Liu and Peixin Cong, slide no. LTT12741; 1♀, Xixia (35.45°N, 112.03°E), Xiachuan Village, Qinshui County, Jincheng City, 1500 m, 16.viii.2012, leg. Qiang Gao and Na Chen, slide no. LTT12761; 1♂, Xiyao Village (38.67°N, 112.01°E), Ningwu County, 1475 m, 21.vii.2011, leg. Shulian Hao and Jiayu Liu, slide nos. LTT12839, LTT12839W; Gansu Province: 1Ƌ, Mt. Xinglong (35.80°N, 104.07°E), Yuzhong County, 8.vii.1992, leg. Houhun Li, slide no. L93011. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: 2♀, Mt. Dongmotianling (40.43°N, 112.10°E), Heilaoyao, Huhehaote City, 1480 m, 12.viii.2007, leg. Houhun Li and A. Bidzilya, slide nos. LTT12468, LTT12848.
Other material: Shanxi Province: 1♀ (without abdomen), Mt. Lingkong (36.61°N, 112.08°E), Qinyuan County, 1560 m, 1.viii.2013, leg. Tengteng Liu and Peixin Cong.
Distribution. China (Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi).
Diagnosis. This new species is closest to A. (A.) curvativa, sp. nov., superficially. It can be separated from the latter by the forewing lacking white scales in the basal 1/10 to 2/5 near the costa and with the dorsal fascia reaching the costa; in the male genitalia by the straight phallus being 5.6 times as long as the width of the valva; and in the female genitalia by the signum rounded on the anterior margin. In A. (A.) curvativa, sp. nov., the forewing is suffused with white scales from the basal 1/10 to 2/5 near the costa and the dorsal fascia does not reach the costa; the phallus is curved at distal 1/3 and is 3.5 times as long as the width of the valva; and the signum is straight on the anterior margin. Argyresthia (A.) acuminata is similar to A. (A.) conjugella in the shape of the signum, but A. (A.) acuminata has a white frons, a triangular lamella postvaginalis, and a corpus bursae slightly concave on the anterior margin; in contrast, A. (A.) conjugella has a yellowish-fuscous frons, a trapezoidal lamella postvaginalis, and a corpus bursae with the anterior margin deeply concave to about anterior 1/3.
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin acuminatus, meaning narrowed and pointed, referring to the scale-like setae on the socius narrowed and pointed apically.
description: Published as part of Liu, Tengteng, Wang, Shuxia & Li, Houhun, 2017, Review of the genus Argyresthia Hübner, [1825] (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutoidea: Argyresthiidae) from China, with descriptions of forty-three new species, pp. 1-135 in Zootaxa 4292 (1) on pages 36-37, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.827746