Homaloxestis aciformis Liu & Wang, 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Shurong
name: Wang, Shuxia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Lecithoceridae
Homaloxestis
Homaloxestis aciformis

description: Homaloxestis aciformis sp. nov.
(Figs. 1 a, 2a, 4a)
Type material. Holotype: ♂, CHINA: Laosimianshan, Mt. Simian (28º60′N, 106º40′E), Chongqing, 1280 m, 12.vii.2012, coll. Yinghui Sun and Aihui Yin, genitalia slide No. LSR12116. Paratypes: 2 ♂, Tudiyan, Mt. Simian, Chongqing, 1200 m, 16.vii.2012, coll. Yinghui Sun and Aihui Yin.
Description. Adult (Fig. 1 a): Wingspan 16.0–17.5 mm. Head brown; frons and area around eye white. Antenna pale brown. Labial palpus gray, with scattered brown scales; second segment with appressed scales; third segment a little longer than second, pointed terminally. Thorax and tegula dark brown. Forewing dark brown, scattered with blackish brown scales; costal margin straight, apex bluntly rounded, termen oblique; cilia dark brown. Hindwing grayish brown; cilia pale grayish brown. Fore legs pale yellow, femur and tibia with scattered dark brown scales; mid legs pale yellow, with scattered blackish brown scales; hind legs yellow, femur scattered with pale brown scales, tibia covered with long pale grayish-brown hairs.
Male genitalia (Fig. 2 a): Uncus broad at base, caudal margin slightly concave at middle, bearing setae on dorsal surface. Gnathos slightly broad at base, conspicuously tapering to hooked apex in distal 1/5. Costal bridge narrow, bluntly angled medially. Valva with basal half broad, nearly parallel dorso-ventrally, distal half bent slightly narrower, apex narrowly rounded; costa gently concave; ventral margin with a relatively small triangular process near middle, with a row of strong spiniform setae ranging from basal 3/5 to about distal 1/6. Sacculus short, about 1/5 length of valva. Juxta relatively short, nearly square-shaped, anterior margin protruded medially; caudal margin straight, without postero-lateral lobes. Aedeagus about 2/3 length of valva, curved at basal 1/3, thinned distally; with a cluster of densely packed very small spinules at base, with numerous dentations scattered from 1/5 to about 3/5, distally with one long acicular thorn reaching apex of aedeagus.
Seventh sternite (Fig. 4 a): Lateral ribs heavily sclerotized; anterior pair thick and long, bent upwardly to posterior margin of sixth abdominal segment; posterior pair thin and short, about half length of anterior pair, bent downwardly to anterior margin of eighth abdominal segment; antero-median rod broad, narrowed to rounded apex, extending into posterior 1/5 of sixth segment internally, with extensible hair-pencils at apex.
Female unknown.
Diagnosis. This species is similar to Homaloxestis cicatrix Gozmány, 1973 in the male genitalia, but can be separated by the valva with narrowly rounded apex, the costal bridge bluntly angled medially, and the straight caudal margin of the juxta without postero-lateral lobes. In H. cicatrix, the valva is broadly rounded apically, the costal bridge is almost straight, the juxta is concave in a blunt angle on the caudal margin and bears long horned postero-lateral lobes.
Distribution. China (Chongqing).
Etymology. The specific name of this species derived from the Latin aciformis (acicular), in reference to the long acicular distal thorn of the aedeagus.
description: Published as part of Liu, Shurong & Wang, Shuxia, 2014, The genus Homaloxestis Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Lecithoceridae) from China, with descriptions of two new species, pp. 79-88 in Zootaxa 3760 (1) on page 80, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3760.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/285504