Gnathitischeria Diskus 2023, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Stonis, Jonas R.
name: Diškus, Arūnas
name: Remeikis, Andrius
name: Orlovskytė, Svetlana
name: Solis, Alma
name: Paulavičiūtė, Brigita
name: Xu, Jiasheng
name: Dai, Xiaohua
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Malvales
Tischeriidae
Gnathitischeria

description: 11. Genus Gnathitischeria Diškus gen. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 67617B46-AA1E-4BF0-9CB6-2316094988EC
(Figs 482–561)
Type species: Gnathitischeria atitlani Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. (described below).
Diagnosis. Externally, Gnatitischeria species are characterized by a pale (grey cream or ochreous cream) apical spot on the forewing (Figs 485, 489); females of the type species G. atitlani sp. nov. possess a distally cream antenna (Figs 487, 488). In the male genitalia, species of Gnathitischeria are easily recognizable by presence of a unique pseudognathos, a modified uncus, a frame-like thickening of tegumen, and a divided valva with a dorsal lobe (process). In the female genitalia, the genus is characterized by small, but spinose, lateral lobes of the ovipositor and a weakly developed caudal plate of the prela. Leaf mines of Gnathitischeria are irregular blotch-like or elongated with a triangular initial part, on Asteraceae and Malvaceae host plants; a nidus is indistinctive. See Tabs 2, 3 for occurrence of these diagnostic characters in other genera of Tischeriidae.
Notes. In our molecular trees, Gnathitischeria appeared as a separate clade at the generic rank. It clusters either with (Astrotischeria + Paratischeria) (Fig. 62), or only with Astrotischeria (Figs 63, 64).
Adult. Head: frontal tuft overlapping the frons, comprised of long relatively wide lamellar scales; pecten relatively short and slender; collar indistinctly paired or coalescent, comprised of relatively slender lamellar scales. Female of G. atitlani with distinctly cream antenna distally. Male forewing with elongated but irregular spots; female forewing with significantly brighter, ochre-yellow elongated spots; forewing apex with a fringe line and pale spot (grey cream in male and female of G. arcana, and ochre cream in female of G. atitlani). Hindwing slender, androconia absent.
Male genitalia. Uncus modified, comprised of two wide lobes with variously developed lateral thickenings. Socii membranous, unusually large, almost unpaired and indistinctly spinose. Tegumen greatly modified: moderately short however, unlike other Tischeriidae (excluding Manitischeria), tegumen with a frame-like thickening and well-developed, large pseudognathos; diaphragm without spines. Valva divided, with ventral and dorsal lobes; basal process of the valva long. Transtilla and juxta absent. Anellus membranous, thickened only caudally or absent. Vinculum long, ventral plate widely rounded distally. Phallus slender, rod-like, apically with wide lateral lobes, without spines.
Female genitalia. Ovipositor lobes large to medium large; the gap between ovipositor lobes large to very large; second pair of ovipositor lobes usually two times smaller in comparison to main ovipositor lobes; lateral lobes small and with tiny spines. Anterior apophyses either slightly longer or shorter than posterior apophyses. Prela with three pairs of long or very long rod-like projections; transverse prela unusually wide but indistictive proximally; membrane between inner prela is not thickened. Caudal sclerite weakly developed, indistinctive. Antrum absent. Accessory sac absent or small; ductus spermathecae slender, with 4–5 coils; vesicle relatively large, irregularly shaped. Corpus bursae long, gradually narrowing caudally; pectinations only proximally or absent.
Bionomics. The genus is trophically associated with Asteraceae and Malvaceae host plants. Leaf mines of Gnathitischeria are either irregular blotch-like or irregular elongated with a triangular initial part, without frass; a nidus is indistinctive, a disturbed larva hides under a large vein of the leaf.
Species diversity and geographical distribution. Currently, the genus is comprised of only two species, both known from Central America (Guatemala).
Etymology. The genus name is combined from the ancient Greek gnathos (in this case, a structure of the male genitalia) and Tischeria (a name of the type genus of Tischeriidae) referring to the presence of the unique pseudognathos in the male genitalia.
description: Published as part of Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Orlovskytė, Svetlana, Solis, Alma, Paulavičiūtė, Brigita, Xu, Jiasheng & Dai, Xiaohua, 2023, Genera of Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera): a review of the global fauna, with descriptions of new taxa, pp. 1-131 in Zootaxa 5333 (1) on page 107, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5333.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8261139