Meleonoma parvissima Wang & Zhu 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wang, Shuxia
name: Zhu, Xiaoju
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Cosmopterigidae
Meleonoma
Meleonoma parvissima

description: Meleonoma parvissima sp. nov.
(Figs. 7, 23, 36)
Type material. CHINA, Yunnan: Holotype ♂, Yexianggu (22.17°N, 100.87°E), Xishuangbanna, 762 m, 13.VII.2015, leg. KJ Teng & X Bai, slide No. YAH15390. Paratype: 1♀, 12.VII.2015, other same data as holotype, slide No. YAH15481.
Diagnosis. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by having a tiny uncus, a transtilla extending ventrad and forming a large U-shape, and a peach-shaped sclerite at apex of the vesica in the male genitalia; and by the U-shaped lamella antevaginalis and the crescent antrum in the female genitalia.
Description. Adult (Fig. 7). Forewing length 5.0– 5.3 mm.
Head pale yellow. Labial palpus pale yellow; second segment mixed with sparse scales on outer surface, forming a black ring apically; third segment slightly shorter than second segment, with a black spot near apex dorsally. Antenna pale yellow; flagellum with pale brown annulations on dorsal surface.
Thorax pale yellow; tegula pale yellow, mixed with black scales basally. Forewing with costal margin arched, apex pointed; ground color pale yellow, with scattered black scales; costal margin with a black spot at base, a small black spot at about distal 1/3; costal spot large, inverted triangular; apical patch black, rectangular, running from distal 1/6 of costal margin along termen to tornus; discal spot indistinct, plical spot black, small; discocellular spots black, spot at posterior angle of cell fused with apical patch; fringe pale yellow, greyish black around apex and tornus. Hindwing and fringe pale blackish grey. Legs pale yellow; on ventral surface, femora and tibiae of fore- and midlegs mixed with blackish brown scales, tarsi marked with blackish brown scales on basal tarsomere, blackish brown on apical three tarsomeres, hind tibia mixed with blackish brown scales apically, tarsus with a blackish brown dot on basal tarsomere.
Male genitalia (Fig. 23). Uncus small, weakly sclerotized. Tegumen broadly arched, narrow, nearly same width. Valva curved in basal half, inflated sub-ovately in distal half, with dense long setae; ventral margin sinuate in basal half, obtuse in distal half, folded dorsad to costa between base and basal 1/3, leaving a setose triangular basal area; costa shallowly concave before middle; transtilla extending ventrad and joined medially, forming a large U shape. Sacculus sub-quadrangular, distally produced to a long free spine, apically reaching ventral 3/5 of valva, about twice maximum width of valva. Saccus triangular, wide at base, distinctly narrowed to narrowly rounded apex. Juxta arched in broad U-shaped. Aedeagus 1.5 times as long as valva, tubular; vesica with a peach-shaped sclerite pointed at apex.
Female genitalia (Fig. 36). Papillae anales quadrate, sparsely setose. Apophyses posteriores approximately 4.0 times as long as apophyses anteriores. Eighth tergum shallowly and widely concave on posterior margin. Eighth sternal plate spiculate, semicircularly concave at middle on posterior margin, lined with long setae; anterior margin straight. Lamella antevaginalis U-shaped, widened laterally. Antrum crescent-shaped, straight on posterior margin, arched on anterior margin, joined with ductus bursae by membrane. Ductus bursae with posterior 2/3 sclerotized, anterior 1/3 membranous; ductus seminalis arising from anterior 1/3 of ductus bursae, dilated basally. Corpus bursae nearly as long as ductus bursae, pear-shaped, with granules; signum being a large spine with several small teeth.
Distribution. China (Yunnan).
Etymology. The specific epither is derived from the Latin parvissimus, referring to the small uncus of the male genitalia.
description: Published as part of Wang, Shuxia & Zhu, Xiaoju, 2020, Study of the genus Meleonoma Meyrick, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae) from China, with descriptions of fifteen new species, pp. 331-357 in Zootaxa 4838 (3) on pages 338-339, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4838.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/4404074