Astrotischeria parapallens Diskus & Stonis 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Stonis, Jonas R.
name: Diškus, Arūnas
name: Remeikis, Andrius
name: Fernández-Alonso, José L.
name: Baryshnikova, Svetlana V.
name: Solis, M. Alma
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tischeriidae
Astrotischeria
Astrotischeria parapallens

description: Astrotischeria parapallens Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.   
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 3AE6711C-34C4-404D-BEFD-F29C9C048B02  
(Figs. 10, 25–29, 41–46, 51, 52)  
 Type material. Holotype: ♂, PERU: Huamanga Province, 9 km East of Ayacucho (Muyurina), 13°6’52”S, 74°11’47”W, elevation ca. 2510 m, mining larva on Baccharis sp. (Asteraceae), 29.x.2008, ex pupa xi.2008, field card no. 4957, leg. A. Diškus, genitalia slide no. AD1045 (ZIN). Paratypes: 7 ♂, 4 ♀, same label data as holotype, genitalia slide nos. AD1046 ♂, AD1052 ♂, AD 864♀ (forewing venation), AD 973♀, AD1042 ♀ (ZIN); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same label data (NRC).   
 Diagnosis. Externally, this new species can be confused with some other speckled Astrotischeria species, including A. mystica sp. nov. described above. In the male genitalia, this species is the most similar to and probably closely related to A. pallens Puplesis & Diškus from Neuquén, Argentina (described and illustrated in Puplesis & Diškus 2003: figs. 263–265). However, A. parapallens Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. differs from A. pallens in the distally wide and dentate dorsal lobe of the valva (see Fig. 42), large apical lobes of the phallus (Figs. 44–46), very large soccii, and the significantly longer and slender uncus. Additionally, A. parapallens sp. nov. also differs from A. pallens in the dark forewing (the forewing of A. pallens is very pale, almost cream).   
 Male (Figs. 25–27). Forewing length 3.9–4.0 mm; wingspan 8.4–8.6 mm (n = 9).   
 Head. Frons and palpi ochreous cream; pecten greyish cream; frontal tuft comprised of lamellar scales, brownish grey with some purple iridescence, sometimes with ochre-tipped scales; collar comprised of lamellar scales, glossy, pale brown-grey; antenna slightly longer than half the length of forewing; flagellum grey-brown on upper side and underside, sensilla relatively short, inconspicuous.   
 Thorax. Tegula and thorax grey-brown. Forewing densely speckled with grey-brown (sometimes black-brown) scales and small, irregular spots of ochre cream scales; occasionally spots large and comprised of pale ochre yellow scales (Fig. 27); fringe brownish grey to dark grey-brown, without fringe line; forewing underside grey-brown, without spots or androconia. Hindwing brownish grey to grey-brown on upper side and underside, without androconia; fringe brownish grey with some purple iridescence. Legs glossy grey-brown to pale grey, with some purple iridescence.   
 Abdomen. Grey-brown to dark grey-brown on upper side, glossy brownish grey on underside; anal tufts dorsal, long, dark grey; genital plates brownish grey. Genitalia (Figs. 41–46) with capsule 595 µm long, 300 µm wide. Uncus (Fig. 41) comprised of two very large lobes. Valva (Figs. 41–43) about 335 µm long (excluding the basal process); dorsal lobe wide and dentate distally (see Fig. 42). Anellus only slightly thickened, mostly membranous, with 2–3 small setae laterally. Vinculum rounded (Fig. 41) or triangular distally (Fig. 43). Phallus 380–405 µm long, deeply bifurcated, symmetrical, with a spine on each apical lobe (Figs. 44–46).   
 Female (Figs. 28, 29). Forewing length 3.5–4.3 mm; wingspan 7.6–9.3 mm (n = 5).   
 Head. Similar to male.   
 Thorax. Tegula grey-brown, distally ochre-yellow or entirely grey-brown. Thorax ochre-yellow to pale greybrown. Forewing grey-brown with three or four very large, ochre-yellow spots.   
 Abdomen. Genitalia (Figs. 51, 52) about 1580 µm long. Ovipositor lobes unusually large, rounded, clothed with short, modified setae or ‘peg setae’; area between ovipositor lobes wide, with tiny papillae and some short setae. Second pair of lobes, lateral and anterior to the ovipositor lobes, much three times smaller than ovipositor lobes, but bearing very long lamellar but slender setae. Anterior and posterior apophyses almost equal in length; prela comprised of three pairs of unique projections (Fig. 52). Corpus bursae long and very slender, without pectinations or signum. Accessory sac indistinctive. Ductus spermathecae very slender, with about 4 large coils and indistinctive vesicle.   
 Bionomics (Fig. 10). Host plant: Baccharis L., possibly B. latifolia (Ruiz & Pav.) Pers. (Asteraceae). Larvae mine leaves in late October. The blotch mine (Fig. 10) is irregular, elongated, usually pale brownish, with little or no frass. Pupation inside the leaf mine. Adults occur in November.   
 Distribution. This species is known from the single locality in Peru (Ayacucho), at an elevation of about 2500 m, but the host plants have a much broader distribution.   
 Etymology. The species is named after Astrotischeria pallens Puplesis & Diškus from Argentina, in reference to the similar male genitalia.
description: Published as part of Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Fernández-Alonso, José L., Baryshnikova, Svetlana V. & Solis, M. Alma, 2021, Documenting trumpet leaf-miner moths (Tischeriidae): new Neotropical Coptotriche and Astrotischeria species, with notes on Sapindaceae as a host-plant family, pp. 300-320 in Zootaxa 5047 (3) on pages 308-315, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5047.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5540825