Acalyptris nasutus Diskus & Navickaite 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Stonis, Jonas R.
name: Remeikis, Andrius
name: Diškus, Arūnas
name: Navickaitė, Asta
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nepticulidae
Acalyptris
Acalyptris nasutus

description: Acalyptris nasutus Diškus & Navickaitė, sp. nov.
(Figs 4, 22–25, 85, 86, 230–235)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 2F209F64-5C8F-4585-B0BE-FC5F604EA350
Type material. Holotype: ♀, India, Uttarakhand, Tehri Garhwal Distr., 25km NW Chamba, 30°24’28”N, 78°17’24”E, elevation ca. 2600 m, feeding larva on Viburnum cotinifolium, 23.viii.2010, A. Diškus and A. Navickaitė, genitalia slide no. AD485 (ZIN). Paratypes: 2 ♀, same label data as holotype, genitalia slide no. AD479 (ZIN).
Diagnosis. This new species belongs to the Acalyptris platani species group. Because the shape of vaginal sclerite and long, slender signa, A. nasutus sp. nov. seems similar to the Mediterranean A. platani (Müller-Rutz, 1934), A. loranthella (Klimesh, 1937), and the South African A. loranthivora (Janse, 1948). However, the unique parttern with a wide, golden cream pseudofascia on a dark forewing and the unique biology of larvae feeding on Viburnum and producing unique, contorted leaf mines, distinguish the new species from other species of the A. platani group.
Male. Unknown.
Female (Figs 85, 86). Forewing length 2.5–2.6 mm; wingspan 5.5–5.7 mm (n = 3).
Head. Palpi golden cream, frontal tuft dark ochre-beige on vertex, bright ochreous orange on frons; collar yel-lowish cream, indistinctive, comprised of piliform scales; scape large, yellowish cream; antenna as half the length of forewing, with about 32 segments; flagellum dark grey-brown, with some purple iridescence.
Thorax. Tegula and thorax speckled with dark grey-brown scales. Forewing basally speckled with grey-brown scales, medialy with a wide dark golden cream area (pseudofascia) sparsely irrorated with dark grey brown scales, apically densely speckled with brown- black scales; fringe grey, without a fringe line; underside of forewing darkbrown except for a small, elongated, whitish cream scaleless patch basally, without androconia. Hindwing dark grey-brown on upper side and underside, golden glossy on upper side. Legs glossy, golden cream, densely covered with grey-brown scales on upper side.
Abdomen. Dark grey-brown some purple iridescence on upper side, golden glossy, brownish grey on underside. Genitalia (Figs 230–235) 720–735 µm long. Abdominal apex truncated, with short setae. Anterior and posterior apophyses almost equal in length. Vestibulum with a strongly chitinized, complex vaginal sclerite, with nose-like projection (Figs 231, 235). Corpus bursae with two very long signa. Ductus spermathaecae with 3–3.5 coils and a tube-like vesicle (Fig. 234).
Bionomics (Figs 4, 22–25). Host plant is Viburnum cotinifolium D. Don., Adoxaceae (formerly attributed to Caprifoliaceae). Larvae mine in leaves in August. Larva pale yellowish green, with a bright dark green intestine and pale brown head (Fig. 22). The leaf mine is linear, as a slender and distinctly contorted gallery; frass, brown to greenish black or black, fills the width of the gallery except for the initial part where it is deposited as a thin central line. Adults occur in August.
Distribution. Known from two localities in the western Himalaya (Uttarakhand: Chamba and Dhanaulti), at the elevation of 2200–2600 m (Fig. 1: wHi).
Etymology. The species name is derived from Latin nasutus (with a nose), in reference to the distinctive, noselike projection of the vaginal sclerite in the female genitalia.
description: Published as part of Stonis, Jonas R., Remeikis, Andrius, Diškus, Arūnas & Navickaitė, Asta, 2020, Documenting new and little known leaf-mining Nepticulidae from middle and southwestern areas of the Asian continent, pp. 401-452 in Zootaxa 4881 (3) on pages 426-427, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4881.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4283789