Lepidoceropsyche Saigusa and Sugimoto 2022, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Saigusa, Toyohei
name: Sugimoto, Mika
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Psychidae
Lepidoceropsyche

description: Lepidoceropsyche Saigusa and Sugimoto, gen. nov.
Type species: Lepidoceropsyche manoi Saigusa and Sugimoto, sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from all the known psychid genera by the flagellomere scales being 2–3 times longer than flagellomeres. Female. Medium-sized entirely blackish psychid with well-developed wings lacking median fork in discoidal cells: forewing R4+5 simple; antennal flagellomeres bearing long slender scales giving thick fluffy appearance to antennae; ocelli absent, maxillary palpus absent, labial palpus 2-segmented; long corethrogyne surrounding 7th abdominal dorsum and venter; ovipositor long and slender, with very long apophyses posteriores.
Female. (Figs. 1, 2)
Vestiture. Head. Vertex and frons covered with more or less appressed scales; a rough bundle of long scales from side of occiput; antennal flagellum bearing dense long slender scales providing thick appearance; labial palpus bearing elongate scales that are neither erect nor brush-like. Thorax: Wings densely covered with broad scales; tegula with elongate scales; mesonotum densely covered with more or less appressed scales; mesoscutellum without an apical erect bundle of long scales; legs covered with appressed scales; hind tibia without dorsal fringe. Abdomen covered with broad scales: corethrogyne whitish and covered with black hair-like scales.
Integumental morphology. Head: Cranium (Figs. 2A, B, C) blackish brown in colour, spherical, almost as long as high, with vertex more or less swollen; vertical diameter of compound eye slightly more than half of head height; ocellus absent; frons slightly wider than half width of head. Maxilla reduced to an unsegmented minute protuberance, haustellum and maxillary palpus absent. Labial palpus (Fig. 2B) 0.6 × as long as head height, obliquely projecting anterodorsally and consisting of only two slender palpomeres subequal to each other in length; apical palpomere slightly longer than 3 × of its thickness, with truncate apex furnished with sensillae. Antenna (Fig. 1C) about 0.44–0.47 × as long as forewing length including fringe, with thick fluffy appearance with vestiture of long scales; scape spherical, pedicel small; flagellum (Figs. 1D, E) consisting of 31–33 flagellomeres, slender and filiform, bearing dense, long slender scales that are about 2–3 × as long as flagellomere, sockets of scales not arranged in circular rows but scattered on flagellomere; flagellomeres cylindrical on basal 1/3 of flagellum, more or less barrel-shaped on middle part, slenderer on apical part and ending in 3–4 short spherical subsegments; middle flagellomeres 1.8 × as long as thick,
Thorax: Sclerites blackish brown. Metathoracic furcasternum (Fig. 1G) with a pair of slender apical furcal arms, each of which is united with an equally slender apophyseal rod invaginated from posterior margin of metepimera.
Wing (Fig. 1F) moderately elongate, both wings with apex roundly produced. Forewing slightly shorter than 3 × width (2.8–2.9); discal cell nearly 2/3 as long as wing (0.68–0.69), R4+5 unbranched and ending in costa slightly proximad to wing apex; accessory cell present, 1/3 as long as discal cell; M in discal cell simple, viz, intercalary cell absent; other veins present and arising independently from discal cell. Hindwing 2.3–2.4 × as long as wide; all veins present and arising independently from discal cell; M stem simple in discal cell; anterior discal cell slightly longer than 1/2 length of wing (0.55–0.56); posterior discal cell longer than anterior discal cell, nearly 2/3 as long as wing (0.64–0.65); anterior and posterior discocellar veins oblique.
Legs (Fig. 2D) black, distal 3/4 of hind tibia paler; legs moderately thick as a primitive psychid. Epiphysis (Fig.2E) from middle of fore tibia, covered with scales on outer surface, minutely setulose on inner surface, with apex pointed and almost reaching to apex of tibia; mid tibia with rather short distal spurs; hind tibia somewhat thickened and with rather short middle and distal spurs; anterior spurs nearly 1/2–2/3 as long as posterior spurs; relative lengths of podites, epiphysis and spurs as in Table 1
Abdomen dark brown on sclerites. Seventh abdominal segment with long dense white corethrogyne from both dorsum and venter, and covered outwardly with long black hair-like scales. Female terminalia (Figs. 2F, G, H): Extremely elongate as in Psyche; apophysis posterioris very long, 1/3 as long as combined length of meso- and metathoracic terga, with its apex reaching to basal part of abdomen when ovipositor is normally retracted with its apex at the level of apices of dark hair scales covering corethrogyne; apophysis anterioris 1/2 as long as apophysis posterioris; ventral apophyses 1/3 as long as apophysis posterioris, and united into a single rod at 1/3 its total length from distal ends; lamella antevaginalis quadrate, slightly longer than wide, weakly sclerotized and minutely pilose, with posterior margin evenly curved inwards; lamella postvaginalis undeveloped; bursa copulatrix oval, without signum, ductus bursas thick and twisted, ductus seminalis from base of bursa; papilla analis small with longish setulae.
Distribution. Japan.
Remarks. As stated in the introduction, the new genus Lepidoceropsyche undoubtedly belongs to the family Psychidae based on the two important characters, the union of metathoracic furcal arms with epimeral apophyses and the well-developed corethrogyne (Robinson, 1988; Davis & Robinson, 1999). However, as the male and immature stages of this species are unknown, it is difficult to discuss its phylogenetic position in the family. As far as we know, no psychid species with long-scaled antennal flagellum has been described. Dr. T. Sobczyk suggested us that there was a female specimen of an unnamed psychid species having long-scaled antennae from South Africa in the collection of the Natural History Museum (Fig. 1B).
The genus is apparently a descendant of one of primitive lineages of the Psychidae judging from the fully winged female having rather plesiomorphic wing venation and legs (Kozhantshikov, 1956; Saigusa, 1962; Sobczyk, 2011). On the other hand, the new genus is curiously advanced in the reduced mouthparts lacking segmented maxillary palpi and galea (haustellum), and with only 2-segemented labial palpi, in addition to the peculiarly long-scaled antennal flagellum.
This genus is an unexpected addition to the Japanese fauna of the Psychidae (Saigusa & Sugimoto, 2013).
Etymology. The generic name, Lepidoceropsyche means lepis (=scale)+ cera (=antenna) + Psyche, based on the long-scaled female antennal flagellum.
description: Published as part of Saigusa, Toyohei & Sugimoto, Mika, 2022, A new primitive genus of the family Psychidae having long-scaled female antennae from the Ryukyus, Japan (Lepidoptera, Tineoidea), pp. 239-245 in Zootaxa 5154 (2) on pages 240-241, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5154.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/6641458