Cosmetra spiculifera Meyrick 1913
Creators: name: Aarvik, Leif
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tortricidae
Cosmetra
Cosmetra spiculifera

description: Cosmetra spiculifera (Meyrick, 1913)
(Figs. 1, 11, 19)
Eucosma spiculifera Meyrick, 1913: 271.
Cosmetra spiculifera: Razowski & Krüger 2007: 123, figs. 82, 215; Razowski 2015: 47, fig. 67. Cosmetra mucronata Razowski & Wojtusiak, 2012: 88, figs. 33, 126, syn. n.
Material examined. CAMEROON: 1♀, Garoua, Faro Nat. Park 8o23’36.4 N, 12o49’29.3 E, 28.iv–9.v.2005, K. Larsen, genitalia slide L. Aarvik 2015.009 (KL). DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: 2♂, Orientale: Yangambi, 14–23.v.2012, K. Larsen, genitalia slide L. Aarvik 2015.001 (KL). GABON: 1♂, 1♀, Ogoue-Ivindo, Ipassa Makokou, 530 m, 0o30’43”N, 12o48’13”E, 14–24.iii.2015, K. Larsen, genitalia slide L. Aarvik ♂ 2015.002, ♀ 2015.003 (KL). GHANA: 1♂, Volta Region: Paradise Mt., 22–24.xi.2011, L. Aarvik & L.O. Hansen, genitalia slide NHMO 2597 (NHMO); 1♀, Eastern: Atewa Hills, 800 m, 7 km W Sagyimase, 22–24.iii.2010, K. Larsen & W. Kubasik, genitalia slide L. Aarvik 2015.008 (KL).
Diagnosis. This species is externally recognisable by the dark suffusion of the hindwing veins; this suffusion is more pronounced in the female of C. spiculifera than in any other congener. In the male genitalia the bifid uncus is diagnostic; and in the female genitalia the posterior constriction of the ductus bursae is characteristic.
Redescription. Male (Fig. 1). Head: Light ochreous, rough scaled. Antenna light ochreous. Labial palpus ca. 1.2 times diameter of eye, light light ochreous; third segment nearly concealed by scaling of second segment, small dark brown apex. Thorax: Light ochreous, in middle mixed with grey, last segment with lateral black spots. Legs light ochreous, tibiae suffused lightly with grey, tarsi ringed grey. Wingspan 11.0–14.0 mm. Forewing upperside light ochreous, grey suffusion along dorsum interrupted just beyond middle, forming small tornal blotch; costal strigulae formed by oblique grey marks; short longitudinal streaks scattered on wing. Cilia dark grey, becoming lighter towards tornus, forming light basal cilia line. Forewing underside light ochreous, veins with heavy black suffusion in basal four-fifths. Hindwing sparsely scaled except along margins; veins and anal margin with thick black scaling, shiny. Abdomen: Segment 1 with lateral black patch followed by large silvery scales; remaining segments with black rings alternating with rings of large silvery scales; anal tuft light ochreous. Genitalia (Fig. 11) with uncus consisting of two pointed processes; socii banana-shaped, tip narrowed, sometimes with short spines on upper edge; sacculus of valva with triangular convexity before neck, cucullus curved towards apex, with 8–11 strong spines along lower two thirds of outer margin.
Female. Head and Thorax: Similar to male, but lacking black scaling on forewing underside; hindwing with denser scale cover on disc, and the black scaling on veins replaced by brownish grey. Black marks on thorax and abdomen lacking. Abdomen: Genitalia (Fig. 19) with apophyses posteriores and anteriores about same length, as long as 8th segment; lamella postvaginalis laterally rounded, with posterior median projection, lateral ridges not clearly joined with posterior median process; ductus bursae sclerotized except anterior third which is ribbed and with numerous denticles, with posterior constriction; corpus bursae oval, narrowed anteriorly, denticles absent in area surrounding signa.
Distribution. This species is probably distributed all over sub-Saharan Africa, but is recorded so far from Republic of South Africa (Meyrick 1913), Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria.
Biology. The food plant is unknown.
Remarks. Cosmetra mucronata Razowski & Wojtusiak, 2012 was described from a male collected in Nigeria. Razowski & Wojtusiak (2012) stated that C. mucronata differs from C. spiculifera in that “the top of the tegumen of spiculifera is simple whereas that of mucronata is armoured with two sublateral spines.” However, in the genitalia slide of the type of C. spiculifera (Razowski & Krüger 2007: fig. 215) the top of the tegumen has been bent down, making the structure of the uncus obscure. In other aspects the figures of the type of C. spiculifera agree with those of C. mucronata and other material examined. A male of C. spiculifera from Congo was dissected, and the genitalia mounted in the same way as the type specimen figured by Razowski & Krüger (2007). The result was that the two uncus spines nearly “disappeared,” and they probably would have been unnoticed unless their presence had been observed previously. Based on this C. mucronata Razowski & Wojtusiak, 2012 is considered a junior synonym of C. spiculifera (Meyrick, 1913), syn. n.
description: Published as part of Aarvik, Leif, 2016, Redefinition and revision of African Cosmetra Diakonoff, 1977 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) with description of six new species, pp. 245-256 in Zootaxa 4088 (2) on pages 246-247, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4088.2.6, http://zenodo.org/record/257038