Phyllonorycter encaeria
Creators: name: Prins, Jurate De
name: Kawahara, Akito Y.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gracillariidae
Phyllonorycter
Phyllonorycter encaeria

description: 17. Phyllonorycter encaeria (Meyrick, 1911)
(Figs 42, 126, 185–187, 307, 371)
Lithocolletis encaeria, n. sp. — Meyrick (1911: 234).
Lithocolletis encaeria — Vári (1961: 215–216; pl. 23, fig. 2; pl. 65, fig. 6; pl. 104, fig. 7).
Phyllonorycter encaeria — Vári & Kroon (1986: 32, 136, 157), Dall'Asta et al. (2001: 33), Vári et al. (2002: 26), De Prins & De Prins (2005: 291).
Diagnosis. Phyllonorycter encaeria can superficially be separated from P. lantanae by forewing pattern and markings on hindlegs: basal white marking in P. encaeria appears as an oblique fascia, whereas in P. lantanae the basal white marking appears as an oblique dorsal strigula, which can vary in length. Hind tarsomeres I–III in P. encaeria with faint fuscous subapical patches, in P. lantanae hind tarsomeres I–III with dark fuscous halves. Phyllonorcyter lantanae and P. kazuri differ in female genitalia by the ratio of posterior / anterior apophyses. In P. encaeria this ratio is ca. 1 and in P. lantanae and P. kazuri this ratio is ca. 1.5.
Material examined. Holotype: ♂, [1] [South Africa] ‘Pretoria / 8.x.1906 / A. J. T. Janse’; [2] ‘19’; [3] ‘6/47’; [4] ‘G[enitalia] / 4156’; [5] ‘ Lithocolletis / encaeria / 641’; [6] ‘ Lithocolletis / encaeria M. / Type No. 361’, in TMSA.
Additional material: 5♀ (including 5♀ genitalia preparations) and 4 specimens. South Africa: 1♀, Pretoria district, Grove Fount, 04.i.1911, leg. C. J. Swierstra, gen. prep. LV 7505♀, in TMSA. 3♀, Pretoria, 27.ii.1916, 13.xi.1918 and 04.x.1926, leg. A. J. T. Janse, gen. prep. Vári 3393♀, 4131♀, 7504♀, wing venation slide Vári 1595, in TMSA. 1♀, Pretoria, 20.ix.1951, leg. L. Vári, G[enitalia] 7502♀, Lithocolletis encaeria Meyrick; ♀ METALLOTYPE No 6378, in TMSA. 2 specimens, Pretoria, 05.ii.1913 and 28.ii.1916, leg. A. J. T. Janse, in TMSA. 1 specimen, Pretoria, Willow Glen, 02.v.1985, leg. L. Vári, in TMSA. 1 specimen, Pretoria, Zoutpan, 4–10.ii.1929, leg. G. van Son, in TMSA.
Note: Vári (1961) frequently used the term "metallotype" to indicate the first specimen of the opposite sex to the holotype, but which was not included in the original type series, in order to distinguish it from the allotype. That term was introduced by Munro (1957), but it is not recognized by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. We retain it anyway in quoting the labels as it gives extra information.
Redescription. Adult (Figs 42, 43, 126). Forewing length: 2.3–2.5 mm.
Head: Vertex tufted ochreous, with some white piliform scales posteriorly; frons white. Labial palpus whitish. Antenna slightly shorter than forewing; flagellomeres with apical third dark fuscous dorsally, whitish ventrally; scape light ochreous.
Thorax: Shiny ochreous. Forewing elongate, ground colour ochreous with white markings consisting of very short basal streak, two fascia, two costal strigulae and one dorsal strigula;basal streak very short without edging, first fascia at 1/4, oblique directed toward apex, slightly angulated near costa, not edged; second fascia at 1/2, angulated at midline of forewing, edged basally with a few black scales; first costal strigula at 3/4, triangular shaped, reaching midline of forewing, first dorsal opposite first costal, elongate triangular, reaching middle of forewing; first costal and first dorsal strigulae irregularly and sparsely edged with black scales; black scales concentrated in disc between first costal and first dorsal strigulae; second dorsal strigula triangular, located at apex; black scales dispersed along termen; fringe pale ochreous, beyond blackish median line ochreous whitish. Hindwing pale grey with fringe of same colour. Fore femur and tibia dark fuscous, tibia with tiny subapical lateral spot, tarsomere I fuscous with white base and apex, tarsomere II fuscous with basal white half, tarsomere III fuscous, tarsomere IV white; mid-leg mainly white, mid-tibia with two patches submedially and subapically, tarsomere I with fuscous patch subapically, tarsomere II with fuscous apex, tarsomere II with fuscous basal half, tarsomere IV white, tarsomere V dark fuscous; hind tibia with ochreous fuscous patch laterally from mid-tibia to subapex, tarsomeres I–III with faint fuscous subapical patches, tarsomere V entirely fuscous.
Abdomen: Pale fuscous dorsally and pale grey ventrally. Segment VIII in males moderately long, truncate caudally.
Male genitalia (Figs 185–187). Tegumen rather short, sclerotized, bluntly rounded caudally, tuba analis not protruding. Valvae symmetrical, moderate, with almost parallel margins, slightly tapering apically with gently rounded cuculus, apical sector finely setose, ventral valval margin with wide, weakly sclerotised, extended harpshaped projection; transtilla strongly sclerotized, narrow and slender; vinculum narrow, saccus very slender, slightly shorter than valva. Aedoeagus slender, 1.5× longer than saccus, slightly curved, tapering with vesica sharply pointed.
Female genitalia (Fig. 307). Papillae anales connected dorsally, flattened, weakly sclerotized, with sparse long setae; basal bar narrow but strongly sclerotized; a slender needle-like strongly sclerotized projection going from basal bar and reaching middle of segment VIII. Posterior apophyses slender, slightly bent in middle, a little bit broader at basal half, gently tapering reaching posterior sector of segment VII. Anterior apophyses almost as long as posterior ones, very gently curved, ending just before middle of segment VII. Ostium bursae located almost at posterior sector of segment VII, sterigma simple, membranous, anteriad ostium bursae forming sclerotized fold, which occupies anterior 1/3 of segment VII. Ductus bursae moderate, very slender, narrow. Corpus bursae moderate, membranous, no signum.
Variation. Fuscous patches on legs of P. encaeria can be very reduced (Vári 1961: 216).
Habitat. This species has been found in the urban area of Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa.
Host plant(s). Unknown.
Flight period. Adult specimens were collected mainly during two periods: 1) early January–late February, and late September–mid-November.
Distribution. (Fig. 371). Recorded from Pretoria and suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa (Meyrick 1911: 234; Vári 1961: 216).
description: Published as part of Prins, Jurate De & Kawahara, Akito Y., 2012, Systematics, revisionary taxonomy, and biodiversity of Afrotropical Lithocolletinae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), pp. 1-283 in Zootaxa 3594 (1) on pages 70-71, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3594.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6052126