Tischeria Zeller 1839
Creators: name: Stonis, Jonas R.
name: Diškus, Arūnas
name: Remeikis, Andrius
name: Orlovskytė, Svetlana
name: Solis, Alma
name: Paulavičiūtė, Brigita
name: Xu, Jiasheng
name: Dai, Xiaohua
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tischeriidae
Tischeria

description: 4. Genus Tischeria Zeller, 1839
(Figs 195–264)
Tischeria Zeller, 1839: 219. Type species: Tinea complanella Hübner, 1817: pl. 64, fig. 428, junior syn. of Tischeria T. ekebladella (Bjerkander, 1795).
Philodoxa Gistel, 1848: xi. Type species: Tinea complanella Hübner, 1817: pl. 64, fig. 428, junior syn. of Tischeria ekebladella (Bjerkander, 1795).
Evexia Gistel, 1850: 486. Type species: Tinea complanella Hübner, 1817: pl. 64, fig. 428, junior syn. of Tischeria ekebladella (Bjerkander, 1795).
Diagnosis. External characters of the adults and wing venation characters are not informative and, therefore, insufficient for the differentiation of Tischeria because of their general uniformity. However, the majority of the species have a bright ochreous yellow forewing speckled with darker scales apically or, occasionally, also with a small black tornal spot. In the male genitalia, species of Tischeria are characterized by the presence of a juxta and medium wide to very wide phallus with usually long lateral processes, but without carinae. In the female genitalia, the genus is characterized by the presence of antrum and a slender, short ductus spermathecae with only 2–4 coils. Leaf mines of Tischeria are mostly on Fagaceae host plants, blotch-like, with a distinctive round nidus inside the leaf. See Tabs 2, 3 for occurrence of these diagnostic characters in other genera of Tischeriidae.
Notes. Molecular data provided relatively strong support for the distinctness of this genus. In all cases Tischeria appears as a sister taxon to Rytietia gen. nov. (described below) (Figs 62, 63, 67).
Adult. Head: frontal tuft overlapping the frons, comprised of long, slender or relatively wide lamellar scales; pecten distinctive; collar distinctly paired, comprised of relatively wide lamellar scales. Forewing usually bright ochreous yellow speckled with darker scales in apically half, occasionally also with a small black tornal spot. Hindwing slender, without androconia.
Male genitalia (Figs 195–208). Uncus with two long and basally wide lateral lobes which look triangular in ventral view. Socii membranous, often usually distinctly paired (occasionally unpaired), with numerous tiny spines. Tegumen large to medium large, usually without spines on the diaphragm, occasionally diaphragm little spinose; pseudognathos absent. Valva simple-shaped, slightly sinuous in lateral view, wide basally, gradually tapering towards apex; basal process of valva short. Transtilla and anellus absent. Juxta present, well-developed, comprised of either one or two pairs of horn-like processes, well demarcated from the phallus. Vinculum large to small; ventral plate usually triangular, with a short anterior process or rounded distally. Phallus usually wide to moderately wide, occasionally slender, with well-developed lateral processes, without spines or carinae.
Female genitalia (Figs 209–213). Ovipositor lobes usually large or very large; the gap between ovipositor lobes wide; second pair of ovipositor lobes twice smaller in comparison to main ovipositor lobes. Lateral lobes usually short and wide, occasionally indistinctive. Anterior apophyses usually distinctly shorter than posterior apophyses. Prela with three pairs of rod-like projections; these projections sometimes slightly or strongly widened basally. Caudal sclerite strongly developed, inverted V-shaped, with slender and pointed projection caudally.Antrum present, variously developed.Accessory sac absent; ductus spermathecae short, slender, with 2–4 coils; vesicle usually large, rounded. Corpus bursae long to medium long, usually gradually narrowing towards caudal end, with short spines proximally.
Bionomics. Generally, the species of the genus are associated with Fagaceae (mainly known from Quercu s L.). However, one species has been recorded from an Ulmaceae host plant in China (Xu et al. 2018), three other species of uncertain taxonomic position (placement) have been reared from Rhamnaceae host plants in the USA (Braun 1972) (see Discussion), and one species has been recorded from Lythraceae in Indonesia (Meyrick 1936). Larvae mine leaves and produce blotch-like leaf mines with no frass deposited; a nidus is distinctly visible throughout the mine.
Species diversity and geographical distribution. The genus is widespread in Europe, temperate Asia, and North America. Species were believed to occur in South Africa (Puplesis & Diškus 2003; Puplesis et al. 2004) until recently when these African species were transferred to another genus, Manitischeria (Stonis et al. 2019a). In Central America only two Tischeria species, including T. elongata Walsingham (Walsingham 1914; Stonis & Diškus 2007) and T. neokristenseni Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., were recognized. The genus is not yet known to occur in South America (notably from Colombia where Quercus, a potential host plant, occurs).
In total, it consists of twenty described species worldwide. This number includes the recently described Caucasian-Iranian T. caucasica Klasínski & Stonis (Klasínski et al. 2020; Alipanah et al. 2022), Central American T. neokristenseni Diškus & Stonis sp. nov. (described below), the hitherto little known Mexican T. elongata Walsingham (see our documentation of the holotype; Figs 214–217), North American T. quercitella Clemens (see documentation of a specimen deposited at NHMUK; Figs 218–223), Japanese T. quercifolia Kuroko (see our new documentation of the male genitalia of the species; Figs 224–229), the East Asian T. lvoskyi Kozlov (see the first photographic documentation of the holotype; Figs 230–236), and East Asian T. siorkionla Kozlov. The latter was described as an allopatric East Asian subspecies of the European T. decidua Wocke, 1876 (Kozlov 1986) and subsequently treated as a subspecies (Kozlov 1997; Stonis et al. 2014). In the current publication, we elevate the taxonomic rank of siorkionla to species for the following reasons: 1) T. siorkionla Kozlov, 1986 (stat. nov.) differs from the European T. decidua Wocke, at least in some morphological characters of the male genitalia (Figs 200, 201, 205–208); 2) there is a significant, well-known gap between East Asia and Europe in the distribution range of Quercus (e.g., Menitsky 2005); 3) to avoid usage of subspecies category.
Here, we also report a new distribution record of T. dodonaea Stainton, 1858 from the Caucasus, Armenia, feeding on the Caucasian oak (=Persian oak) Quercus macranthera Fisch. & C.A.Mey. ex Hohen.: 1 Ô, 1 ♀, ARMENIA, Aragatsotn Province, southern slope of the Mount Aragats, Antarut, 40°21’50”N, 44°16’25”E, the Caucasian oak forest, 1780 m, 2.viii.2022, leg. J.R. Stonis, genitalia slide no. AD1125Ô (MfN); 1 ♀, ARMENIA, Yerevan, Jrvezh Forest Park, 21.viii.2022, 40°11’06”N, 44°37’11”E, 1514 m, at light, leg. J.R. Stonis (MfN).
Currently, the genus includes six species with a doubtful placement. The taxonomic position at least of three North American species previously attributed to Tischeria need an in-depth revision (see Discussion).
description: Published as part of Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Orlovskytė, Svetlana, Solis, Alma, Paulavičiūtė, Brigita, Xu, Jiasheng & Dai, Xiaohua, 2023, Genera of Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera): a review of the global fauna, with descriptions of new taxa, pp. 1-131 in Zootaxa 5333 (1) on pages 50-51, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5333.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8261139