Nothris lemniscellus Zeller 1839
Creators: name: Karsholt, Ole
name: Šumpich, Jan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae
Nothris
Nothris lemniscellus

description: Nothris lemniscellus (Zeller, 1839)
(Figs 9–10, 46–51, 109, 116–120)
Ypsolophus (Ypsolophus) lemniscellus Zeller, 1839: 190.
Material examined. Austria (11), Czech Republic (13), France (12), Hungary (9), Italy (5), Slovakia (3). Slovenia. Ajdovščina env., Predmeju, 1250 m, 1 ♂, 10.viii.2001, leg. J. Šumpich, gen. prep. Šumpich 15005 (NMPC). Croatia. South Velebit, 1 ♂, 14.viii.2004, leg. I. Richter, gen. prep. Šumpich 15056 (NMPC). Spain. Barcelona, 2 km NW Gurb, Vic, 600 m, 1♂, 11.ix.2002, leg. P. Skou (ZMUC); Huesca, Esteña, 700 m, 4♂, 2♀, 18– 19.viii.2001, leg. B. Skule & P. Skou, genitalia slide Karsholt 5281 (ZMUC).
Description. Adult (Figs 9–10). Wingspan 17–21 mm. Segment 2 of labial palpus black in basal half, apically dirty white, especially on inner surface; segment 3 yellowish white. Antenna black, underside with lighter base. Head grey, lighter on frons and around eye; thorax and tegula black, the latter with white base. Forewing black; costa from base to around middle of wing white with yellow outer margin; indistinct black spots in fold and at 2/ 3 in middle of wing; cilia black with dark grey tips. Hindwing grey.
Variation. The examined specimens show only minor variation.
Male genitalia (Figs 46–51). Valva narrow, markedly broadened in its proximal part and gradually tapering from there to the apex, densely covered by long setae. Sacculus stout, bluntly terminated and covered with strong spines along nearly the whole of its length. Gnathos long, only slightly deflected, pointed and strongly sclerotized only at the very tip. Uncus long, comparatively broad, densely covered with long setae. Saccus short, subrectangular. Phallus very thin, markedly bent in its apical third, terminated by a short flagellum.
Female genitalia (Figs 109, 116–120). Papillae anales broad, round. Subgenital plate in shape of anarrow sheath, only slightly excised. Ductus bursae long and thin, broader only in its basal part, uncoiled. Ductus seminalis broader at base, coiled once, membranous, then followed by a relatively long, slightly sclerotized part with about 7 convolutions. Corpus bursae comparatively large, oval, nearly triangular, signum in the distal part of corpus bursae, simple and elongated with many small spines.
Differential diagnosis. The black forewings with the basal half of costa clear white makes N. lemniscellus one of the most characteristic species among European Gelechiidae. It can be confused only with N. gregerseni sp. n. (see under that species).
Distribution. Central and South Europe. Also recorded from the Ural Mountains, Altai Mountains and southern Sibiria (Ponomarenko, 2008), but these records may refer to N. gregerseni sp. n.
Bionomics. The larva is described by Klimesch (1951). It feeds on Globularia punctata and Anthyllis vulneraria. The young larva lives in a narrow, sinuate gallery mine, starting with a small opening from where frass is extruded; later the mine widens and the larva spins together basal rosette leaves, among which it finishes it development (Klimesch, op cit.). Photographs of the early stages can be seen in Rennwald & Rodeland et al. (2013).
Remarks. Ypsolophus lemniscellus was described from one male from Ofen (the German name for Buda, western part of Budapest, Hungary) from Fischer von Röslerstamm’s collection (“ Lemniscellus FR.”) (Zeller, 1839). Whereas the original description by Zeller was very short, Fischer von Röslerstamm (1842: 286–287, pl. 95) gave a detailed and for that time good illustrated description of adult. The holotype of Ypsolophus lemniscellus is kept in the Natural History Museum in London, U.K. It was not available for dissection, but we examined a series of old, syntopic material in the NMPC, probably dating back to the first half of the 19th century, to confirm its identity.
description: Published as part of Karsholt, Ole & Šumpich, Jan, 2015, A review of the genus Nothris Hübner, 1825, with description of new species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), pp. 471-498 in Zootaxa 4059 (3) on pages 479-481, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4059.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/236343