Ephysteris (Ephysteris) promptella Staudinger 1859
Creators: name: Li, Houhun
name: Bidzilya, Oleksiy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae
Ephysteris
Ephysteris promptella

description: Ephysteris (Ephysteris) promptella (Staudinger, 1859)
(Figs. 1, 7, 13, 19)
Gelechia promptella Staudinger, 1859: 241. Citations see Povolný 2002: 87.
Material examined. CHINA: 2 ɗ, Zhubalong, Batang, Sichuan Province, 2500 m, 11.vii.2001, Houhun Li & Xinpu Wang leg., genitalia slide no. L05198; 1 Ψ, Guanli, Liangshan, Shandong Province, 9.viii.1995, Shijin Li leg., genitalia slide no. L06106 (NKU). UKRAINE: 1 Ψ, Crimea, Kazantip, 23.ix.1995, light, Yu. Budashkin leg. genitalia slide no. 140/06 (ZMKU).
Adult (Fig. 1). Length of forewing 4.0–6.0 mm. Head, thorax and tegula covered with pale-grey, browntipped scales. Labial palpus upcurved; second segment greyish-brown, inner surface pale, off-white with dark subapical belt; third segment pale-grey with broad brown basal and apical rings, narrow, pointed. Antenna with scape dark-brown, other antennal articles dark-grey, ringed with whitish. Forewing covered with grey, dark-tipped scales and mottled by ochreous scales along veins mainly; three dark spots in cell, apical and tornal spots yellowish-white; cilia pale-grey, brown-tipped. Hindwing pale-grey.
Male genitalia (Figs. 7, 13). Posterior margin of sternite VIII with triangular incision. Uncus subtriangular, gradually tapered to rounded apex. Gnathos relatively broad, sickle-shaped with expanded apex. Tegumen moderately broad. Valva at most level with base of gnathos, evenly curved inwards, of equal width, pointed apically; sacculus about two-thirds length of valva, expanded apically; paired process on posterior margin of vinculum short, triangular, medial incision very narrow. Saccus short and broad, weakly constricted before apex, with rounded tip. Phallus slightly inflated basally, distal part curved, 1.5 times length of basal part, apex abruptly cut.
Female genitalia (Fig. 19). Apophyses anteriores straight, about as long as segment VIII or slightly longer. Segment VIII weakly sclerotized, quadrangular, subgenital plates distinctly prolonged anteromedially. Ductus bursae very slender; antrum short. Corpus bursae pear-shaped; signum a subtriangular plate about as long as broad, its medial process comparatively short, slightly exceeding pointed basal corners of signum.
Variation. The forewing colour varies extensively from pale-grey to dark, almost black; sometimes forewing uniformly grey or black without any markings. The sacculus and valva vary in width in the male genitalia and the apophyses anteriores vary in length in the female genitalia.
Biology. Larvae feed on different Poaceae: Panicum, Sorghum, Stipa, Triticum and others. In China adults fly in July and August in high mountains up to 2500 m.
Distribution: South Palaearctic, South Africa, New Guinea, Australia. In China it was recorded from Shandong Province and west part of Sichuan Province near Tibet.
Remarks. Ephysteris (Ephysteris) promptella resembles externally E. (M.) inustella Zeller, E. (M.) hispanica Povolný, E. (M.) subovata Povolný, and some others, but reliably differs in genitalia of both sexes. Chinese specimens were collected in Jinshajiang valley of Batang, Sichuan Province and characterized by uniformly dark, blackish forewing, however its genitalia are typical of E. (E.) promptella. Such dark colored forms were previously mentioned for this widely distributed species (Povolný 2002).
description: Published as part of Li, Houhun & Bidzilya, Oleksiy, 2008, A review of the genus Ephysteris Meyrick, 1908 from China, with descriptions of two new species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), pp. 45-56 in Zootaxa 1733 on pages 47-48, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.181377