Moca descarpentriesella Park & Koo & Minet 2020, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Park, Kyu-Tek
name: Koo, Jun-Mo
name: Minet, Joël
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Immidae
Moca
Moca descarpentriesella

description: Moca descarpentriesella (Viette, 1954), comb. nov.
(Figs. 23 A–F)
Idiopteryx descarpentriesella Viette, 1954: 37, TL: near Maroantsetra.
Type. 1♀ (holotype), North-East Madagascar, near Maroantsetra, Ambodivoangy forest, 23-27 iii 1952, P. Viette leg.; genitalia: prep. J. Minet no. 1669.
Adult (Figs. 23A, B). Wingspan, 15 mm. Vertex brown with yellow lateral areas; frontoclypeus yellow. Antennae yellowish brown with dark annulets, and with a whitish distal section; scape with a black dorsal stripe. Labial palpi yellow; segment 3 with black outer surface. Thorax dorsally dark brown, with some yellow on the tegulae; patagia brown. Abdomen dark brown dorsally, with yellow patches latero-dorsally. Ventral surface of body mainly white, yellow in the posterior region of the abdomen. Foreleg relatively short, yellow. Midleg outer surface: femur whitish; tibia yellow and brown; tarsus yellow. Hindleg outer surface: tibia and tarsus yellow, the former largely brown beyond medial pair of spurs. Dorsal surface of forewing: blackish brown with orange yellow patches, notably a triangular one at proximal third of costa and a large, apical, trapezoidal patch, which is divided by a subapical, angled, dark band (including some grey scales); fringe yellow along most of termen but blackish at tornus. Hind wing dorsal surface blackish brown, with a large; elongate yellow fascia in its central region and a narrow greyish area along the proximal section of the costa; fringe yellowish. Wings ventrally brown with yellow markings. Forewing venation: R 1, R 2 and R 3 free; R 4 and R 5 distinctly stalked, the former running to the costa, the latter to the termen; R 3 arising near R 4+5. Hind wing venation: Rs and M 1 long-stalked; veins M 2 to CuA 2 free and separate. Abdominal segments without spinose zones; tergum I with a rather wide neotergite; tergum II edged with lateral rods in its anterior half; sternum II devoid of distinct venulae but provided with well developed apodemes and anterolateral processes (similar to those of Moca marionella); tergum VII much wider than sternum VII (Fig. 23F).
Female genitalia (Fig. 23 C–E). Corpus bursae elongate, somewhat ovate anteriorly and provided with a pair of small, rounded signa. Ductus seminalis arising from the posterior extremity of the corpus bursae. Ductus bursae narrow, tubular (except for the cup-shaped antrum) and slightly shorter than the corpus bursae. Ostium bursae relatively wide, separated from segment VIII by a narrow membranous area (Fig. 23D). Apophyses anteriores present but reduced. Apophyses posteriores short, approximately 1/2 as long as the distance separating the ventral and dorsal extremities of the papillae anales. Papillae anales fused both dorsally and ventrally, forming an ovate structure in posterior view (Fig. 23E).
Distribution. Madagascar (East) (Viette, 1954).
Remarks. This species is excluded from the Gelechioidea and transferred to the family Immidae (superfamily: Immoidea). Indeed, it possesses all characteristics of this family, viz.: head with small chaetosemata, upturned labial palpi, and unscaled proboscis, hind wing with the veins that arise from discal cell all free and separate, except for the stalked Rs and M1, and ovipositor with short apophyses and dorsally fused papillae anales (Fig. 23E). “ Idiopteryx ” descarpentriesella is here ascribed to the genus Moca Walker insofar as it shares with Moca marionella similarities in wing pattern, forewing shape (with the costa concave proximally, beyond base), forewing venation (with only one R vein running to the termen), and morphology of abdominal sternum II (with straight, fairly long anterolateral processes). In fact, both species may have to be synonymized in the future, although their holotypes come from very different regions (East vs West Madagascar).
description: Published as part of Park, Kyu-Tek, Koo, Jun-Mo & Minet, Joël, 2020, Review of the Malagasy lecithocerid species described by Pierre Viette and deposited in MNHN (Paris), with new generic combinations and descriptions of a new subfamily and genus of Momphidae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea), pp. 151-190 in Zootaxa 4845 (2) on pages 184-186, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4845.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4406460