Agonochaetia intermedia Sattler 1968
Creators: name: Landry, Jean-François
name: Nazari, Vazrick
name: Bidzilya, Oleksiy
name: Huemer, Peter
name: Karsholt, Ole
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae
Agonochaetia
Agonochaetia intermedia

description: 4. Agonochaetia intermedia Sattler, 1968
(Figs 4–5, 31, 38)
Agonochaetia intermedia Sattler 1968: 120. Type locality: Sarepta [Krasnoarmeysk], Russia. Huemer (1989: 387); Elsner et al. (1999: 49); Povolný (2002a: 105); Huemer & Karsholt (2010: 296).
Material examined. Holotype ♂ “S- Russia, Sarepta, 10.7.1864, H. CHRISTOPH”, “Microlepid. Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist., slide 3887” (BMNH) (examined by PH).
3 ♂, Kazakhstan, 48°29’15’’N, 58°31’14’’E, Mugozhary mts., 450 m, Berchogur vill. 3 km NW, 4.vi.2011 (K. Nupponen) (NUPP); 1 ♂ Russia, Orenburg distr., 12 km S Kuvandyk, mountain hilly steppe, 13 – 15.vi.1998, leg. J. Junnilainen (ZMUC); 1 ♂, Russia, Altai Mnts., 50°14 – 16’N, 87°40’E, Chuja valley, 1500 m, Aktash village 5 km SE, 5.vii.2000 (K. & T. Nupponen) (NUPP); 1 ♂ Russia, S-Buryatia, 50°58 – 59’N, 106°38-40’E, 550-600 m, Chikoy valley, Novoselenginsk vill. 10 km S, sand dunes/sandy steppe, 25.vi.2002 (K. Nupponen) (gen. slide 183/ 16, O. Bidzilya) (NUPP); 2 ♂ Russia, Buryatia, 54°55’ N, 111°14’ E, Barguzin valley, 600 m, Djirga st., Betula / mead., 10.vii.1996 (Jalava & Kullberg) (gen. prep. in glycerol) (MZH); 1 ♂ [Russia], Transbaikalia, Chita reg., Kyra, 900 m, 6.vii.1997 (Bidzilya, I. & O. Kostjuk) (gen. slide 184/16, O. Bidzilya) (ZMKU); 1 ♂, Austria, Teriolis sept., Fließ, 1000 m, 17.v.1975 (K. Burmann) (wing slide JFL 1754) (TLMF); 1 ♂, Austria, Teriolis sept., Fließ, 1000 m, 1.vi.1978 (K. Burmann) (ZMUC); 1 ♂, ditto but 3.vi.1983 (TLMF); 1 ♀, ditto, but 20.vi.1987 (P. Huemer) (gen. slide GU 87/ 107 P. Huemer) (TLMF); 1 ♂, Austria, Nordtirol, Zams, Steinseehüttenweg, 880 m, 7.vi.2013, (P. Huemer) (TLMF); 1 ♀, Switzerland, Zermatt, 19.vii.1934 (gen. slide GP ETH 1160 W. Sauter) (ETHZ).
DNA Barcode BIN. BOLD:ABV4430 (n=2). The average intraspecific divergence of the barcode region is 0.0%, and the minimum distance to the nearest neighbor, A. shawinigan, is 8.99%.
Adult (Fig. 4–5). Wingspan 15–19 mm. Sexually slightly dimorphic. Male with forewing upper surface grey brown mottled with yellow brown (especially in fold) and black (especially along costa and termen). Hindwing grey with pale cilia. Female upper surface pale yellow brown mottled with few darker scales, forewing without spots.
For a re-description see Huemer & Karsholt (2010: 296).
Male genitalia (Fig. 31). Tegumen anterior notch roundly V-shaped (TGN/TGL = 0.55). Uncus 0.4x length of tegumen, apical margin lined with several fine setae, without indentation. Gnathos with proximal arms stubby, apices club-like and not mesially joined; mesio-distal arm free from proximal arms, an indistinct band in apical part of culcitula. Vinculum mesio-posterior emargination shallow, rounded, ventral wall between cucullus base and vincular lobes smooth; vincular lobes pointed, setation of mesio-dorsal surface short and sparse; anterior notches rounded; saccus moderately slender and V-shaped, distinctly shorter than valva (SAL /VLL = 0.66). Cucullus with ventral edge roundly protruded in distal third, apex pointed. Sacculus curved at 90°, basal portion thicker, apex pointed. Glandiductor lobes sinuate, same length as phallus, anterior ¼ strongly bulbous. Phallus straight, apex with triangular projection dorsally, 1.5x length of saccus, caecum moderately bulbous, 0.25x length of phallus.
Female genitalia (Fig. 38). Segment VIII shorter (0.5x) than wide, weakly sclerotized; anterior apophysis 3.5x length of segment VIII, widening of base into sternum VIII over about ¼ of its length; antrum funnel-shaped, about 1.9x length of SVIII, distal edge shallowly incised, anterior portion tapered to about ¼ distal width and extended to about 1/3 of anterior apophysis; signum with irregularly triangular basal plate with bowed sides, hook stout and slightly longer (1.3x) than basal plate.
Diagnosis. Externally the male resembles A. terrestrella and A. quartana but with more slender wings and darker second segment of the labial palpus. In male genitalia, A. intermedia has the tip of the sacculus that tapers off to a sharp point. In that respect it is similar to A. lvovskyi and A. terrestrella, from which it can be distinguished by its prominent and triangular vincular processes (not raised and square in A. lvovskyi), and rounded ventral edge of the cucullus (sub-triangular and prominent in A. terrestrella). In female genitalia, the antrum is shaped like a triangular funnel with slightly sinuate sides and a shallowly indented posterior margin. The basal plate of the signum is shaped like a triangle with slightly bowed sides and the signum hook is stout and as long as the basal plate.
Biology. Unknown. Adults have been collected from late May to July in xeromontane habitats up to elevations of about 2000 m. They fly at dusk and are attracted to light (Huemer & Karsholt 2010).
Distribution. Scattered records from southern Switzerland, western Austria, Lower Volga-region, southern Ural Mountains (Huemer & Karsholt 2010), southern Siberia (Altai, Tuva, Buryatia, Zabaikalskyi krai) in Russia, and western Kazakhstan. For records from Japan see under Remarks.
Remarks. Sakamaki & Ueda (2013) reported two male specimens of A. intermedia from Hokkaido, Japan (Fig. 43), now deposited in the Kagoshima University. A closer examination of photos of the adults and male genitalia of these moths (Sakamaki, pers. comm.) shows a close affinity to A. intermedia, but prominent discal and postmedian spots on the adult forewing are more similar to A. tuvella. It is also possible that these moths represent the male of the geographically proximate taxon A. impunctella, known only from a faded female specimen from Russian Far East.
description: Published as part of Landry, Jean-François, Nazari, Vazrick, Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Huemer, Peter & Karsholt, Ole, 2017, Review of the genus Agonochaetia Povolný (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae), and description of a new genus and species from the Canary Islands, pp. 451-485 in Zootaxa 4300 (4) on pages 465-466, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4300.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/840096