Topiris candidella , Walk. E. Meyrick 1863
Creators: name: Sterling, Mark J.
name: Price, Ben W.
name: Lees, David C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Xyloryctidae
Topiris
Topiris candidella

description: Topiris candidella Walker, 1863
Figs 4–6, 32 A, B, 33 A, B, 57, 62, 66, 79, 80, 82, 84–87
Topiris candidella Walker 1863: 522.
DNA barcodes.
BIN, BOLD: ADR 9781 (Process IDs METAT 027-18, METAT 210-19, METAT 211-19, METAT 287-24).
Type material.
Malaysian Borneo: Holotype • ♂, Sarawak, Saunders Collection, fwl 7.5 mm, specimen no. NHMUK 010219690 (labels: Fig. 85 A, B). Holotype by monotypy.
Diagnosis.
Indistinguishable externally from other small white species and forms of Topiris. In the male genitalia, the postmedial section of the valva is narrower than that of T. ochrotincta and T. schneeweissella. In T. cinderella the setose costal ventral membrane is distally raised whereas in T. candidella it is distally flat and the process at the base of the costal ventral membrane arises at an acute angle in T. cinderella whereas in T. candidella the angle is more obtuse (Figs 81, 82). In the female genitalia, T. albidella and T. salva lack the digitate posterio-medial processes on S 8 and in T. schneeweissella the antrum lacks scobination (Figs 57–60, 84).
Description.
Male (Figs 4–6). Forewing length 6.5–7.5 mm, wingspan 14.5–16.5 mm. Head: frons with pure white appressed scales; vertex with tuft of long white scales pointing upwards and away from base of antennae, further long pure white scales pointing posteriorly from sides of occiput and from posterior margin of occiput, overlaying a collar of appressed broad white scales pointing posteriorly from anterior margin of prothorax; maxillary palps white. Labial palps long (> 2.5 × diameter of eye), strongly recurved; small tuft of pale ochreous scales on basal segment; second segment longer than third, strongly curved, pale ochreous outer side, white on inner side; third segment slightly curved with appressed scales, ochreous mixed white. Haustellum with white scaling on basal part. Antenna ¾ length of forewing, bipectinate; scape with appressed scales white mixed ochreous; flagellum with dark pectinations for> ½ length covered with short white sensillae, ochreous scaling on dorsal surface of basal flagellomeres, otherwise dark brown, apical portion filiform. Thorax: snow white; tegulae short, snow white; foreleg with femur white, tibia and tarsus brown, broad tibial epiphysis; mid and hind legs white, hind legs with short and broad white scale tuft. Forewing broad, costa slightly rounded at base, thereafter straight, apex obtusely rounded, termen slightly angled inwards, tornus obliquely angled, snow white, unmarked except for small line of brown scales from base of costa to 1 / 6. Hindwing as broad as forewing, apex very slightly projecting, white, unmarked. Ventrally, forewing with brown scaling in area between costa and Sc and pale brown scaling along veins; hindwings white.
Female. Similar to male, slightly larger, forewing length 9 mm, wingspan 19–20 mm, antenna filiform throughout.
Pre-genital abdomen (Fig. 66). White, anal tuft white. Tergal spines on posterior parts of T 2 – T 7, T 8 weakly sclerotised anteriorly, sternites weakly sclerotised. Apodemes almost straight; venulae slightly sinuate.
Male genitalia (Figs 32 A, B, 33 A, B, 79, 80, 82). Uncus broad, anterior margin of dorsal surface very weakly emarginate, apically slightly bilobed, almost rectangular, strongly sclerotised laterally. Gnathos fused medially, lateral arms thin and lightly sclerotised, medial plate lightly sclerotised, weakly projecting posteriorly from lateral arms. Tegumen band broad and strongly arched, lateral extensions of tegumen same length as width of tegumen band. Vinculum short, robust, strongly sclerotised, strongly diverging distad of saccus, U shaped basally, base slightly projecting anteriorly beyond base of valvae. Saccus short. Juxta with base plate strongly sclerotised, V-shaped, anellus lobes almost as broad as long. Valva long, basally broad, substantially tapering postmedially, apically narrow, costal ventral membrane confined to basal half of valva, rugose and with long thin setae, distally flat, from base of which arises, at an obtuse angle, a long, setose process, apex of valva thin and rounded with tuft of bristles, saccular margin curved, strong ventral sclerite postmedially, with projection joining to base of saccular process. Sacculus very large with strong mesad shoulder, slightly longer than broad. Saccular process developing from distal part of sacculus, commencing close to costa of valva, strongly sclerotised and melanised, broad and straight at base, narrowing towards apex, apical portion a shortish curved hook with a narrow apical point, short fine setae present. Aedeagus short, thin, slightly curved, small slightly recurved filament-like distal projection. Bulbus ejaculatorius long with elongate hood.
Female genitalia (Figs 57, 84). Papillae anales short and broad. Apophyses posteriores longer than apophyses anteriores. S 8 with anterior margin strongly recessed and strongly arched ventrad, posterior margin projecting caudally, covering the ostium, with two small digitate posterio-medial lateral processes. Ostium small and circular. Antrum long, straight and narrow, strongly sclerotised and melanised almost throughout, weakly scobinate. Ductus bursae long and thin, posteriorly membranous, anteriorly finely scobinate. Corpus bursae large and elongate, without signum.
Biology and early stages.
Early stages unknown. Adults have been recorded from mangrove forest, coastal swamp forest and kerangas forest at elevations of 0–20 m in January / February, April, and September / October. Wallace’s specimens are likely to have been found on a small hill overlooking rainforest at approximately 380 m elevation.
Distribution.
Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), Brunei.
Additional material examined.
(18 ♂, 2 ♀) 1 ♂ Sarawak, Moore coll., 94–106, specimen number NHMUK 013700123; • 1 ♂ Sarawak, Moore coll., 94–106, specimen number NHMUK 013700125, slide no. NHMUK 014331342; • 1 ♂ Sarawak, E. W. Janson coll. 74.69, specimen no. NHMUK 013700124; • 1 ♂ 3 km WSW of Muara, Kampong Kapok, edge of mangrove forest, 1 m, i–ii.1992, E. W. Classey leg., specimen no. NHMUK 010922995, slide no. NHMUK 010316360, Process ID METAT 027-18; • 1 ♂ 3 km WSW of Muara, Kampong Kapok, edge of mangrove forest, 1 m, i–ii.1992, E. W. Classey leg., specimen no. NHMUK 010923142, slide no. NHMUK 014331341; • 4 ♂ 3 km WSW of Muara, Kampong Kapok, edge of mangrove forest, 1 m, i–ii.1992, E. W. Classey leg., specimen nos. NHMUK 010922994, NHMUK 013700122, NHMUK 013700121, NHMUK 013700120, 1 ♂ Brunei, 3 km WSW of Muara, Kg Kapok, edge of Rhizophora forest, 1 m, 21.ix.–3.x.1997, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen no. NHMUK 010923170, slide no. NHMUK 010316445, Process ID METAT 210-19; • 1 ♂ Brunei, 3 km WSW of Muara, Kg Kapok, edge of Rhizophora forest, 1 m, 21.ix.–3.x.1997, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen no. NHMUK 013700116; • 1 ♂, Brunei: 20 ft., Seria, coastal swamp forest, 11.ii.1982, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen no. NHMUK 010923136, slide no. NHMUK 014331343; • 2 ♂, Brunei: 20 ft., Seria, coastal swamp forest, 11.ii.1982, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen nos. NHMUK 013700119, NHMUK 013700118; • 1 ♂, Brunei: 10 ft., Seria, coastal swamp forest, 18.iv.1988, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen no. NHMUK 013700117; • 2 ♂, Brunei: Telisai, Kerangas Forest, 10 ft., 8.iv.1988, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen nos. NHMUK 013700115, NHMUK 013700114; • 1 ♂, Sandakan, Br. N. Borneo, 9.ii.1893, Leg. Green, specimen no. NHMUK 010219787, slide no. NHMUK 014331344; • 1 ♀ Brunei, 3 km WSW of Muara, Kg Kapok, edge of Rhizophora forest, 1 m, 13.ix–1.x.1992, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen no. NHMUK 010923171, slide no. NHMUK 010316864, Process ID METAT 211-19; • 1 ♀ Telisai, Kerangas Forest, 10 ft., 8.iv.1988, G. S. Robinson leg., specimen no. NHMUK 013700130, slide no. NHMUK 014331340.
Remarks.
Both this species and T. cinderella have been found in Brunei. This species has been recorded principally from mangrove and other coastal forests whereas Topiris cinderella has only been found in dipterocarp forest. The pairwise divergence between these two species is 3.52–3.82 %. Topiris candidella is 4.74–5.05 % pairwise divergent from T. ochrotincta, which has been found at altitude in Brunei, and 3.67–4.28 % pairwise divergent from T. schneeweissella, which has been found in Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand.
The only differences in morphology between T. cinderella and T. candidella are in the distal part of the costal fold of the valva (illustrated in Figs 81, 82) and the angle of projection of the process at the base of the costal fold.
The derivation of Walker’s specific name, candidella, is from candida (lat.) white, innocent or pure.
The type specimen became chimaeric at the time that hindwings of another species were glued on this specimen. The hindwings are now separated from the holotype and separately mounted. We note that these hindwings lack a basal hyaline area and neither do they belong to the holotype nor to the genus Yponomeuta Latreille, [1796] (as suggested by Meyrick). It is not clear to which micromoth specimen or species the hindwings belong.
The data labels for the type specimen of T. candidella are illustrated in Fig. 85 A, B. The specimen has a label which is a round white disc on which is written “ SAR ”. Walker’s original description states that the specimen is in Mr. Saunders’ collection, and this is also reflected by the NHMUK accession label, which states: Sarawak Saunders Coll. 94–68.
Alfred Russel Wallace visited Sarawak between November 1854 and January 1856 (Tuen and Das 2005). He spent his time in Sarawak as a guest of Rajah James Brooke. Between 13 December 1855 and 18 January 1856 (with a break for Christmas between 20 December and 30 December), he stayed at a bungalow owned by Rajah Brooke at Peninjau Hill (1.4293, 110.2236, 380 m elevation), near Kuching (Wallace 1869: 95–97; Moulton 1912; Idris and Azhar 2010). During his stay at the Peninjau bungalow, Wallace made a collection of a total number of 1386 moths. These specimens were collected by Wallace himself and labelled either by him or his assistant, Charles Allen (Wallace 1869). Although 100 % confirmation is not possible, it is likely that Peninjau provided a high proportion of his total collection of Lepidoptera (Polaszek and Cranbrook 2006: 433, 434). Charles Allen placed circular white card labels with “ SAR ” for Sarawak on the specimens (Cranbrook and Mann 2016: 19; see also Baker 1996; Baker 2001). The Topiris candidella label has been confirmed as definitively a Wallace label written by Charles Allen (George Beccaloni pers. comm. to DCL 14 November 2023). When Wallace returned to England in 1862 his insects, other than Coleoptera and butterflies, became part of the collection of William Wilson Saunders (Wallace 1869).
The three similar specimens of T. candidella subsequently found by DCL in the NHMUK collections (one of which is illustrated at Fig. 5) have similar white card disc labels bearing the letters “ SAR ” (Fig. 86). Wallace stated that the main object of his journeys in the Malay Archipelago was to obtain specimens of natural history, both for his private collection and to supply duplicates to museums and amateurs (Wallace 1869: xi). Wallace’s collections of insects were divided, before consignment, into (among other things) series reserved for his private collection and series intended for sale. Wallace records sending six consignments of insects from his stay in Sarawak (Baker 2001). We assume that the specimens which found their way into the collections of Janson and Moore were from Wallace’s sale specimens.
From this we conclude that the type (and the three subsequently discovered specimens) were collected by Alfred Russel Wallace during his stay in Sarawak and that it is most likely that they were taken at the Peninjau bungalow between 13 December 1855 and 18 January 1856.
Topiris candidella is not listed in Polaszek and Cranbrook (2006) as an insect species described from Alfred Russel Wallace’s Sarawak collections, but this paper does not list microlepidoptera species.
Walker’s original description does not expressly state that it is made from a single specimen. However, his species description states: ‘ in Mr. Saunders’ collection’. Two of the other three subsequently discovered specimens bearing Wallace’s collecting labels (NHMUK 0137000123 and NHMUK 0137000125) are labelled Moore Coll. (Fig. 86) and the third is labelled Janson collection. The accession dates for these specimens in each case post-date Walker’s description. Only one of Wallace’s specimens is from the Saunders collection. Baker (2001: 65) also notes that the Sarawak specimens acquired by Saunders were treated by Walker. We conclude that the example in the Saunders collection was the only specimen available to Walker when he wrote his description.
description: Published as part of Sterling, Mark J., Price, Ben W. & Lees, David C., 2025, A revision of the hitherto neglected genus Topiris Walker, 1863 (Lepidoptera, Xyloryctidae) with taxonomic notes on the genus Athrypsiastis Meyrick, 1910, pp. 297-368 in ZooKeys 1229 on pages 297-368, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1229.119155