Pleurota murina Tabell & Wikström & Mutanen & Bruckner & Sihvonen 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Tabell, Jukka
name: Wikström, Bo
name: Mutanen, Marko
name: Bruckner, Harald
name: Sihvonen, Pasi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Oecophoridae
Pleurota
Pleurota murina

description: Pleurota murina Tabell, sp. nov.
Barcode Index Number: BOLD:ADA1306
Table 1, Figs. 28, 46, 65, 66
Type material. Holotype ♂ (GP 5505 J. Tabell, DNA sample 24603 Lepid Phyl): Morocco, High Atlas, 9 km NW Ouirgane, N31°12’24’’ W8°4’33’’, 30.V.–3.VI. 2015, 970 m, C. Hviid, O. Karsholt & K. Larsen (coll. ZMUC), BOLD sample ID: MM24603. Paratypes: 1 ♂ (GP 5875 J. Tabell, DNA sample 24604 Lepid Phyl), Morocco, High Atlas, 6 km NW Ouirgane, N31°12’32’’ W8°4’48”, 30.V. 2015, 850 m, C. Hviid, O. Karsholt & K. Larsen; 1 ♂ (DNA sample 24605 Lepid Phyl), Morocco, High Atlas, 7 km S Ouirgane, N31°8’19’’ W8°5’51’’, 4.VI. 2015, 950 m, C. Hviid, O. Karsholt & K. Larsen (coll. TAB).
Diagnosis. Externally P. murina is similar to P. gallicella, and positive identification requires examination of the genitalia. Compared to gallicella, the uncus and gnathos are longer in murina, and the phallus contains one wedge-shaped small cornutus and a large patch of tiny spines; in gallicella, the cornutus is longer, and the spines are strongly sclerotized, grouped into two narrow strips. The female of murina is unknown.
Molecular data. All three type specimens of murina were sequenced successfully, resulting in 658 bp, fulllength barcode sequences. The nearest neighbour to murina is P. lepigrei, with a 8.08 % divergence (Table 1). The DNA barcodes of murina exhibit 0.62 % intraspecific variation.
Description. Adult. Wingspan 17.9–18.2 mm. Labial palpus mixed with pale grey, pale brown and dark brown scales, darker below, long and narrow, 6.5 x as long as diameter of eye (1 st and 2 nd palpomeres), 3 rd palpomere very short, almost invisible. Head pale grey, thorax and tegula grey, suffused with pale brown. Antenna brown, smooth, antennomeres trapezoidal. Forewing covered with off-white, grey-tipped scales; costal and subcostal lines jointed, a narrow pale brown line medially from base to 0.5; median line off-white, indistinctly edged, from base to 0.6, reaching apex of wing as a hue of stripe, with two linear and one rounded blackish brown spots; dorsal half slightly paler basally; outer margin with a row of blackish brown spots. Fringe grey with a white line. Hindwing and fringe pale brownish grey. Abdomen slightly lustrous, greyish brown, each segment with a transverse row of ochre scales.
Male genitalia. Uncus elongated, triangular from ventral view, as long as gnathos, basal half covered and lined with several long bristles, apex with long, parallel-sided, stout protuberance. Gnathos funnel-shaped from ventral view, moderately narrow, gradually tapered towards apex, distal third surfaced with scobination, apex moderately broad, stout. Valva subtriangular, surfaced dorsally with long bristles, apically with short bristles, ventral margin slightly convex, dorsal margin basally evenly slightly bulged. Sacculus surfaced with long bristles. Median plate of juxta swollen; posterior lobe robust, long, reaching uncus; valval lobe narrow, covered with short bristles, outer margin rounded. Phallus slightly arched, parallel-sided, with a plate-shaped cornutus and a large group of tiny spines.
Female genitalia. Female unknown.
Biology. The biology is unknown. The specimens were collected at light on open mountain slopes.
Etymology. Lat. murinus = grey. The specific epithet refers to the colour of forewing.
Distribution. Known from three neighboring localities in the High Atlas Mountains, at an altitude between 850 and 970 m.
description: Published as part of Tabell, Jukka, Wikström, Bo, Mutanen, Marko, Bruckner, Harald & Sihvonen, Pasi, 2021, Subspecies of Pleurota bicostella (Clerck, 1759) revisited and descriptions of nine new species in the P. bicostella species group (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea Oecophoridae: Pleurotinae), pp. 451-486 in Zootaxa 4941 (4) on pages 474-475, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4941.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4595501