Asapharcha hirsuta Bidzilya & Mey & Rajaei 2024, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Bidzilya, Oleksiy V.
name: Mey, Wolfram
name: Rajaei, Hossein
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gelechiidae
Asapharcha
Asapharcha hirsuta

description: Asapharcha hirsuta (Janse, 1958), comb. nov.
Fig. 4
Lasiarchis hirsuta Janse, 1958. The Moth of South Africa, 6 (6): 50. Holotype (♂) and paratype (♀), examined (DMSA).
Type material examined. Holotype ♂ “ Vict.[oria] Falls Road 38 m fr[om]. Bulaw.[ayo], 25–26.iv.1954, A.J.T. Janse ” | “ Lasiarchis hirsuta J., ♂, Holotype: No. 3727” | “g. 8468” (DMSA).
Diagnosis: In A. hirsuta, the head and thorax are uniformly dark brown, and the forewing is distinctly mottled with black (Fig. 4). In A. ochrocapitella sp. nov., the most similar species, the head is yellow and the forewing is lighter. In the male genitalia (see Janse 1958: pl. 6; 1960: pl. 49d), A. hirsuta has a stout gnathos, a reduced sacculus, comparatively long and broad saccus, and a phallus with a twisted inner trunk and short subapical process. Th male genitalia of A. ochrocapitella sp. nov. differ in having a rounded hump-shaped sacculus and lacking a subapical process of the phallus. In the female genitalia (see Janse 1958: pl. 6; 1960: pl. 65j, k) A. hirsuta has two elongated signa that area connected with each other and situated along the longitudinal axis of corpus bursae. In A. ochrocapitella sp. nov. the signa are of similar shape but they are situated under each other in the middle of the corpus bursae.
Addition to original description. Male genitalia. Uncus subrectangular, twice as long as wide, shorter than tegumen, posterior margin straight, densely covered with hairs along margins; gnathos long, stout, strongly curved at base, straight in middle, upcurved apically; tegumen trapezoidal, distinctly differentiated from uncus, anteromedial emargination triangular, extending to 1/4 length of tegumen; cucullus gradually broadened posteriorly, posterior angles rounded, extending to 2/3–3/4 length of tegumen, densely haired; sacculus reduced, valvella very short; saccus U-shaped, extending beyond base of tegumen; phallus straight, distal part with inner twisted trunk-like, down-curved sclerite, apex rounded, caecum weakly swollen, about 1/3 length of phallus tube.
Distribution. Known only from Zimbabwe.
Remark. The genus Lasiarchis Meyrick, 1937 was described as monotypic with Lasiarchis elaeoxyla Meyrick, 1937 as its type species. Lasiarchis pycnodes (Meyrick, 1909) (Figs 16, 22) was originally described in “ Nothris (?)”, but later placed in Anisoplaca by Meyrick (1925). Janse (1958: 49–50) transferred A. pycnodes to Lasiarchis, synonymized it with L. elaeoxyla, and described L. hirsuta Janse, 1958 from Zimbabwe. The male genitalia of L. pycnodes (Fig. 32) are characterized by the presence of a short pointed process with a tuft of setae on 2/3 of the ventral margin of the cucullus, and an elongate, slender phallus. In contrast to L. pycnodes, L. hirsuta has an unmodified cucullus, and a basally swollen, comparatively short phallus, features that are similar to those of Asapharcha strigifera (type species of the genus) and other Asapharcha species. Hence, we transfer Lasiarchis hirsuta to Asapharcha, resulting in Asapharcha hirsuta (Janse, 1958), comb. nov., whereas L. pycnodes (= L. elaeoxyla) remains in the Lasiarchis, and we continue to treat it as monotypic.
description: Published as part of Bidzilya, Oleksiy V., Mey, Wolfram & Rajaei, Hossein, 2024, Taxonomic revision of Asapharcha Meyrick, 1920 (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae), with descriptions of four new species, pp. 548-566 in Zootaxa 5443 (4) on page 554, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5443.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/11064338