Tineovertex melanochrysa Meyrick 1911
Creators: name: Huang, Guo-Hua
name: Hirowatari, Toshiya
name: Wang, Min
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tineidae
Tineovertex
Tineovertex melanochrysa

description: Tineovertex melanochrysa (Meyrick, 1911)
(Figs. 1 A–C, 3A)
Tinea melanochrysa Meyrick 1911: 120 (type locality: Khasi Hills, NE India).
Tineovertex melanochryseus: Moriuti 1982: 167; Davis 1992: 63.
Tineovertex melanochrysa: Robinson & Tuck 1996: 10; Wang et al. 2000: 34; Huang et al. 2007: 39; Huang et al. 2008: 261.
Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from other Tineovertex by the following characters: uncus slender, long; saccus elongate-triangular; and valva elongate-spatulate, slightly curved dorsally.
Description. Forewing length 5.5–6.0 mm in male, 6.0– 6.5 mm in female; antenna length 6.0– 6.5 mm in male, 6.5–7.0 mm in female (Figs. 1 A–C).
Male. Head. Vertex and frons black. Thorax. Dorsum and tegula black with posterior portions yellowish white. Forewing with apex and termen black, about 2.5–2.9 × as long as wide including fringe (about 3.3–3.4 × as long as wide excluding fringe); costa with a broad irregular black streak from base to near apex, dilated in middle reaching about 3/7 across wing; apex with one distinct yellowish white costal strigula. Hindwing pale brown, 1.9–2.0 × as long as wide including fringe (3.4–3.7 × as long as wide excluding fringe). Abdomen. Male genitalia (Fig. 3 A) with uncus lobes widely separated, slender, about 0.5 × length of valva, with apex narrow and pointed, gradually curved ventrally. Saccus elongate triangular, about 0.8 × length of valva. Valva elongate-spatulate, narrow throughout, with apex rounded, slightly curved dorsally. Phallus basally stout with digitate apex, slightly curved ventrally, about 1.1 × length of valva; vesica with cornuti consisting of a mass of minute spines.
Female. Very similar to male. Female genitalia (see Moriuti, 1982: plate 248-6) with corpus bursae bearing a pair of thorn-shaped signa.
Type material. Lectotype (in BMNH), male. ASSAM: Khasi Hills., VI.1906, leg. E. Meyrick, BM. 1938-290; Paralectotypes (in BMNH), 7 males, same data to lectotype, with genitalia slide no. 32130 in BMNH.
Other material examined (in OPU and NSMT). [JAPAN] Honshu. Osaka Pref.: Minoo: 1 female, 1.VII.1971, leg. T. Saito; 5 males, 2 females, 2–10.VII.1979, leg. T. Saito; 2 males, 2 females, 10.VII.1979, leg. K. Yasuda; 2 males, 3 females, 3.VII.1980, leg. T. Saito; 1 female, 5.VII.1982, leg. T. Saito. 1 female, Aokaiyama, Toyono-cho, 25.VI.1998, leg. T. Saito; Mt Mikusayama: 10 males, 6 females, 15.VII.1993, leg. T. Hirowatari; 8 males, 6 females, 5.VII.2007, leg. T. Hirowatari, S. Kobayashi & A. Nobuoka; 20 males, 16 females, 18.VII.2007, leg. G. H. Huang, T. Hirowatari, S. Kobayashi & A. Nobuoka. Shikoku. Kochi Pref.: 4 males, 3 females, Ashizurimisaki, 14.VI.1964, leg. S. Moriuti. Ehime Pref.: 1 female, Sugitate, 27.VI.1956, leg. M. Okada. Kyushu. Fukuoka Pref.: 1 male, Mt Sarakura, Yahata, 19.VII.1961, leg. T. Kawamura; Mt Hiko-san: 1 male, 23.VII.1956, leg. H. Kuroko; 1 female, 27.VII.1954, leg. H. Kuroko. Kagoshima Pref.: 1 female, Ôyamada, Kajiki-cho, 26.VI.1984, leg. T. Nakahara. Ryukyu. Ishigakijima Is.: Omotodake: 3 males, 2.V.1978, leg. S. Moriuti; 2 males, 2 females, 2.V.1978, leg. Y. Arita, NSMT; 1 female, 4.V.1978, leg. Y. Arita, NSMT; 1 male, 4.V.1978, leg. S. Moriuti; 1 male, 5.V.1978, leg. S. Moriuti; 1 female, 2.IV.1980, leg. K. Yasuda; 2 males, 6.IV.2001, leg. B.W. Lee. 1 female, Banna, 3.V.1978, leg. S. Moriuti; 1 male, Nagura, 3.V.1978, leg. S. Moriuti; 1 male, Bannakoen, 7.IV.2001, light trap, leg. T. Ueda, N. H. Ahn, B. W. Lee, Y. Miyamoto & K. Yamada. Iriomote Is.: 1 male, Nakamagawa, 11.X.1992, leg. T. Ueda; 1 male, Uehara, Taketomi-cho, larva in portable case collected 4.X.2001, emerged 9.I.2002 with dead leaf as host, leg. T. Saito; 2 females, Shirahama, 29.XI.1996, leg. T. Ueda. Yonakuni Is.: 3 males, 1 female, Mt Urabe-dake, 13.V.1963, leg. Y. Arita, NSMT.
Bionomics. Seasonal occurrence: May to December. The female inserts eggs into the living tissue of the fern Blechnum nipponicum (Kunze) Makino (Blechnaceae), and the larvae feed on dead plant material on the ground after making a portable case (Huang et al. 2008).
Distribution. Japan, China (Taiwan), India.
Remarks. Huang et al. (2008) described the biology, including oviposition behavior and feeding habits of the early stages based on material from Japan.
description: Published as part of Huang, Guo-Hua, Hirowatari, Toshiya & Wang, Min, 2011, A revision of the genus Tineovertex Moriuti (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Tineidae), with descriptions of five new species, pp. 1-12 in Zootaxa 2991 on page 3, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.202539