Rytietia chongyiensis Stonis & Diškus & Remeikis & Orlovskytė & Solis & Paulavičiūtė & Xu & Dai 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Stonis, Jonas R.
name: Diškus, Arūnas
name: Remeikis, Andrius
name: Orlovskytė, Svetlana
name: Solis, Alma
name: Paulavičiūtė, Brigita
name: Xu, Jiasheng
name: Dai, Xiaohua
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tischeriidae
Rytietia
Rytietia chongyiensis

description: Rytietia chongyiensis Xu & Dai, sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D5F198EB-00C5-4FF0-887D-F71C0F3FDF50
Figs 281–283, 286, 291–293, 295, 303–305.
Type material. Holotype: Ô, CHINA, Yangling, Chongyi County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, 25.649318 N, 114.316492 E, elevation 395 m, feeding larvae on Fissistigma oldhamii (Hemsl.) Merr. (Annonaceae) (see Remarks), adults emerged 7.v.2018, leg. Jiasheng Xu, genitalia slide no. LIU 0094 Ô (GNU). Paratypes: 1 Ô, 1 ♀, same label data as holotype, genitalia slide nos LIU 0098 Ô, LIU 0097 ♀ (GNU); 2 Ô, CHINA, Qiyunshan, Chongyi County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province., elevation 576 m, feeding larvae on Fissistigma oldhamii (Hemsl.) Merr. (Annonaceae), adults emerged 17–19.iv.2019, leg. Jiasheng Xu (GNU).
Diagnosis. Externally, this new species is very similar to R. uncinata Diškus, Xu & Dai, sp. nov. (described above), but often with a less distinctive dark apical fascia and females of R. chongyiensis tend to be slightly larger; sometimes, especially in worn specimens, these two related species are indistinguishable externally. In the male genitalia, the weakly developed basal projections of the phallus, proximally less thickened ventral plate of the vinculum, longer apical spines and widely separated apical lobes of the juxta, and medially less thickened uncus distinguish R. chongyiensis from R. uncinata. In the female genitalia, R. chongyiensis differs from R. uncinata by the antrum which is distinctly reticulate in R. uncinata but non-reticulate (or indistinctly reticulate) in R. chongyiensis.
These two species also differ in their geographical distribution, host plants, and leaf mines: R. chongyiensis feeds on Fissistigma oldhamii in China and produces predominantly very large, wide blotch-like leaf mines, while the Vietnamese R. uncinata feeds on another species of Fissistigma (see Remarks above on R. uncinata) and produces predominantly slender leaf mines.
DNA barcode. Unknown.
Description. Male (Figs 281, 282). Forewing length about 4 mm; wingspan about 8.9 mm (n = 1). Head: palpi and frons yellow ochre; pecten long, yellow ochre; frontal tuft greyisch cream, golden glossy; collar yellowish ochre, comprised of lamellar scales; antenna distinctly longer than one half the length of forewing; flagellum golden ochre in distal 2/3 annulated with dark grey scales. Tegula, thorax, and forewing bright ochre; apical area of forewing densely covered with black-brown scales; fringe dark grey, pale grey on tornus; fringe line comprised of brown-black scales; forewing underside dark grey-brown, except for black special scales along costal margin on forewing base; no androconia. Hindwing blackish grey on upper side and underside; fringe dark grey. Legs ochre-yellow, darkened with blackish grey scales on upper side. Abdomen dark grey-brown on upper side, yellowish ochre on underside; genital plates yellowish grey; anal tufts long, mostly dorsal, grey.
Female (Fig. 283). Forewing length about 5.1 mm; wingspan about 11.2 mm (n = 1). Externally, similar to male.
Male genitalia (Figs 286, 291–293). Uncus comprised of two large lobes; in contrast to R. uncinata, these lobes moderately chitinized medially (Fig. 286). Socii medium large, paired, membranous. Valva without a lateral “arm” or dorsal lobe. Anellus absent. Juxta large, with two large, well-separated apical lobes (Figs 291, 293), each bearing a well-thickened, long spine (Figs 291–293). Vinculum medium small, widely rounded distally and weakly chitinized proximally. Phallus rod-like, with weakly developed basal projections laterally (Figs 291, 293).
Female genitalia (Fig. 295). Ovipositor lobes very large, rounded, densely covered with peg-like setae; second pair of ovipositor lobes three-four times smaller, with numerous long setae. Posterior apophyses much longer than anterior apophyses, widened at tips; prela comprised of three pairs of rod-like projections; transverse processes of prela unusually wide. Antrum non-reticulate or indistinctly reticulate. Corpus bursae relatively long, oval-shaped, without distinctive pectination. Ductus spermathecae short, weakly chitinized.
Bionomics (Figs 303–305). Host plant is Fissistigma oldhamii (Hemsl.) Merr. (Annonaceae) (Fig. 304) (also see Remarks). Larvae mine leaves in March. Leaf mine is large, irregular, blotch-like, with no or very little frass. A nidus is inconspicuous. Adults occur in April and May. Otherwise, biology is unknown.
Distribution. This species is known from two localities in southern China at elevation of about 400– 600 m.
Etymology. The species is named after Chongyi County, China, where it was discovered.
Remarks. The host plant identification is the sole responsibility of the Chinese co-authors. If identification of the host plants of the Fissistigma -feeding species R. uncinata and R. chongyiensis are correct, Annonaceae proves to be a new host plant family for global Tischeriidae.
description: Published as part of Stonis, Jonas R., Diškus, Arūnas, Remeikis, Andrius, Orlovskytė, Svetlana, Solis, Alma, Paulavičiūtė, Brigita, Xu, Jiasheng & Dai, Xiaohua, 2023, Genera of Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera): a review of the global fauna, with descriptions of new taxa, pp. 1-131 in Zootaxa 5333 (1) on page 67, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5333.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8261139