Laetosphecia Kallies & Arita, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Kallies, Axel
name: Arita, Yutaka
name: Owada, Mamoru
name: Wang, Min
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Sesiidae
Laetosphecia

description: Laetosphecia Kallies & Arita gen. nov.
Type species: Tinthia variegata Walker, 1865
Description (Figs 1–6). Medium sized, colourful clearwing moths with wingspans of 29–32 mm. Head with labial palps with tufted scales at the first and second segment; apical segment short and smooth; antennae short, about 2/ 5 of the length of the forewing, unipectinate (with very short to long rami) and ciliate in male, simple in female; proboscis well-developed or weak and short. Hind legs long; hind tibia plus tarsus about as long as abdomen; hind tibia with or without tufts of scales at about 1/3 and at the distal end. Forewings largely opaque, with small transparent area near the base, with or without remnant external transparent area. Hindwings transparent or largely opaque. Abdomen somewhat constricted near the base, with small anal tuft. Venation with R4 and R 5 in forewing with a short stalk; M 2 in hindwing arising from anterior angle of the cell; cell short, about 2/5 of the length of the hind wing; hindwing with M3 and Cu1 with or without a short common stalk; Cu2 arising at about ½ of the cell.
Genitalia. Male (Figs 7, 8). Valva relatively soft and weakly sclerotized, with distal 1/3 covered with soft setae, with pronounced apex at the ventral edge; edges of uncus lobes covered with short hair-like setae; gnathos absent, vinculum small, saccus short; juxta well-developed, tube-like with a broad base. Phallus narrow, relatively straight, about as long as valve, apically with a narrow well-sclerotized rim that encloses about 2/3 of its circumference. Female (Fig. 9). Apophyses relatively short; ostium small; ductus bursae very long, with a narrow sclerotized distal ring, gradually opening into small corpus bursae with a small and weakly defined signum.
Diagnosis. This genus cannot be confused with any other Sesiini genus. Externally, it is separated from most other genera by its relatively small size, stout body shape, the opaque forewings and the colourful body markings. More importantly, the new genus differs from all other genera in the genitalia characters: the relatively weakly sclerotized valva (rigid and well-sclerotized in most other Sesiini genera), the lack of a crista (well developed in most other Sesiini genera), the soft and simple setae on the surface of the valva (often with scale-like setae or rigid and strong in other Sesiini genera) and the long and simple ductus bursae that opens gradually into a small corpus (with short ductus or distinctly developed antrum in most other Sesiini genera). The overall genitalia structures are somewhat similar to Teinotarsina Felder, 1874. However, species of that genus have completely transparent wings, much longer hind legs (well protruding beyond the abdomen tip) and longer antennae.
Biology and distribution. The host plant of at least two species, L. variegata and L. brideliana spec. nov., is Bridelia tomentosa (Phyllanthaceae) (Figs 10, 11). The larvae feed inside small branches, leading to the formation of conspicuous galls, from which the moths emerge later. Bridelia tomentosa occurs in a wide range from eastern India across southern China and south-east Asia, Melanesia, Papua New Guinea to northern Australia. Species of Laetosphecia are currently known from south-eastern China and north-eastern India.
description: Published as part of Kallies, Axel, Arita, Yutaka, Owada, Mamoru & Wang, Min, 2014, Laetosphecia, a new genus of clearwing moths from south-eastern China, with a brief review of the Sesiini from China (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae), pp. 581-589 in Zootaxa 3895 (4) on page 582, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3895.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/227619