Oiketicoides lambessa Sobczyk & Arnscheid 2021, stat. rev.
Creators: name: Sobczyk, Thomas
name: Arnscheid, Wilfried R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Psychidae
Oiketicoides
Oiketicoides lambessa

description: Oiketicoides lambessa (Heylaerts, 1889) stat. rev.
(Figs 16, 34, 48, 66)
Oiketicoides febretta var. lambessa Heylaerts, 1889. Lectotype ♂: (herewith designated): ALGERIA: Prov. Batna, Tazoult-Lambèse, 1887, ex coll. Staudinger (MFNB).
Supplementary description. ♂. Medium-sized Oiketicoides species with evenly light grey-brown scaled wings. Wingspan 21.5 mm, body length unknown, because the abdomen is only preserved as a fragment, forewing length 10.0 mm, FI: 2.0.
Head. Antennae length 4.8 mm with 39 segments, dorsally densely beige scaled. Longest pecten reaches ten times the length of the antennal segment’s length. Frons and vertex beige scaled. Broader scaled laterally with grey scales. Eyes small, black-grey, EI: 1.63.
Thorax. Forewing elongated, termen rounded. Venation on forewing with r3+r4 one quarter length stalked, m2+m3 more than half length stalked. On the hindwing vein m2 is missing, therefore only 5 veins from dc, sc and rr fused and after about a half length connected to dc by a short bar. Wing evenly covered with light grey-brown, narrow scales. Within dc mixed with whitish scales and in the distal half thinner scaled and therefore lighter in ground colour. From the costal margin the basal half is darker scaled. Scales distally rounded, exceptionally notched (classes 1–2, Fig. 34), fringes broadly lanceolate, distally wavy.
Abdomen. Dorsally and ventrally densely covered with long brownish yellow hair-like scales.
Male genitalia. (GU 342, Dierl, MfN). Total length 2.3 mm, width 0.6 mm. When closed, the valvae reach approximately the distal end of the tegumen, which is rounded, distally hardly notched, with scattered setae. The anellus is broader than the width of the valvae, distally covered with fine setae. Valvae wide, sacculus narrower distally, rounded, covered with 4 prominent, inwardly curved spines. Saccus laterally widened at the base of the vinculum, distally short, drop-shaped. Phallus length 1.95 mm, elongated tubular, distally widened with a distinct spiky extension (Figs 48, 54).
Distribution. Only known from the type locality in Algeria (Heylaerts 1889).
Diagnosis. O. febretta isonthewingbydaylight and, therefore, hastinyeyes (EI>2.2–2.6). Withinthe North African Oiketicoides only O. oberthueri (EI: 2.3) shows such values. The eye index of O. lambessa stat. rev. is also very high (1.63), but it differs clearly from O. febretta and O. oberthueri. Probably O. lambessa stat. rev. is also a diurnal species. The index of the other North African species of the genus is below 1.0. Moreover, O. lambessa stat. rev. shares the striking brightening in the area of the forewing dc with O. oberthueri. But the venation of the hindwings of O. oberthueri show the veins m1+m2 stalked whereas these veins are fused in O. lambessa stat. rev.
Remarks. The two syntypes in MfN have been collected by Staudinger in 1887 in North East Algeria and were sent to Heylaerts. The latter described Amicta febretta var. lambessa (Heylaerts, 1889) very briefly on the base of the differences to O. febretta: more slender, and the venation of the hindwings show five instead of six veins. Because the description is actually based on two specimens, it can be assumed that the venation is not an anomaly. In 1972, Dierl examined the specimen in MfN (“specimen 342 Dierl” MfN) and labelled one specimen as lectotype. He also already recognised the taxonomic status as a separate species (he labelled it “ Oiketicoides lambessa ”) but, unfortunately, he did not publish his results. The designation of the lectotype and the revision of the taxonomic status as a separate species is hereby formally updated.
description: Published as part of Sobczyk, Thomas & Arnscheid, Wilfried R., 2021, Taxonomic revision of the North-African species of the genus Oiketicoides Heylaerts, 1881 (Lepidoptera: Psychidae: Oiketicinae), pp. 483-508 in Zootaxa 4975 (3) on page 501, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4975.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/4926498