Cryptolectica terminalina Sruoga & Prins 2023, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Sruoga, Virginijus
name: Prins, Jurate De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gracillariidae
Cryptolectica
Cryptolectica terminalina

description: Cryptolectica terminalina (Vári, 1961), comb. nov.
(Figs 9A–I, 10A–D)
Acrocercops terminalina; Vári 1961: 157–158; pl. 17, fig. 5; pl. 62, fig. 4; pl. 98, fig. 5.
Material examined. 11♁, 2♀, Cameroon, North Province, Faro River Camp, 275 m, 08°23’N 012°49’E, 01.v.2005, leg. J. & W. De Prins. Gen. preps. VS512, VS539, VS540, VS541, VS517, VS566. Wing venation prep. VS527. 18♁, same locality, 09.v.2005, leg. J. & W. De Prins. Gen. prep. VS547.1 ♁, Cameroon, North Province, Faro River Camp, 275 m, 08°22’N 012°51’E, 06.v.2005, leg. J. & W. De Prins; 2♁, Cameroon, North Province, Faro River Camp, 275 m, 08°25’N 012°47’E, 04.v.2005, leg. J. & W. De Prins, in coll. RBINS.
Diagnosis. This species is most similar to Cryptolectica curvatum sp. nov. from the same locality and C. convexa sp. nov., known from DRC. The shape of valva, with strongly convex sacculus and almost straight costa are the main diagnostic characters in male genitalia. The female genitalia of this species can be separated from other Afrotropical Cryptolectica species by two signa comprised of numerous long, stout unequal spines arising from sclerotized oval base and increasing in sized proximally.
Host plant(s). Terminalia silozensis Gibbs, Combretaceae (Vári 1961).
Flight period. Adults fly in early February–March and in May (Vári 1961).
Distribution. South Africa; Namibia; Zimbabwe (Vári 1961); Cameroon (new record).
Remarks. According to the detailed redescription of Acrocercops Wallengren and Cryptolectica Vári by Kumata et al. (1988a), this species better fits in the genus Cryptolectica. We transfer this species to Cryptolectica based on combination of characters, defined by Kumata et al. (1988a), i.e. simple valva, without any comb and male abdominal segment VIII with a median sclerotization of dorsocephalic apodeme not extending onto the tergum. Besides, antennal scape in C. terminalina with a flap of scales, while according to Kumata et al. (1988a) scape in Acrocercops is simple, without any pecten or tuft. In the wing venation of C. terminalina, R4 and R5 are entirely fused unlike in the species currently assigned to Cryptolectica with known wing venation. Long R1, arising from basal 1/3–2/5 of cell and ending on costa at apical 1/3–2/5 of wing (Kumata et al. 2008a) or R1 1.2–2× longer than width of the forewing (Noreika 1997) also can be used as helpful trait for Cryptolectica, however, at least in the type species C. monodecta (Meyrick, 1912), R1 is much shorter, similarly as in C. terminalina. It seems that wing venation can be rather different among the species of Cryptolectica (Kumata et al. 1988a; Triberti 2004) and is not always reliable for separating this genus.
In the original description of C. terminalina, Vári (1961) didn’t mentioned a scale tuft on the ventral surface of the abdomen between segments VI and VII (Fig. 9I). Probably it can be overlooked because this tuft is easily lost during maceration in KOH. Besides, the attachment place of the tuft can be hardly visible in some specimens as shown in Fig. 9G.
description: Published as part of Sruoga, Virginijus & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, New species, new country distribution records, and a new generic combination of Afrotropical Acrocercopinae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), pp. 75-115 in Zootaxa 5285 (1) on pages 87-90, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5285.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7935737