Istrianis brucinella Mann 1872
Creators: name: Bidzilya, Oleksiy
name: Karsholt, Ole
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy

description: 7. Istrianis brucinella (Mann, 1872)
Gelechia brucinella Mann, 1872: 37.
Istrianis brucinella (Mann, 1870): Huemer & Karsholt 1999: 85.
Material examined. Egypt: 3♂, 4♀, T. 98, Rll, ex coll. Hinneberg (gen. slide 266/12♀; 401/ 14♂, O. Bidzilya); 1♂, ‘Aegypten’; 3♀, Cairo, coll. Led. (all MFN); 1♀, Egypt, Cairo, Garden City, 5.iv.1971 (Zouhar) (gen. slide 5549, H. Hendriksen) (ZMUC);
1♂, 1♀, Pakistan, Thatha, 15.xii.1978, larva on Tamarix indica (B. M. Genit. Slide No. 23777 ♂); 1 ex (abdomen missing), Sukkur, 9.x.1979, pupa on Tamarix indica (all BMNH).
Adult (Figs 25, 26). Wingspan 9–11 mm. Head, thorax and tegulae grey to light brown, labial palpus light grey with brown rings at base and before apex, scape light brown, other antennal segments light brown with grey rings. Forewing light greyish brown, costa with brown dot at base and two elongated brown spots in medial 1/3, brown dot at base in middle of wing, curved brown fascia from ¼ to 2/3 of dorsal margin, three black dots surrounded with light brown in cell, diffuse brown transverse streak at ¾ near dorsum, apical area mottled with brown, cilia grey, brown-tipped; hindwing light grey.
Male genitalia (Figs 65, 66). Uncus and gnathos comparatively short, uncus rounded, gnathos broader than uncus and slightly longer, apex strongly sclerotized, rounded; tegumen short and broad, anteromedial emargination comparatively shallow, lateral lobes broad; valva straight, digitate, weakly broadened apically, slightly longer than phallus; phallus tapered.
Female genitalia (Figs 92, 93, 121, 122). Segment VIII slightly longer than broad; apophyses anteriores longer than segment VIII, broadened at base; anterior margin of sternite VIII straight, posterior margin weakly emarginated in middle; posterior sclerite flat, three times broader than long; anterior sclerites narrow; subostial folds distinct; ostium prolonged; antrum narrow, funnel-shaped; ductus bursae long, comparatively broad, with gradual transition to subovate corpus bursae; signum subhexagonal, anterior lobe much larger than posterior lobe, with distinctly serrate margins, medial ridge narrow, interrupted in middle.
Diagnosis. I. brucinella is characterized externally by comparatively light, brownish rather than greyish forewings; the wing pattern somewhat resembles I. sattleri but ground colour is lighter and the markings are brown rather than black. The male genitalia differ from the remaining species with broad lateral lobes of tegumen by the comparatively short and broad uncus and gnathos. The female genitalia are characterized by distinctly prolonged transverse posterior sclerite in combination with comparatively small corpus bursae.
Biology. The larvae produce galls on Tamarix species (Tamaricaceae). Adults fly in April and were bred from galls in September to October (Huemer & Karsholt 1999). Two males and one female were reared from Tamarix laxa Willd. in the Lower Volga region (Kalmykia) in late June (Piskunov & Anikin 2005), but the identification should be confirmed. In Pakistan adults were bred from T. indica Willd.
Distribution. Sicily, Croatia, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, India (Huemer & Karsholt 1999). A record from Russia: Kalmykia (Piskunov & Anikin 2005) needs verification.
Notes. Specimens from Pakistan differ in the broader uncus in the male genitalia, and the posterior sclerite in the female genitalia is rounded, not so prolonged as it is found in I. brucinella, and signum differs in shape. In spite of these differences we provisionally treat the specimens from Pakistan as I. brucinella until additional material is available for detailed study.
description: Published as part of Bidzilya, Oleksiy & Karsholt, Ole, 2015, Revision of the genus Istrianis Meyrick, 1918 (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) with special regard to the Palaearctic region, pp. 401-445 in Zootaxa 4059 (3) on pages 425-427, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4059.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/237390