Research Article |
Corresponding author: Wilfried R. Arnscheid ( reisseronia@gmx.de ) Academic editor: Jadranka Rota
© 2017 Wilfried R. Arnscheid, Hans Henderickx.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Arnscheid WR, Henderickx H (2017) Pseudobankesia keersmaekersi sp. n., a new species from Greece (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Taleporiinae). Nota Lepidopterologica 40(1): 31-38. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.40.11330
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Pseudobankesia keersmaekersi sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Taleporiinae) is described from Greece and compared with its likely close relatives Pseudobankesia arahova Stengel, 1990 and Pseudobankesia darwinii Stengel, 1990. The new species is well characterized by its remarkably coloured forewings and wing-pattern and the unusually large larval cases.
Pseudobankesia keersmaekersi sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Taleporiinae) wordt van Griekenland beschreven. Ze wordt vergeleken met de wellicht erg nauw aanverwante soorten Pseudobankesia arahova Stengel, 1990, en Pseudobankesia darwinii Stengel, 1990. De nieuwe soort wordt gekenmerkt door de opvallende kleur en tekening van de voorvleugel, bovendien hebben de larven buitengewoon grote larvenkokers.
Pseudobankesia keersmaekersi sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Taleporiinae) wird aus Griechenland beschrieben und mit den vermutlich nächstverwandten Pseudobankesia arahova Stengel, 1990, und Pseudobankesia darwinii Stengel, 1990, verglichen. Die neue Art ist gekennzeichnet durch die auffällige Farbe der Vorderflügel und ihre Flügelzeichnung sowie durch die ungewöhnlich großen Säcke der Larven.
The genus Pseudobankesia Meier, 1963 (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Taleporiinae) contains 15 species in the Palaearctic Region. Fourteen of them are distributed from Portugal eastwards to Cyprus (Sobczyk 2012;
During his expeditions to Greece, HH discovered along with other psychids a lot of cases with larvae of a remarkable Taleporiinae species from which he reared one male and several females. The flight period of this species is in the second half of November through December. The larval cases were all found under lava rocks, never on walls or on the exposed surface of stones.
Comparing this material with the likely closely related taxa, as well as a subsequent analysis of the adult morphology including the male genitalia structures, supported the recognition of a new species, which is herewith introduced to science as Pseudobankesia keersmaekersi sp. n.
Pseudobankesia was separated from the related Bankesia Tutt, 1899 by
Figures
We used DNA barcodes (a region of 658 base pairs of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I, also known as COI) from seven Pseudobankesia species (one represented by two specimens) and two Bankesia species (one also represented by two specimens) as a tool to help us better understand the taxonomy of Pseudobankesia. DNA sequencing of the DNA barcode was carried out at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph in 2015 and 2016 and it followed standard methods (
Holotype ♂: Methana, Greece, 550 m, e.l. 6.xii.2012, leg. Henderickx.
Paratypes: 18 ♀ Methana, Greece, N 37.611348, E 23.365761, 550 m, e.l. Nov.- Dec. 2012 and 2014, leg. Henderickx.
The holotype and two paratypes will be deposited in the “Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe” (SMNK), Germany. The other paratypes are deposited in the private collections of WA and M. Weidlich (Neißemünde, Germany).
We gratefully dedicate this nice new species to Jan Keersmaekers, Mol (Belgium), who joined HH on the Greek expeditions and helped collect the cases with his son Tom.
(Fig.
Distance matrix showing the intra- and interspecific distance between Pseudobankesia and Bankesia species based on the neighbour-joining analysis of the DNA barcode.
PHLAG435-12_Pseudobankesia_vernella | PHLAG436-12_Pseudobankesia_vernella | POESE188-16_Pseudobankesia_keersmaekersi | PHLAB577-10_Pseudobankesia_alpestrella | TISY494-12_Pseudobankesia_casaella | PHLAH322-12_Pseudobansesia_lichenaria | TIPSY496-12_Bankesia_montanella | LEEUA045_11_Bankesia_conspurcatella | TYPSY007-08_Bankesia_conspurcatella | PHLAH323-12_Pseudobankesia_aphroditae | LEAT014-13_Pseudobankesia_kresnensis | POESE110_Dahlica_mannii | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PHLAG435-12|Pseudobankesia_vernella|Piedmont_Italy | ||||||||||||
PHLAG436-12|Pseudobankesia_vernella|Piedmont_Italy | 0.02 | |||||||||||
POESE188-16|Pseudobankesia_keersmaekersi sp.n. |Greece | 0.12 | 0.12 | ||||||||||
PHLAB577-10|Pseudobankesia_alpestrella|Italy | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.14 | |||||||||
TIPSY494-12|Pseudobankesia_casaella|Spain | 0.04 | 0.05 | 0.13 | 0.05 | ||||||||
PHLAH322-12|Pseudobankesia_lichenaria|Greece | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.11 | 0.06 | 0.04 | |||||||
TIPSY496-12|Bankesia_montanella|France_Corse | 0.15 | 0.14 | 0.17 | 0.15 | 0.14 | 0.14 | ||||||
LEEUA045-11|Bankesia_conspurcatella|Denmark | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.14 | 0.12 | |||||
TIPSY007-08|Bankesia_conspurcatella|England | 0.14 | 0.15 | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.14 | 0.12 | 0.00 | ||||
PHLAH323-12|Pseudobankesia_aphroditae|Cyprus | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.08 | 0.14 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.13 | |||
LEATC014-13|Pseudobankesia_kresnensis|Bulgaria | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.07 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.17 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.09 | ||
POESE110-16|Dahlica_mannii|Slovakia (outgroup) | 0.22 | 0.20 | 0.24 | 0.21 | 0.21 | 0.19 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.26 |
Male genitalia
(Fig.
(Fig.
Female genitalia with antrum and antevaginal plate distinctly sclerotized, two pairs of long apophyses, lateral plates triangular, pointed, postvaginal plate indistinct.
Male length 9 mm, width 3 mm, female length 9–12 mm, width 4–5 mm, distinctly triangular in cross section. Light greyish brown, sparsely covered with plant debris and sand (Fig.
Based on the differentiation in the DNA barcode, P. keersmaekersi is well separated from the other species in the genus (Fig.
Placement of the new species in Pseudobankesia is based on the regular ciliation of the antennae of the male. Those of the probably most-closely related genus Bankesia have brushes of long hairs basally on both sides of each segment. On the other hand, females of P. keersmaekersi sp. n. have long antennae with 13–15 segments, while those of Bankesia species have short antennae with only 3–6 segments. The male genitalia of Bankesia are very different from those of Pseudobankesia. They are flat in general appearance and the tegumen is narrow, conical, and slightly indented, while the genitalia of Pseudobankesia are much higher in lateral view and the tegumen is more or less triangular. The valvae are long and slender, much more slender than in Pseudobankesia and like them protrude considerably beyond the distal end of the tegumen. The clasper of sacculus is sharply extended, thorn-shaped, curved inwardly, while that of Pseudobankesia is short and broad with a distinctly pointed process distally. The phallus is very thin, two-thirds length of valva, almost straight and not curved as in Pseudobankesia, in which it is tubular and slightly enlarged caudally with setae in the distal half. Further, as far as we know, the genus Bankesia is distributed only in western and south-western Europe and the presence of a Bankesia species in Greece seems unlikely. However, recently Bankesia cephalonica Weidlich, 2016b, was described from an Ionian island, Kefalonia.
P. keersmaekersi is one of the larger Pseudobankesia species (wingspan 11 mm). The male (holotype) is distinctly characterized by its remarkable colouration and the very special wing pattern which is unique within the whole genus. Therefore, it cannot be confused with males of other Pseudobankesia species (Table
A comparison of morphological characteristics of Pseudobankesia species from south-eastern Europe.
♂ | Forewing length (mm) | Scales (classes) | Colour of head scales | No. antennal segments |
---|---|---|---|---|
kresnensis | 8.6–11 | 4–5 | yellowish | 29–30 |
aphroditae | 8.5–10 | 4–5 | brown | 32–33 |
macedoniella | 8.4–12 | 4–5 | yellowish | 26–28 |
arahova | 9–10.2 | 5 | whitish | 26–28 |
darwinii | 11.5–12 | 5–6 | creamy white | 29–31 |
hauseriella | 12–12.8 | 4 | yellowish grey | 29–31 |
keersmaekersi | 11 | 4–5 | reddish brown | 26 |
lichenaria | 9.6–11.8 | 4–6 | silvery grey | 34–35 |
♀ | No. antennal segments | Colour of anal hair-tuft | No. tarsal segments | Spur of third tibia |
kresnensis | 10–12 | brownish golden | 2–3 | short |
aphroditae | 10–16 | whitish grey | 3–4 | short |
macedoniella | 12–16 | silvery grey | 4–5 | long, double |
arahova | 12–15 | whitish | 4–5 | very short |
darwinii | 11 | whitish | 5 | absent |
hauseriella | 20–23 | greyish brown | 5 | short or absent |
keersmaekersi | 13–15 | brown | 2–3 | absent |
lichenaria | 12 | yellowish white | 3–4 | short, broad |
The authors express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Thomas J. Witt, Munich (Germany) and Dr. Michael Weidlich, Neißemünde (Germany) for useful comments and the loan of material. We thank Dr. Nico Büsscher (Belgium) for determination of the mollusc shells. We also wish to thank Deborah Matthews (Gainesville, Florida, USA) for her critical comments and linguistic correction. Thanks to Donald R. Davis (Washington, USA) and another anonymous reviewer for critical review of the manuscript.