Research Article |
Corresponding author: Hans Christof Zeller ( christof.zeller@gmx.net ) Corresponding author: Peter Huemer ( p.huemer@tiroler-landesmuseen.at ) Academic editor: Lauri Kaila
© 2015 Hans Christof Zeller, Peter Huemer.
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:
Zeller HC, Huemer P (2015) A new species of Micropterix Hübner, 1825 from the Orobian Alps (Italy) (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae). Nota Lepidopterologica 38(2): 133-146. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.38.5058
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Micropterix gaudiella Zeller & Huemer, sp. n. is described from the southern part of the Orobian Alps (Piedmont, Italy) and compared with its likely closest relatives Micropterix isobasella Staudinger, 1871 and Micropterix stuebneri Zeller, Werno & Kurz, 2013. The new species is well characterized by its wing pattern and colour and by structures of the male genitalia. The species status is furthermore supported by molecular data of the DNA barcode region. The distance to its nearest neighbour Micropterix schaefferi Heath, 1975 is 2.65%. M. gaudiella is the seventh species of the genus Micropterix Hübner, 1825 probably endemic to the Alps.
The European fauna of Micropterigidae has recently gained increasing attention, reflected by faunistic reviews and several taxonomic papers (
Our study is based on almost 277 specimens of the new Micropterix species and uncounted material of all European congeners. The type material is only partially set whereas several samples were only spread and dried immediately after collecting to ensure sufficient quality of DNA samples. Genitalia preparations followed standard techniques used for the family Micropterigidae (
The morphology of the new species is compared with similar species from the Alps and also from other regions of Europe (
Abbreviations of private and institutional collections:
RCTM Research Collection Toni Mayr, Feldkirch, Austria;
RCCZ Research Collection Christof Zeller, Thalgau, Austria;
RCNP Research Collection Norbert Pöll, Bad Ischl, Austria;
RCSO Research Collection Siegfried Ortner, Bad Ischl, Austria;
The species listed below occur within Europe (
Micropterix mansuetella Zeller, 1844
Micropterix amsella Heath, 1975
Micropterix calthella (Linnaeus, 1761)
Micropterix isobasella Staudinger, 1871
Micropterix stuebneri Zeller, Werno & Kurz, 2013
Micropterix gaudiella sp. n.
Micropterix granatensis Heath, 1981
Micropterix aglaella (Duponchel, 1838)
Micropterix wockei Staudinger, 1870
Micropterix aureatella (Scopoli, 1763)
Micropterix herminiella Corley, 2007
Micropterix aruncella (Scopoli, 1763)
Micropterix corcyrella Walsingham, 1919
Micropterix lakoniensis Heath, 1985
Micropterix kardamylensis Rebel, 1903
Micropterix igaloensis Amsel, 1951
Micropterix cassinella Kurz, Kurz & Zeller, 2010
Micropterix klimeschi Heath, 1973
Micropterix completella Staudinger, 1871
Micropterix tunbergella (Fabricius, 1787)
Micropterix sicanella Zeller, 1847
Micropterix cypriensis Heath, 1985
Micropterix aureoviridella (Höfner, 1898)
Micropterix maschukella Alphéraky, 1876
Micropterix facetella Zeller, 1850
Micropterix jeanneli Viette, 1949
Micropterix renatae Kurz, Kurz & Zeller-Lukashort, 1997
Micropterix minimella Heath, 1973
Micropterix italica Heath, 1981
Micropterix erctella Walsingham, 1919
Micropterix uxoria Walsingham, 1919
Micropterix paykullella (Fabricius, 1794)
Micropterix garganoensis Heath, 1960
Micropterix imperfectella Staudinger, 1859
Micropterix tuscaniensis Heath, 1960
Micropterix hartigi Heath, 1981
Micropterix allionella (Fabricius, 1794)
Micropterix trifasciella Heath, 1965
Micropterix rothenbachii Frey, 1856
Micropterix huemeri Kurz, Kurz & Zeller-Lukashort, 2004
Micropterix ibericella Caradja, 1920
Micropterix zangheriella Heath, 1963
Micropterix schaefferi Heath, 1975
Micropterix emiliensis Viette, 1950
Micropterix osthelderi Heath, 1975
Micropterix trinakriella Kurz, Zeller-Lukashort & Kurz, 1997
Micropterix vulturensis Heath, 1981
Micropterix rablensis Zeller, 1868
Micropterix myrtetella Zeller, 1850
Micropterix croatica Heath & Kaltenbach, 1984
Micropterix fenestrellensis Heath & Kaltenbach, 1984
Holotype ♂: Italia sept., Bergamo, Alpi Orobie Rifugio Ca d´Arera 1600 m 9°47,8’E, 45°55,07’N 25.vi.2014, leg. Huemer
Adult (Figs
There is some variation in the ground coloration from dull bluish to purple-violet. Sometimes there is also a small spot on the costa at 3/5. The wing pattern differs between the sexes only a little in the broadness of the fasciae, as is typical for the genus.
♂ Genitalia (Fig.
♀ Genitalia (Fig.
M. trifasciella from Piedmont (Italy) shows somewhat similar but conspicuously narrower fasciae and differs in the ground colour. M. rablensis from Friuli (Italy), Carinthia (Austria) and western Slovenia shows a somewhat similar wing pattern but is predominantly smaller and differs in the reddish bronzy golden to purple ground coloration of the forewings. M. completella, endemic to Sardinia and Corsica (
Based on morphological characters (
The intraspecific divergence of the barcode region of M. gaudiella sp. n. is moderate with a mean distance of 0.46% and a maximum distance of 0.77% (n=4) (Tab.
Intraspecific distance and interspecific divergence to the nearest neighbour in the genus Micropterix, based on 25 European species. Source: DNA Barcode data from BOLD (Barcode of Life Database, cf.
Species | Mean Intra | Max intra | Nearest neighbour | Nearest species | Distance NN |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Micropterix allionella | 0.18 | 0.46 | LEATE038-13 | Micropterix rothenbachii | 1.86 |
Micropterix amsella | N/A | N/A | LEFIG229-10 | Micropterix mansuetella | 5.35 |
Micropterix aruncella | 1.7 | 2.99 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.97 |
Micropterix aureatella | 0.39 | 0.77 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.74 |
Micropterix aureoviridella | 0.21 | 0.46 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.74 |
Micropterix calthella | 0.18 | 0.46 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.74 |
Micropterix erctella | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.05 |
Micropterix facetella | 1.84 | 1.84 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.51 |
Micropterix gaudiella | 0.46 | 0.77 | PHLAD506-11 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.65 |
Micropterix hartigi | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.74 |
Micropterix igaloensis | N/A | N/A | LEATE039-13 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.9 |
Micropterix isobasella | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 3.01 |
Micropterix jeanneli | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 4.15 |
Micropterix klimeschi | N/A | N/A | PHLAE527-11 | Micropterix aruncella | 3.79 |
Micropterix mansuetella | N/A | N/A | LTOLB478-09 | Micropterix calthella | 4.35 |
Micropterix myrtetella | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 1.82 |
Micropterix osthelderi | 0 | 0 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 3.21 |
Micropterix rablensis | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.62 |
Micropterix rothenbachii | 0.21 | 0.32 | PHLAG787-12 | Micropterix allionella | 1.86 |
Micropterix schaefferi | 0.41 | 1.12 | MICOW166-09 | Micropterix vulturensis | 0.9 |
Micropterix sicanella | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 3.44 |
Micropterix stuebneri | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 2.28 |
Micropterix tunbergella | 0.05 | 0.16 | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 3.45 |
Micropterix vulturensis | N/A | N/A | PHLAG682-12 | Micropterix schaefferi | 0.9 |
Micropterix wockei | N/A | N/A | LEATE039-13 | Micropterix schaefferi | 3.89 |
The new species is only known from the mountain Pizzo Arero (Alpi Orobie, Piedmont, Italy) from an elevation of about 1600 m.
The early stages are unknown. The new species was observed from the end of June to mid-July near the border of a montane-subalpine beech forest with tall herbaceous vegetation and bushes (Figs
It was a great pleasure to find this unexpected new species from the Italian Alps. Therefore the new species is called “gaudiella”, derived from the Latin word “gaudium”, which means “fun, pleasure, happiness”.
The labels used by PH, Melania Massaro, Toni Mayr, Norbert Pöll and Siegfried Ortner differ in the usage of local names of the type locality but all refer to the same spot centred on 9°47,8’E; 45°55,07’N (DDM). According to Melania Massaro there are additional specimens collected at the type locality and deposited in
Sequencing of European species of Micropterix resulted in barcode fragments for 61 specimens, plus 30 unpublished or public records from external projects (e.g. Barcoding Fauna Bavarica and Finnish Barcode of Life), covering altogether 25 species, supplementing data of extra-European species that have been published by
Barcode variation is insufficiently known for a considerable portion of species due to lack of successfully sequenced samples (Table
Neighbour-joining tree (Kimura 2-parameter, built with MEGA 5; cf.
Alpha-taxonomy of European Micropterix seems quite well established with relatively few taxa described during the last decades, so it is striking to find a new species in Central Europe. By contrast, the distribution of the majority of Micropterix species is only moderately well documented with few faunistic studies, particularly as concerns the Mediterranean region. Despite this shortcoming, it already appears evident from published sources that Micropterix exhibits remarkable levels of narrow range endemicity. Indeed about three-quarters of the European taxa can be clustered into the following disjunct endemism groups (
Apennines: 9 out of 20 species are endemic.
Alps: 7 out of 19 species are endemic.
Balkan Peninsula: 9 out of 17 species are endemic.
Iberian Peninsula: 5 out of 8 species are endemic.
Mediterranean islands: 8 species are endemic.
Black Sea area: 1 species is endemic.
Also, only 12 species (about one-quarter of European Micropterix) are widely distributed across Europe, and only one species (M. aureatella) reaches Japan (
We are particularly grateful to Paul Hebert and his team at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (Guelph, Canada), whose sequencing work was enabled by funding from the Government of Canada to Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute. We are also grateful to the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and to NSERC for their support of the BOLD informatics platform. We are furthermore indebted to the Promotion of Educational Policies, University and Research Department of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol for helping to fund the project “Genetic biodiversity archive – DNA barcoding of Lepidoptera of the central Alpine region (South, East and North Tyrol)”, and to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economics for funds received in the framework of ABOL (Austrian Barcode of Life).
Dr. Marko Mutanen (Oulu) and Dr. Andreas Segerer (Munich) kindly gave us access to unpublished barcode sequences. We are furthermore grateful to Toni Mayr, Siegfried Ortner and Norbert Pöll for the loan of their material and provision of useful photos, to Mag. Michael Kurz for help regarding the preparation of the female genitalia. Dr. David Lees (London) and Martin Corley (Faringdon, Oxford) kindly improved our English and gave us useful hints. Stefan Heim (Tiroler Landesmuseen, Innsbruck) kindly developed figures of set adults and genitalia. Finally we acknowledge the kind support received from Dr. Marco Valle, Dr. Paolo Pantini and Dr. Melania Massaro (Museo Civico di Science Naturali “E. Caffi”, Bergamo) during our stay in Italy and supplementing samples of the new species.