The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part I: descriptions of seventeen new species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Abstract

This paper is the first in a two-part series treating the family Gelechiidae from the Southern Ural Mountains, including newly described species. The material was collected during 1996–2007 on 21 different Finnish-Russian expeditions. Catatinagma Rebel, 1903, stat. rev., is removed from synonymy of Apatetris Staudinger, 1879, and is now considered valid. Two generic names are synonymized: Coloptilia Fletcher, 1940, syn. n. of Catatinagma and Chilopselaphus Mann, 1867, syn. n. of Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839. A short introduction is given for the following unrevised genera: Apatetris Staudinger, 1879, Catatinagma Rebel, 1903 comb. rev., Caulastrocecis Chrétien, 1931 and Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839. Seventeen new species are described: Catatinagma kraterella Junnilainen & Nupponen sp. n., Metanarsia guberlica Nupponen sp. n., Caulastrocecis perexigella Junnilainen sp. n., Megacraspedus litovalvellus Junnilainen sp. n., Megacraspedus multispinella Junnilainen & Nupponen sp. n., Megacraspedus orenburgensis Junnilainen & Nupponen sp. n., Megacraspedus albovenata Junnilainen sp. n., Megacraspedus longipalpella Junnilainen sp. n., Monochroa uralensis Junnilainen sp. n., Teleiodes kaitilai Junnilainen sp. n., Athrips aquila Junnilainen sp. n., Athrips bidzilyai Junnilainen sp. n., Ephysteris tenuisaccus Nupponen sp. n., Hedma karsholti Nupponen sp. n., Lutilabria prolata Junnilainen & Nupponen sp. n., Syncopacma steppicolella Junnilainen sp. n. and Helcystogramma flavescens Junnilainen sp. n.

Revision of the genus Megacraspedus Zeller, 1839, a challenging taxonomic tightrope of species delimitation (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae)

“…Among the several details stated to be peculiar to Chilopselaphus were the long labial palps, whereas the venation of the hindwings was stated to be similar to that of Megacraspedus (Mann 1867: 849–850). Chilopselaphus was synonymised with Megacraspedus by Junnilainen and Nupponen (2010: 6), and we agree with that (see below under Remarks). Most species formerly placed in Chilopselaphus are here referred to the M.fallax species group.…”

“…Several species seem to be active also in the early morning, where females are reported to run up and down grass stems, apparently calling for males, and they can occasionally been found in copula on the stems (Huemer pers. obs., Junnilainen and Nupponen 2010). …”

“…Except for a few widely distributed species, the vast majority of species groups are geographically restricted, indicating a common evolutionary scenario of species. Junnilainen and Nupponen (2010) have already dealt with some species groups of Megacraspedus : the attritellus -group: “the gnathos is 1.5× longer, the saccus is very long and evenly broad with a rounded apex”, the fallax - and balneariellus -groups with “labial palps … almost straight and very long with third segment not turned upwards”, but they did not define groups for other Megacraspedus species and species coverage was incomplete in their groups.…”

“…The adults fly at night and come to artificial light. The habitat is grassy steppe (Junnilainen and Nupponen 2010). …”

“…Among experts in Gelechiidae it is considered as one of the taxonomically most difficult genera and few have dealt with it in the last 100 years, usually with isolated descriptions of single species (e.g., Bidzilya and Budashkin 2015, Huemer and Karsholt 1996, 2001, Junnilainen and Nupponen 2010, Varenne and Nel 2014). The reasons for this neglect are mainly due to the absence of a generic revision, the general lack of material in collections, with several species only present in the small type-series, the absence of the female sex for the majority of species, and the general problems in the delimitation of species on adult morphology.…”