Research Article |
Corresponding author: Oleksiy V. Bidzilya ( olexbid@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Mark Metz
© 2023 Oleksiy V. Bidzilya, Peter Huemer, Ole Karsholt.
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:
Bidzilya OV, Huemer P, Karsholt O (2023) Thiotricha sumpichi sp. nov. – a new species of Thiotrichinae (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae) from south-eastern Europe. ZooKeys 1173: 85-96. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1173.105037
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Thiotricha sumpichi sp. nov. is described from Greece and Croatia. The systematic position of the new species within Thiotricha is discussed based on external and genitalia characters and from DNA barcodes of the mitochondrial COI gene (cytochrome c oxidase 1). Adults, details of external morphology, and male and female genitalia of the new species are illustrated.
Croatia, DNA barcoding, Greece, systematics, taxonomy, twirler moth
Despite continuing efforts over many years, the taxonomy of European Gelechiidae is still incompletely covered and several genera and cryptic species groups await revision, probably with dozens of undescribed species (
The present paper is based on material from the following collections:
KBE Research collection of Kai Berggren, Kristiansand, Norway;
ZT Research collection of Zdenko Tokár, Michalovce, Slovakia.
Male and female genitalia were dissected and prepared using standard methods (
The terminology of genitalia follows
Tissue samples (a single hind leg) of 26 specimens of Thiotricha were prepared for DNA barcoding (
DNA barcoding resulted in a BIN concordant barcode fragment of >600 bp for 25 specimens and a single sequence of 413 bp for four European species of Thiotricha. Sequences revealed moderately low intraspecific, but significantly higher interspecific genetic distances (Table
Intraspecific mean K2P (Kimura 2 parameter) divergences (Mean Intra-Sp), maximum pairwise distances (Max Intra-Sp), nearest species, nearest neighbour (NN) (BOLD sequence ID) and distance to nearest neighbour (distances in %) in European species of Thiotricha.
Species | Mean Intra-Sp | Max Intra-Sp | Nearest species | NN | Distance to NN |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thiotricha majorella | 0.52 | 1.3 | Thiotricha subocellea | LEATE631-13 | 3.62 |
Thiotricha sumpichi | 0.66 | 1.48 | Thiotricha subocellea | LEATE631-13 | 10.33 |
Thiotricha subocellea | 0.8 | 1.55 | Thiotricha majorella | PHLAB756-10 | 3.62 |
Thiotricha wollastoni | N/A | 0 | Thiotricha sumpichi | LECRT156-16 | 11.57 |
Subfamily Thiotrichinae
Holotype
: Greece • ♂; Peloponnes, Exochori, Viros Gorge; 36°54'23"N, 22°16'29"E; 470 m a.s.l.; 12–13 Sep. 2020; P. Huemer leg.;
Paratypes
: Greece • 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀; same data as for holotype; DNA barcode
Croatia • 1 ♂; Zaostrog; 6 Sep. 2002; DNA barcode
Thiotricha sumpichi sp. nov. can be separated externally from other European species of the genus by the grey forewing with brown longitudinal streaks. Thiotricha coleella (Constant, 1885) from southern France remotely resembles Th. sumpichi sp. nov. by the forewing pattern, but differs in the presence of black spots rather than streaks. The male genitalia are characterized by having the valva distinctly broadened in the basal half, strongly edged posteromedial emargination of the vinculum and a short broadly rounded saccus. Other species of Thiotricha have unmodified or weakly broadened basally valva, gently edged posterior margin of the vinculum and short, usually subtriangular saccus. Segment VIII in the male is distinct by having a very short band-shaped tergum and large subtriangular sternum with broadened basal lobes separated by broadly rounded medial emargination, and narrow posterior portion with short apical incision. In T. subocellea segment VIII is similar in general, but the sternum is deeper bifurcated. Comparatively short (shorter than segment VIII) apophyses anteriores, antrum with narrow band of small triangular sclerites and long, slender longitudinal ridge-shaped signum are characteristic for the female genitalia of the new species. Thiotricha subocellea has somewhat similar female genitalia, but apophyses anteriores are longer that segment VIII, the antrum lacks sclerites and the signum is crescent-shaped.
Head
(Figs
Thiotricha sumpichi sp. nov., Greece, paratypes 9 venation 10–13 abdominal segments 10 male segment VIII, tergum (left), sternum (right) 11 male segments I–II, tergum I–II (left), sternum II (right) 12 female segment VII, tergum (left), sternum (right) 13 female segments I–II, sternum II (left), tergum I–II (right).
Female. Tergum and sternum VII unmodified (Fig.
Thiotricha sumpichi sp. nov., Greece, paratypes 14–17 male genitalia 14 unrolled. Gen. slide 25/23, O. Bidzilya 15 unrolled. Gen. slide 88/20, O. Bidzilya 16 ventral view. Gen. slide 164/23, O. Bidzilya 17 valvella with apical bristle, enlarged. Gen. slide 88/20, O. Bidzilya 18–20 female genitalia 18 ventral view 19 antrum and ostium, enlarged 20 signum, enlarged.
The new species is dedicated to Jan Šumpich (
Greece (south-western part, Crete), Croatia.
BIN: BOLD:ADM1812 (N = 8). Intraspecific average distance within BIN is 0.72%, maximum distance is 1.14%. The minimum distance to the nearest congeneric neighbour, T. subocellea, is c. 10% (Table
Host plant and immature stages unknown. Adults have been observed flying from late August to early November and were collected in large number at light (P. Huemer). The habitat is insufficiently known, but the species has been observed in a wide spectrum of different vegetation, mainly in open oak and maple forests intermixed with Mediterranean macchia (Fig.
The species dealt with above has a restricted distribution in south-eastern Europe where it is locally common. The new species is small and grey, but the shape of the black markings on the forewings is distinctive. It has been known to lepidopteran specialists for several decades, but it could not be described until now because of uncertainty of its placement in the system of Gelechiidae. Instead, it was known by specialists as “Caulastrocecis sp.” (e.g.,
We have been able to show that the new species fits into the subfamily Thiotrichinae. This is supported both by morphology and DNA barcode analyses, which, despite considerable divergences, group the new species nearest to European species of Thiotricha (
Thiotrichinae is a moderately small subfamily of Gelechiidae, with about 180 described species in seven genera (
Thiotrichinae currently comprises seven genera: Thiotricha, Polyhymno Chambers, 1874, Macrenches Meyrick, 1904, Calliprora Meyrick, 1914, Pulchrala Lee & Li, 2021, Tenupalpa Lee & Li, 2021 and Palumbina Rondani, 1876 (
The authors are most grateful to Paul Hebert and his team at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (Guelph, Canada), whose sequencing support and the BOLD informatics was enabled by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, by Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics, and by the Tri-Council’s New Frontiers in Research Fund. O. Bidzilya thanks Robert Trusch and Michael Falkenberg (
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
No ethical statement was reported.
The work of O. Bidzilya was supported by the Ukrainian State Budget Program “Support for the Development of Priority Areas of Scientific Research” (Code: 6541230).
Contributions to this research are as follows: P. Huemer: molecular research analysis, discussion on the results of the molecular research, preparation of Table
Oleksiy V. Bidzilya https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9243-2481
Peter Huemer https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0630-545X
Ole Karsholt https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6969-2549
All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text or Supplementary Information.