Conopomorpha litchiella Bradley, 1986

Conopomorpha litchiella Bradley, 1986 View in CoL

( Figs 15, 16, 19, 23, 24, 27, 28, 32)

“ Conopomorpha litchiella sp. n. ”—Bradley, J.D., 1986. Bulletin of Entomological Research 76 (1): 48–49, figs 7–8, 15–16, 20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000748530001525X

Conopomorpha litchiella View in CoL — Bradley 1986: 41; Huang 1997: 57; Sugi 2000: 1–171; Liu 2001: 34; Zhan et al. 2003: 39; De Prins & De Prins 2005: 158; Hung et al. 2006: 32; Kawakita et al. 2010: 2765; Nasu et al. 2013: 1–553.

Type locality: West Malaysia, Selangor, Serdang.

Type specimens: Holotype ♂, in NHMUK (London) ; Paratypes 12♂ and 14♀, genitalia slide Grc 2409 ♂, in NHMUK (London), HUM (Sapporo) .

Note: Holotype BMNH(E) 1412090 ♂ and Paratype BMNH(E) 1412067 ♀, abdomen missing, were found in the collection of NHMUK (London) in June 2023 .

Specimens examined: Holotype ♂: [1] ‘ West Malaysia / Selangor / Serdang ; [2] Mardi M 9315/ 28 March 1983 / Hanifah col.; [3] Type; [4] B. M. ♂ / Genitalia slide/ No 22302; [5] BMNH(E) 1412090; [6] C.I. A. COLL./A. 14980; [7] Pres by/ Comm. Inst. Ent. / B.M. 1983-1; [8] Conopomorpha / litchiella sp. nov. /det. J.D. Bradley, 1984, NHMUK (London).

Paratype 1(♀): [1] [ India] Pusa/ Bihar /TBI Lab 12.20 [December 1920]; [2] Abdomen/Missing; [3] Paratype; [4] Acrocercops / cramerella /4/5 Snellen/E. Meyrick det./in Meyrick coll.; [5] Conopomorpha / litchiella /det. J.D. Bradley, 1984; [6] BMNH(E) 1412067, NHMUK (London).

Paratype 2(♂): [1] India /W. B./Bot. Gard./Calcutta/ 04 November 1978 /JAP-IND CO TR; [2] Paratype; [3] Conopomorpha / litchiella Bradl. /det. J.D. Bradley, 1985; [4] Host Ind. Euphoria / longana [= Dimocarpus longan Lour. ]; [5] ♂ Genitalia on slide/No Grc-2409/T. Kumata, 1979, HUM (Sapporo).

Paratype 3(♀): female genitalia slide: [1] Conopomorpha / litchiella /Bradley/ India / Paratype; [2] ♀ 22197/ i.1982 J.D.B. Euparal; [3] NHMUK 015359539, NHMUK (London).

Paratype 4(♂): wing venation slide: [1] Conopomorpha / litchiella /Bradley/ India / Paratype; [2] ♂ 22211/ i.1982 J.D.B. Wings, abdomen missing; [3] NHMUK 015359540, in NHMUK (London).

Morphological diagnostic characterisation: similar externally to C. cramerella , but very clearly and undoubtfully distinguishable by genitalia diagnostic morphological characters of male and female genitalia as presented below. Length of forewing ca. 3.3–3.6 mm. Wing span ca. 8.0– 8.4 mm ( Figs 15, 16, 19).

Head: covered with smooth, solid beige with light fuscous shading, piliform scales, occiput with two thick bunches of beige piliform scales directed towards the mid line of head. Labial palpus, long, directed anteriorly, light beige, upraised with their apices, basal and apical palpomere dark beige. Antenna long, slightly longer than the length of forewing, thin, consisting of unicoloured beige-brown flagellomeres, without annulation; pedicel short with light dorsal surface and dark brown lateral sides, scape thicker than the rest of the flagellomeres, light brown dorsally and dark brown on lateral sides.

Thorax: light beige, concolourous with occiput; tegula dark brown anteriorly and light beige posteriorly. Forewing long, narrow, equally wide along its entire length, with gently rounded apex, dark brown at costal half and ground colour beige at basal and mid sectors of dorsal half; wing pattern complex but geometrical: costal margin with an oblique strigula at base, two narrow fasciae at pre-mid part, curved irregular light brown fascia at post-mid part of costa, shining bright white, with three oblique strigulae, of which the middle one is the longest, at sub-apex of costa; dorsal margin bears a sinuate double curve with two peaks: one at mid part of the dorsum, the other at tornus, the sub-basal part is mottled with irregularly shaped white and light beige stripes and spots, apical part conspicuously yellow with a dark brown vertical apical stripe, fringe line very short, present only on tornus; fringe light brown in males and light beige in females; hindwing very narrow, about ¼ shorter in length than the forewing, dark fuscous brown in males and light beige in females; fringe colouration of hindwing is a sexually dimorphic character: dark brownish fuscous in males and beige with slightly darker fuscous shading on costal margin and light beige with yellowish shading on dorsal margin in females. The wing venation is almost identical to the type species C. cyanospila (see Vári 1961: Pl. 31, Fig. 5), except that R 2 in C. litchiella is not forked. Forewing with nine apical veins: Sc is very short at costa, R 1 strong, ends beyond the mid of costa, R 2 is not forked, R 3 is forked to R 4 +R 5; median veins are simple M 1 and M 2; CuA is forked to CuA 1 and CuA 2; CuP is weak except the distal part which is forked into two short but strong veins CuP 1 and CuP 2. Anal vein is curved at the base and rudimental in the mid part except for the strong trace of A 1+2 at the dorsal margin. Hindwing with Sc very short and strong, Rs long and strong, ending at subapical part; dorsal margin with forked M 1 and M 2, M 3 is traceable; CuA is well visible. Legs unicoloured beige with brownish shading on hind tibia, hind tarsomeres beige with snowy white apices.

Abdomen ( Fig. 32). Abdominal opening trapezoid with strongly sclerotised lateral margins, ventral crossing joint narrow, but strongly sclerotised, complete; sternal apodemes not perceptible; tergal apodemes with enlarged basal part, distal part is only traceable in the preparation NHMUK 015359539 ( NHMUK, London); no other sclerotisations on the cuticle of female abdomen; cuticle rather smooth; intersegmental joints are well distinguishable.

Male genitalia (following Bradley 1986: 48, Figs 15, 16 and Kuroko & Lewvanich 1983: 3 (as C. hierocosma )) ( Figs 23, 24): tegumen narrow, truncate at apex, subscaphium triangular, less than half the height of the length of tegumen; valva slightly longer than tegumen, broad, equally broad along its length, with broadly rounded apical part; basal valval apophyses very long, reaching and even crossing each other, forming a transverse support of genital capsule, ventral inner surface of valvae setose, apical part of valva covered with long, dense, radially directed setae; ventral margin of cucullus with very strong thick longer hook and smaller thick spine, attached to the base of the subapical hook (a strongly diagnostic character for this species); transtilla not perceptible; vinculum rather narrow, gently semi-round, with clearly visible mid suture which is bifurcated distally; saccus very short and narrow bow attached to the distal part of vinculum.Aedeagus long, curved, with gently tapering vesica carrying two cornuti: one long straight and the other short, bent, horn-shaped.

Female genitalia (following Bradley 1986: 49, Fig. 20 and Kuroko & Lewvanich 1983: 6 (as C. hierocosma ) and examined slide NHMUK 015359539, London) ( Figs 27, 28): papillae anales fused with lateral sides and rather sharp triangular at their anterior part; apophyses posteriores and anteriores short, almost of the same length with slightly enlarged bases, the apices of apophyses posteriores reach the posterior margin of sterigma on sternum VII; segment VII, melanised, trapezoid, with M-shaped sterigmatic suture on sternum VII; ostium bursae opens at subanterior sector of segment VII with finely edged opening and strongly sclerotised antrum; colliculum sclerotised, almost reaching corpus bursae; ductus bursae broad, the differentiation between ductus bursae and corpus bursae is very clear; corpus bursae sac-shaped with patch-shaped signum situated at subanterior part of corpus bursae. Ductus seminalis enters ductus bursae just prior to the joint of ductus with corpus bursae.

BOLD data: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxon= Conopomorpha+litchiella & searchTax=Search+Taxonomy

GenBank data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term= Conopomorpha+litchiella

Mitogenomic data: No data.

Bionomics in Australia: No data.

Note: for the bionomical information in other parts of the world please see https://www.gracillariidae.net/species_ by_code/CONOLITC

Distribution: Australia ( Kuroko & Lewvanich 1983: 4 (as C. hierocosma )). For the rest of the world see https:// www.gracillariidae.net/species_by_code/CONOLITC

Note: Conopomorpha litchiella is one of the most important pests of shoots of litchi and longan; it develops five or six generations a year and overwinters with larvae in shoots and leaves of litchi and longan trees (see Huang et al. 1995: https://europepmc.org/article/cba/526104)