Cuphodes profluens ( Meyrick, 1916a )

Cuphodes profluens ( Meyrick, 1916a) View in CoL

( Fig. 63)

“ Phrixosceles profluens , n. sp. ”—Meyrick, E., 1916a. Exotic Microlepidoptera, Marlborough 1 (20): 623–624. https://www. biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10440551

Cuphodes profluens View in CoL — Nielsen & Kumata 1996: 48; De Prins & De Prins 2005: 167.

Type locality: [ India], Bengal [recte Bihar], Pusa .

Type specimen: Holotype ♂, BMNH(E) 1406664, genitalia slide 22238 ♂, in NHMUK (London).

Specimens examined: Holotype ♂: [labels verbatim] [1] Pusa/Bengal/TBF 3.09. [2] Meyrick Coll./B.M. 1938-290. [3] Holotype ( Fig.63). [4] profluens Meyr. /B.M. ♂ /Genitalia slide/No. 22238. [5] Phrixosceles / profluens /1/1 Meyr./ E. Meyrick det./in Meyrick Coll. [6] BMNH(E) 1406664, in NHMUK (London).

Morphological diagnostic characterisation: Length of the forewing ca. 3.5 mm, wing span ca. 7.7 mm. ( Fig. 63) Head: vertex with a tuft of shining snowy white, brushed, piliform scales, directed anteriorly; occiput with two snowy white fused tufts directed posteriorly. Frons white with intermixture of ochreous scales. Labial palpus glabrous, rather thick, long, ca. as long as 2.5× diameter of the eye, white with a couple of ochreous spots on inner and outer sides lateral sides, with slightly curved, with blunt apex. Antenna broken; scape ochreous.

Thorax ( Fig. 63): creamy white, tegula dark ochreous, with darker shading proximately. Forewing narrowly elongated, costal and dorsal margins run parallel, forewing slightly narrowing at apex, ground colour ochreous of different shading and some irregular spots. Dorsal margin white with irregular anterior part; apical patch/stripe absent, apical line very narrow, but distinctive. The fringe line is very clearly defined. Fringe grey ochreous, matte, without shine, with the darkest shade at tornal area, shorter at tornus, the longest at sub-apical part and again shortening towards base of forewing. Hindwing narrow, elongate, sharply pointed, ground colour ochreous with dark ochreous shade at the base, fringe long, ca. 6× longer than the width of hindwing at the base, significantly lighter than the colour of hindwing, the longest piliform scales hanging at the base of the dorsum of the hindwing. One mid-leg is present which is light fuscous in shading and snowy white at terminal tarsomeres.

Abdomen: No data.

Male genitalia: Genitalia slide 22238 ♂, NHMUK (London) .

Female genitalia: No data.

Individual variation: No data.

BOLD data: No data.

GenBank data: No data.

Mitogenomic data: No data.

Bionomics in Australia: Fabaceae : Vachellia nilotica (L.) P.J.H. Hurter & Mabb. ( Robinson et al. 2001: 131) Note: Vachellia nilotica is a naturalised weed of national significance and an invasive species in Australia (Flora of Australia see https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/ Vachellia %20nilotica). It occurs in Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, and Queensland.

Distribution: Australia ( Nielsen & Kumata 1996: 48 (introduced)).