[Entomology • 2020] Vietomartyria wuyunjiena & V. maoershana • Two New Vietomartyria Species (Lepidoptera: Micropterigidae) from China

[A, C-F]Vietomartyria wuyunjiena, 
[B] Vietomartyria maoershana 

 Liao, Hirowatari & Huang, 2020

DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.610  

Abstract 
 Micropterigidae is a family of Lepidoptera characterized by plesiomorphic morphological characters. Presently, this family consists of more than 22 genera and is distributed throughout all biogeographic realms. Vietomartyria Hashimoto & Mey, 2000 presently consists of six species mainly from South China. Two new species of the genus, V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. and V. maoershana sp. nov., are described herein from China; adult genitalia and wing venation are illustrated. Some biological accounts of the new species are also provided. A key to all described Vietomartyria species is given.

Keywords. Micropterigidae, Vietomartyria, new species, morphology, taxonomy.

Class Insecta Linnaeus, 1758
Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758
Superfamily Micropterigoidea Herrich-Schäffer, 1855

Family Micropterigidae Herrich-Schäffer, 1855

Adults and habitat of Vietomartyria spp. 
A. Vietomartyria wuyunjiena sp. nov., holotype, ♂. B. Vietomartyria maoershana sp. nov., holotype, ♂.
C. One adult of V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. perching on fern. D. Habitat of V. wuyunjiena sp. nov.
E. Specimen collection of V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. by sweep net. F. One adult of V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. perching on the white curtain of a light trap.

Micropterigidae

Genus Vietomartyria Hashimoto & Mey, 2000

Vietomartyria wuyunjiena sp. nov.

 Diagnosis: The adults of this species are very similar to Vietomartyria nankunshana Hirowatari & Hashimoto, 2009 and V. nanlingana Hirowatari & Jinbo, 2009 because of their same ground color, but are separable from these two species by the dorsal process of the valva slightly curved inwardly (but almost right-angularly curved inwardly in V. wuyunjiena sp. nov.), and by tergite X slightly emarginate at the middle (but broadly emarginate in V. nankunshana and narrowly in V. nanlingana).

Etymology The specific epithet is derived from the name of the type locality, Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve.

Distribution This species is known from Wuyunjie National Nature Reserve (Taoyuan, Changde, Hunan, China).


Vietomartyria maoershana sp. nov.

Diagnosis This species is very similar to V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. and V. expeditionis, but can easily be distinguished by the following characters: paired X tergal lobes slender and digitate (slightly emarginate in V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. and broadly emarginate at the middle in V. expeditionis); basal process of valva long and pointed (absent in V. wuyunjiena sp. nov. and short obtuse in V. expeditionis); slightly curved dorsal process of gonopod (strongly curved in V. expeditionis). 

Etymology This specific epithet is derived from the name of the type locality, Mao’ershan National Nature Reserve.

Distribution This species is known from Mao’ershan National Nature Reserve (Xin’an, Guilin, China). Remarks Adults of V. maoershana sp. nov. were collected along a paved road at 1500 m a.s.l., half way up Mt Mao’ershan. Similar to V. wuyunjiena sp. nov., the adults were observed flying or perching on low shrubs and ferns in cloudy conditions and even in weak rainfall.


 Liao C.Q., Hirowatari T. and Huang G.H. 2020. Descriptions of Two New Vietomartyria species (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae) from China. European Journal of Taxonomy. 610: 1–14. DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.610  

[Entomology • 2015] Aenigmatinea glatzella | 'enigma' moth • A New Extant Family (Aenigmatineidae) of Primitive Moths from Kangaroo Island, Australia, and its significance for understanding early Lepidoptera evolution

 'enigma' moth | Aenigmatinea glatzella Kristensen & Edwards, 2015
(a) Male holotype; (b) female in typical upside-down posture on young foliage of host (Callitris gracilis).

DOI: 10.1111/syen.12115

Abstract

We report the first discovery since the 1970s of a new extant family (Aenigmatineidae fam.n.) of homoneurous moths, based on the small Aenigmatinea glatzella sp.n. from Kangaroo Island off southern Australia. It exhibits a combination of extraordinary anatomical characters, and, unlike most homoneurous moths, its larva is a conifer-feeder (stem mining in Callitris, Cupressaceae). While the adult's mouthparts are strongly regressed, evidence from other morphological characters and from a Bayesian analysis of 25 genetic loci convincingly places the taxon among Glossata (‘tongue moths’). An unexpected tongue moth clade including Acanthopteroctetidae and Neopseustidae, suggested with low support in recent molecular analyses, remarkably becomes strongly supported when Aenigmatinea is included in the molecular analysis; the new taxon becomes subordinated in that clade (as sister group to Neopseustidae) and the clade itself appears as the sister group of all Heteroneura, representing the vast majority of all Lepidoptera. Including Aenigmatinea into the analysis thereby strengthens the surprising indication of non-monophyly of Myoglossata, and the new phylogeny requires an additional number of ad hoc assumptions of convergence/character reversals in early Lepidoptera evolution.

Taxonomy: 

Order LEPIDOPTERA, homoneurous grade

Aenigmatineidae Kristensen & Edwards, fam.n.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:AF88BFAD-76C5-4B25-9961-2481194A8071

Aenigmatinea Kristensen & Edwards, gen.n.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:47CC5617-BF1E-4E64-8531-9EDB493CCB69

Aenigmatinea glatzella Kristensen & Edwards sp.n. (type species by monotypy.)

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B40F4FD5-3650-491E-A6BC-5FA966079AE0

Diagnosis: Adult moths (Fig. 1a) small, forewing length ≈ 4 mm, immediately recognizable by unique combined presence in the forewing (Fig. 3f) of a prominent jugal lobe, an only two-branched radial sector and a single-branched medial vein.

Etymology: Gender feminine, referring to enigmatic character combination; the Linnean Tinea comprised the many small moths, including the small homoneurans, whose wing posture in repose made them appear cylindrical (‘Alis convolutis fere in cylindrum…’) (Linné, 1767); glatzella: Adjective, gender feminine, honoring the moth's discoverer R. V. Glatz; the name also alludes to the unusual dearth of head scales, Glatze being German for a bald head.

Figure 5. Cladogram of basal (non-ditrysian and lowest-grade ditrysian) Lepidoptera. Trichopteran outgroups shown in grey. Branch support is as follows: *, posterior probability (PP) = 1, maximum likelihood bootstrap (ML BP) = 100; •, PP = 0.99–1, ML BP = 90–99; or as shown on branches themselves. ‘Jaw moths’ shown in black, and ‘tongue moths’ in blue. Width of terminal triangles approximates the number of described species (van Nieukerken et al., 2011) in each lineage: Micropterigidae (160 spp.), Agathiphagidae (two spp.), Heterobathmiidae (three spp.), Lophocoronidae (six spp.), Exoporia (636 spp.), Eriocraniidae (29 spp.), Acanthopteroctetidae (five spp.), Aenigmatineidae (one sp.), Neopseustidae (14 spp.), and Heteroneura (156 568 spp.).

DOI: 10.1111/SyEn.12115

Niels P. Kristensen, Douglas J. Hilton, Axel Kallies, Liz Milla, Jadranka Rota, Niklas Wahlberg, Stephen A. Wilcox, Richard V. Glatz, David A. Young, Glenn Cocking, Ted Edwards, George W. Gibbs and Mike Halsey. 2015. A New Extant Family of Primitive Moths from Kangaroo Island, Australia, and its significance for understanding early Lepidoptera evolution.
Systematic Entomology. 40(1); 5-16. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12115

New 'enigma' moth helps crack evolution's code http://phy.so/344671102 via @physorg_com

New Family of Primitive Moths Discovered on Kangaroo Island Sci-News.Com/biology/science-aenigmatinea-glatzella-aenigmatineidae-new-family-primitive-moths-kangaroo-island-02563.html