Olethreutes bowmanana McDunnough 1923

Olethreutes bowmanana (McDunnough 1923)

(Fig. 1)

Argyroploce bowmanana McDunnough, 1923. Canadian Entomologist 55: 165–166 (Type locality: Canada, Alberta, Nordegg [Holotype: CNCO]).

Material examined. 1 ♂ (holotype), No. 607, [Canada], Alta [Alberta], Nordegg, 23.vii.1922, K. Bowmann leg. [coll. CNCO].

Remarks. This species was described by McDunnough (1923) on the basis of the wing pattern and assigned to Argyroploce Hübner, [1825]. Heinrich (1926) treated Argyroploce as a junior synonym of Olethreutes Hübner, [1822], and provided only a short diagnosis, without a detailed illustration of the male genitalia. Hannemann (1961) rejected Heinrich’s (1926) opinion and treated Argyroploce as a separate genus. Falkovitsh (1965, 1966) followed Hannemann (1961) and described two species, Argyroploce magadana and A. kamtshadala, both from Russia. In his monograph on the Tortricidae of the Russian Far East, Kuznetzov (2001) also treated Argyroploce as a separate genus and noted that the Russian tundra species A. magadana is replaced in North America by the related A. bowmanana.

Based on a study of the type material of O. bowmanana, we conclude that this species indeed bears a strong similarity with, and is probably related to O. magadana and O. kamtshadala. A redescription of O. bowmanana is given below with a special emphasis on the characters shared with the Palaearctic species.

Description. Forewing length 8 mm. Head: Vertex and palpi with a mixture of blackish and grayish scales. Antennae dark gray, about half a long as forewing. Thorax: Concolorous with head. Forewing elongate, with costa nearly straight, termen oblique and straight, dorsal angle rounded; upperside ground color grayish brown, with distinct pattern; basal, median and postmedian fasciae well defined, with narrow dark striae between them; subbasal fascia narrow, curved in median cell, broader dorsally, with outer margin distinct; median fascia narrow; outer margin distinct, fissured, with a process beyond whitish discal spot; postmedian fascia divided by costal strigula; preterminal fascia narrow; apical spot small, round, and blackish; costal strigulae whitish gray. Cilia brownish gray, and checkered with darker spots; marginal line well defined. Hindwing elongate-ovoid, with narrowly rounded apex; grayish brown. Cilia concolorous with wing. Anal roll well developed. Abdomen: Dark gray. Male genitalia (Fig. 9) with uncus bifid, covered with long hairs. Socii digitate, laterally fused with tegumen. Valva elongate; cucullus rounded, spatulate, slightly wider than neck of valva; neck shorter than cucullus, ratio of its length to width 1.5:1; basal part of valva broad; lobular process at distal part of sacculus covered with strong spines, cluster of spines extending basally and costally to nearly basal cavity; sacculus at basal side of lobular process with wide setose spine cluster; ventral edge of sacculus covered with row of setae. Aedeagus slightly curved downward, dorsally membranous; sclerotized ventral part projecting distally to form a narrow apical foldable process with strong spine on right side apically. Female genitalia unknown.

Diagnosis. Olethreutes bowmanana is most similar to O. kamtshadala but can be distinguished by the following characters: valvae neck wider, slightly narrower than cucullus, whereas in O. kamtshadala the neck is less than half as wide as the cucullus; the lobular process of the sacculus is wide and flat, not raise above the other parts of sacculus; the setose spine cluster on the ventral margin of the sacculus is wider than that of O. kamtshadala and consists of stronger spines; and the aedeagus is longer, approximately 6 times its width, and nearly the same width throughout, whereas in O. kamtshadala the aedeagus is about 3 times as long as its maximum width and the tip about half as wide as the base.

Distribution. Canada (Alberta).