Acalyptris minimella (Rebel)

(Figs. 3, 18, 23, 24, 46, 61, 63, 72, 73, 85, 100, 101, 103, 106, 107, 123)

Trifurcula minimella Rebel, 1926: (110). Lectotype ♂ (here designated): CROATIA: Sucurac D.[almatia], 5.vi. [19]24, P. Novak, Genitalia slide MV 13119 (NMW) [examined]

Weberina lentiscella Groschke, 1944: 117. Syntypes, 2♂, 1Ψ: ITALY. Sicily, Taormina, iv. 1942, iii–iv.1943, larvae on Pistacia lentiscus, e.l. 19.v.1942 & 16–22.v.1943, Groschke [types presumed lost]. Neotype male (designated by Klimesch 1978: 257), SPAIN: Baleares, Mallorca, Palma Nova ex. l. 26.vi.1968, mine in Pistacia lentiscus, 10.iii.1968, Zucht no 972, J. Klimesch (ZSMG) [not examined] (synonymized by Klimesch 1978)

Nepticula minimella; Klimesch 1953: 162 [new combination]

Trifurcula (Weberina) minimella; Klimesch 1978: 256, figs. 37 [partim, status of species; type studied]

Trifurcula (Niepeltia) minimella; Gustafsson 1981: 463 [larval description, partim, Balearic record].

Niepeltia minimella; Scoble 1980: 207 [redescription; new combination]

Acalyptris minimella; van Nieukerken 1986b: 141 [new combination, listed]; A. & Z. Laštůvka 1993: 158 [listed]; Passos de Carvalho & Corley 1995: 194 [Portugal]; van Nieukerken 1996: 24 [catalogued]; A. & Z. Laštůvka 1997: 118 [description]; Corley et al. 2000: 250 [Portugal]; Lo Duca et al. 2002: 76, 97–106 [Sicily, parasites reared]; van Nieukerken et al. 2004a: 227 [Iberian Peninsula]; A. & Z. Laštůvka 2005: 10 [Italy, Sicily]; van Nieukerken et al. 2006: 57 [France, Corsica].

Niepeltia lentiscella; Hering 1957: 781 [mine keys].

Weberina lentiscella; Klimesch 1978: 257, figs. 37 [synonymisation with minimella; neotype selection] [Nepticula promissa?; Klimesch 1942: 396 [Croatia] partim, mine on Pistacia lentiscus, possible misidentification]

Diagnosis. Males of A. minimella and A. pistaciae resemble several pale Trifurcula s.l. species; males of these have a velvet patch on underside hindwing, and the Acalyptris species have hair-pencils on fore and hindwing. A. minimella is very similar to A. pistaciae, male externally recognised by presence of costal bristles and yellow spot on forewing underside. Male genitalia differ by basal valval lobe (medial in pistaciae) and V-shaped ventral process. In female genitalia by simpler vaginal sclerite and 3 convolutions in the ductus spermathecae as opposed to 2.5 in pistaciae.

Description. Male (Fig. 3). Forewing length 1.8–2.4 mm, wingspan 4.1–5.4 mm. Head: frontal tuft ochreous white to yellowish orange, occasionally mixed with fuscous; collar paler; scape and pedicel yellowish white. Antenna with ca. 32–39 segments. Thorax and forewing yellowish ochreous, irrorate with few pale brown scales; cilia white, cilia line not distinct. Underside at base with small central pale yellow spot, formed by lamellar androconial scales, remaining part darker; along dorsal margin at base a hair-pencil mixing with hindwing hair-pencil. Hindwing frenulum and costal bristles present; with field of yellowish hair and lamellar scales in basal 1/2, forming an indistinct hair-pencil; underside greyish white. Abdomen yellowish grey, with grey inconspicuous anal tufts.

Female. Forewing length 2.1–2.6 mm, wingspan 4.7–5.8 mm. Antenna with 28–33 segments. Thorax and forewing somewhat darker than in male; special scales absent; costal bristles present. Abdomen with wide ovipositor, no anal tufts.

Male genitalia (Figs. 23, 24, 63, 72, 73). Measurements: see Table 3. Vinculum anteriorly concave, ventral plate not large. Tegumen small, more or less triangular; uncus band-shaped, with indistinct central process, in lateral view split distally; gnathos with long narrow central element. Valva narrow, with large, more or less triangular, basal inner process; apex slightly pointed. Transtilla without transverse bar, sublateral process distinct. Aedeagus with bifurcate ventral carinae, tightly fused to V-shaped ventral process; a pair of curved dorsal carinae present; vesica with numerous small cornuti and one large cornutus.

Female genitalia (Fig. 46). T8 narrow, with produced lateral corners, two small lateral groups of scales and setae. Anal papillae conspicuous, with 17–21 setae. Apophyses straight, slender. Total bursa length ca. 720–880 μm. Vestibulum with elaborate sclerotisations, more or less ring-shaped, inner margin partly serrate, with two processes. Ductus bursae covered with pectinations. Corpus bursae elongate, without pectinations; with narrow (2–3 cells wide) and long reticulate signa, margins crenate. Length shortest signum 270–320 μm, longest 340–385 μm. Ductus spermathecae with 3 convolutions and large vesicle.

Final instar larva (Figs. 85, 100, 101). Head capsule ca. 325–350 ìm wide. Mandibular cusps blunt. A9 with 3 pairs of setae. Integument covered with extremely short microtrichia (ca 1µm long) on all segments. Otherwise as group description.

Biology. Hostplant. Pistacia lentiscus (Anacardiaceae), only once recorded from P. terebinthus (Gibraltar: see material).

Egg on leaf upperside, usually close to a vein. Leafmine (Figs. 103, 106, 107) starting as an extremely narrow gallery, filled with frass, running a rather straight course, often following the margin of the leaflet and/ or the midrib; the thin part is more than half the total length of the mine; later mine widening gradually and becoming more contorted, often in zigzag course, with blackish or brownish frass coiled or in loose pellets, filling about two thirds of mine width; exit hole on leaf upperside. Leaflets with completed mines usually discolouring and easily falling off.

The mine may be confused with that of the sympatric Simplimorpha promissa (Staudinger, 1870), which tends to be more common on Pistacia terebinthus. Mines of S. promissa can be recognised by the absence of a very long, thin, initial mine; tenanted mines are easily separated by the green coloration of S. promissa.

Distribution (Fig. 123). Widespread and common in Western Mediterranean, usually not far from the sea: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, including the islands Ibiza, Mallorca, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. New records for Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Remarks. Rebel described Trifurcula minimella on the basis of an unspecified number of specimens from four dates, of which three males are still present in the Vienna Museum, all labelled as type. Two of these are the Acalyptris species, one is a Stigmella dorsiguttella (Johansson, 1971). I here select one of the Acalyptris specimens as lectotype (data above) in order to restrict the name to its current usage.

According to Klimesch (1978) the types of Weberia lentiscella Groschke are lost. However, there is still a possibility that syntypes are present amongst Groschke’s material in Stuttgart. The fact that the material is only labelled with numbers would not necessarily prevent the location of the types. By deduction it has also been possible to select a lectotype of Nepticula caradjai Groschke, 1944 from this material (van Nieukerken 1985). The neotype selection by Klimesch may thus have been superfluous.

Material examined. 29 ɗ, 24 Ψ, 19 larvae. ALGERIA: 3Ψ, 4 larvae on slide: 11 km ESE Morris, 26.iv.1980, leafmines, Pistacia lentiscus, e.l. 29.v.1980, van Nieukerken & Bryan (RMNH). — CROATIA: 1ɗ (paralectotype): Sucurac Dalmatia, vii.1923, Novak, slide MV13120 (NMW). — FRANCE, CORSICA: 3ɗ, 1Ψ: 4 km E of Porticcio, 11.v.1982, leafmines, P. lentiscus, e.l. 8.vi–23.vi.1982, E.J. van Nieukerken (RMNH, VPU). — GIBRALTAR: 1Ψ: Gibraltar, P. terebinthus, e.l. 30.v.1903, Walsingham (BMNH). — ITALY: 1ɗ, Matera: Tursi surroundings, 3.x.1986, G. Bassi (GB). — ITALY, SARDINIA: 2ɗ, Cagliari: Monte Arcosu, Perdu Melis, 320 m, 25.vi.2004, P. Triberti & G. Baldizzone; 2ɗ, 2Ψ, Cagliari: Monte Arcosu, Sa Canna, 150 m, 22.vi, 3.vii.2004, P. Triberti & G. Baldizzone, 1ɗ, Cagliari: Monte Arcosu, Sa Tragu, 29.vi.2004, P. Triberti & G. Baldizzone; 3ɗ, Nuoro: 10 km W Dorgali, 26.vii.1999, P. Triberti (PT, RMNH); 3ɗ, 2Ψ: F. Cedrino, 5 km SW Galtelli, 16.vii.1999, P. Triberti (PT, RMNH). — ITALY, SICILY: 1Ψ, Cinisi, 29.viii.2001, ‘Mina su Phillyrea sp.’ (PT). — MOROCCO: 1ɗ: Ouezzane, 300m, 21–22.iv.1989, O. Karsholt (ZMUC). — PORTUGAL: 1Ψ, Algarve: Cabo de Sao Vicente, 8.i.1987, leafmines, P. lentiscus, e.l. E.J. van Nieukerken (RMNH); 2Ψ: Serra de Monte Figo, 24.v.2001, M.F.V. Corley (MC, RMNH). — SPAIN: 3ɗ, 4Ψ, 7 larvae on slide: Baleares: Ibiza, San Antonio, 27.iv–7.v.1975, Pistacia, e.l. 29.v–9.vi.1975, B. Gustafsson (NHRS); 1ɗ, Mallorca: Es Comú, S. Albufeira, 20.x.2004, M.J. Honey (BMNH); 1 larva on slide, Mallorca, Magaluf, 2.v.1975, B. Gustafsson (NHRS); 1ɗ: Mallorca, Paguera, 1–10.v.1970, J. Klimesch (ZSM); 5ɗ, 5Ψ: Mallorca, Palma Nova, 10.iii.1968, P. lentiscus, e.l. 16.iv–23.ix.1968, J. Klimesch (ZSM); 1Ψ, Málaga: Benahavis, 300m, 6.ii.1984, leafmines, P. lentiscus, e.l. 19.v.–21.v.1984, E.J. van Nieukerken (RMNH); 1ɗ: Camino de Ojen, 150m, 20.vi.1983, E. Traugott-Olsen (ZMUC); 1Ψ, 1 larva on slide: Marbella, 2 km N, 28.iii.1979, leafmines, P. lentiscus, e.l. 6.vi.1979, E.J. van Nieukerken (RMNH); 1ɗ: Marbella, Casa y Campo, 100m, 5.x.1982, E. Traugott-Olsen (ZMUC). — TUNISIA: 1ɗ: Ain Draham area, 5–18.v.1988, O. Karsholt (ZMUC); 2 larvae on slide, 11 km S Aïn Draham, Oued es Zaouïa, P. lentiscus, 6.v.1980, van Nieukerken & Bryan (RMNH); 4 larvae on slide, 4 km W Tabarka, 0–140m, P. lentiscus, 25.iv.1980, van Nieukerken & Bryan (RMNH).

Leafmines on Pistacia lentiscus: ALGERIA: 11 km ESE Morris, 26.iv.1980, van Nieukerken & Bryan. — ITALY, SICILIA: Catania: 3 km W of San Pietro, 27.iii.1981. — TUNISIA: 10 km W Jebel Abiod, 80m, 7.v.1980; 11 km S Aïn Draham, Oued es Zaouïa, 6.v.1980; 4 km W Tabarka, 0–140m, 25.iv.1980; Cap Bon, 12 km NE Soliman, 22.iv.1980. Mines collected by E. J. van Nieukerken and coworkers, in RMNH. The many records of mines from Corsica, Portugal and Spain cited in van Nieukerken et al. (2004a; 2006) are not repeated here.

Additional records. CROATIA: 6ɗ, 4Ψ, Dalmacia, Orasac, 15.vii.2000, 20.viii.2001, Pistacia lentiscus, A. & Z. Laštůvka (AL).