Coleophora nupponeni Tabell & Mutanen & Sihvonen 2018, sp. nov.

Coleophora nupponeni Tabell, sp. nov.

Barcode Index Number: BOLD:ACT1871

Figs. 2, 9, 14–17, Table 1

Type material. Holotype ♂: Kazakhstan, 43°08´29´´N 67°51´51´´E, 185 m, Syr-Darya river, tugai forest, Turkestan town 35 km SW, 8.V.2012, K. Nupponen leg., coll. NUPP Paratypes: 15 ♂, 3 ♀: 15 ♂ (GP 4951 J. Tabell; DNA sample 21926 Lepid Phyl, abdomen missing in one specimen) same collecting data as in holotype, colls. NUPP and TAB; 3 ♀ (GP 5351 J. Tabell, DNA sample 25444 Lepid Phyl; GP 5376 J. Tabell, DNA sample 25445 Lepid Phyl) Tajikistan, Tigrovaya Balka 312 m, 37°19´961´´N 68°27´475´´E, 3.V.2014, T. Nupponen & R. Haverinen leg., colls. NUPP and TAB.

Diagnosis. In external appearance C. nupponeni sp. nov. resembles C. algeriensis Toll, 1952, C. schmidti Toll, 1960, C. eurasiatica Baldizzone, 1989 and C. lonchodes (Falkovitsh, 1994), which all share the yellowish or reddish brown forewing with a white costal stripe. Conspicuously longer labial palpi distinguish C. nupponeni from the aforesaid species. In the male genitalia of C. nupponeni the stout seta at costa is characteristic and separates the species from all close relatives. In the female genitalia the dense bristles at the distal margin of the sterigma and stud-shaped spinules in the ductus bursae distinguish C. nupponeni from related taxa.

Molecular diagnosis. The DNA barcodes were 6.76–11.74 % divergent from the other related species (Table 1).

Description. Wingspan 15.5–17.0 mm. Head, thorax and tegula pale reddish brown. Antenna white, annulated with pale reddish brown, scape pale reddish brown. Labial palpus long, straight, pale reddish brown. Forewing reddish brown with white costal stripe to 4/5, broad at base and gradually tapering towards apex, fringe concolorous. Hindwing pale grey, fringe reddish brown. Abdomen pale grey, slightly lustrous.

Abdominal structures. Latero-posterior bar half length of latero-anterior one. Transverse bar broad, proximal edge straight, only medially sclerotized, distal edge strongly curved. Tergal sclerite 6–7x longer than wide, weakly sclerotized, covered with 30 conical spines (on T3). In female transverse bar narrow, proximal edge thin, straight, distal edge thick, medially constricted.

Male genitalia. Gnathos knob suborbicular. Tegumen slightly constricted medially, pedunculus short. Transtilla finger-shaped, bent down. Cucullus broadly rounded, stubby, not extended beyond apex of sacculus. Costa slightly concave, basally bulged and with single thick seta. Valvula triangular, outer margin slightly sinuous, thickened, lined with bristles. Sacculus broad; ventral margin very oblique, lateral margin short, rounded, with a few small nodules, dorsal margin concave, horizontal. Phallotheca a conical tube, medially membranous (ventral view). Vesica membranous, with curved bundle of several short spiniform cornuti.

Female genitalia. Papillae anales conical, covered with long bristles. Anterior apophyses shorter than sterigma, incurved, posterior apophyses 2.5x longer than anterior ones. Sterigma rectangular, membranous, apex densely covered with bristles; sclerotized only in two lateral sickle-shaped patches, inner margins jagged. T8 weakly sclerotized. Ostium bursae and colliculum membranous. Posterior section of ductus bursae straight, with a medial sclerotized short strip; medial section coiled, with scattered stud-like spinules; anterior section devoid of spinules, slightly expanded. Corpus bursae oval. Signum thorn-like, spine slightly curved, with two thin ridges, base without ridges.

Biology. Immature stages and larval host plant are unknown. The habitats are tugai forests on sandy riversides, with typical tugai vegetation such as Populus euphratica Oliv. and Salix (Salicaceae), Phragmites (Poaceae), Elaeagnus (Elaeagnaceae), etc. (see also Biology under C. tugaicola). The moth is nocturnal and comes to light.

Distribution. So far the new taxon is known from two localities in the Syr-Darya valley in southern Kazakhstan, and by the upper Amu-Darya river in south-western Tajikistan.

Derivation of name. The species is dedicated to Kari Nupponen, a Finnish expert on several Lepidoptera groups and the collector of most of the type material presented here.