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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #379407
Research Project: Systematics of Moths Significant to Biodiversity, Quarantine, and Control, with a Focus on Invasive Species

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Diagnostics and updated catalogue of Oriental Pseudopostega (Opostegidae), including the matrona species group with a new, extralimital species discovered in the Mediterranean

Author
item STONIS, JONAS R. - Lithuanian University Of Educational Sciences
item REMEIKIS, ANDRIUS - National Research Centre
item Solis, M Alma
item KARSHOLT, OLE - Natural History Museum Of Denmark

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/17/2021
Publication Date: 2/22/2021
Citation: Stonis, J., Remeikis, A., Solis, M.A., Karsholt, O. 2021. Diagnostics and updated catalogue of Oriental Pseudopostega (Opostegidae), including the matrona species group with a new, extralimital species discovered in the Mediterranean. Zootaxa. 4933 (3):341-360. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4933.3.3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4933.3.3

Interpretive Summary: Opostegids are tiny moths whose larvae mine the cambium, a one-cell layer, of woody stems and fruits in a wide variety of plant families. We discuss the diagnostics of eight species groups in the Oriental region and designate two new species groups. Based on the re-examination of genitalia structures, we assign three formerly unplaced species to species groups and provide pictorial diagnostics. A new Mediterranean species with affiliations to the Oriental fauna is described; we provide a distribution map to it and other Oriental species in the same species group. The new species is illustrated with photographs of the adults and male genitalia. This research will be useful to scientists and quarantine workers interested in the biology and identity of cambium miners.

Technical Abstract: We provide diagnostics for eight species groups of Oriental Pseudopostega Kozlov (Lepidoptera: Opostegidae), designate two new species groups for the Oriental species and one from the Palaearctic fauna, and rename the P. nigrimaculella species group as the P. matrona group. Based on the re-examination of the male and female genitalia, we attribute three formerly unplaced species, P. euryntis (Meyrick), P. zelopa (Meyrick), and P. subviolaceae (Meyrick), to species groups, and provide pictorial diagnostics for all eight revised species groups. We list 22 currently known Oriental Pseudopostega species and synonymize Pseudopostega spilodes (Meyrick) with P. machaerias (Meyrick). One new, Mediterranean species with affiliations to the Oriental fauna, P. matrona Karsholt & Remeikis sp. nov., is described. The new species is illustrated with photographs of the adults and male genitalia. Additionally, we provide a distribution map to the P. matrona group, now also known to occur outside of the Oriental region.