Casignetella spirobassiaphaga Budashkin, 2025

Budashkin, Yu. I., 2025, NEW AND LITTLE KNOWN SPECIES OF CASEBAERER MOTHS OF THE GENUS CASIGNETELLA STRAND, 1928 (LEPIDOPTERA: COLEOPHORIDAE) FROM THE BLACK AND AZOV SEA BASIN AND SOUTH-EASTERN KAZAKHSTAN, Far Eastern Entomologist 520, pp. 8-16 : 9-11

Casignetella spirobassiaphaga Budashkin , sp. n.

https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ 88A1E939-4ED4-4E0F-A19A-77C56328E68D

Figs 1–8

TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype: ♂, Russia: Crimea , Yuzhnoie Prisivashie , Lenino distr. , 2.5 km N Lvovo vill., ustie Arabatskoi Strelki, Sivash coast, 45°17´35 N, 35 °28´,11 E, sandy beach, ex larvae on Spirobassia hirsuta (L.) Frietag & G. Kadereit , 8.VIII 2014 coll. Yu. Budashkin (gen. slide 70/18, O. Bidzilya) ( ZIN) . Paratypes: same licality, but 11.VIII 2014, 1♂; 13.VIII 2014, 2 ♂; 14.VIII 2014, 3 ♂, 1♀; 15.VIII 2014, 2 ♂, 1♀; 16.VIII 2014, 1♀; 17.VIII 2014, 1♂, 1♀; 18.VIII 2014, 2 ♂, 2 ♀; 19.VIII 2014, 1♀; 21.VIII 2014, 1♂, 1♀; 23.VIII 2014, 4 ♂, 2 ♀ (gen. slide 71/ 18♀, O. Bidzilya); 25.VIII 2014, 2 ♀; 28.VIII 2014, 2 ♀; 2.IX 2014, 2 ♀ ( ZIN, ZMKU, KSS) ; Khersonskaia oblast , Genichesk distr. , Arabatskaia Strelka, vicinity of Shchastlivtsevo vill., 46°01´56 N, 34°50´08 E, 7–11.VIII 2014, 1♂, coll. O. Bidzilya ( ZMKU) .

DESCRIPTION. Imago. Wingspan 11.5–13.1 mm ( Figs 1, 2 ). Sexual dimorphism poorly expressed. Labial palpus middle length nearly straight, upper surface buffy, greish-brown laterally. Segment 3 about 1.2 times as short as segment 2. Scape dirty-white or buffy, without erected scales. Flagellum buffy with indistinct dark rings. Head dirty-white or buffy, tegulae covered mainly with buffy scales. Thorax buffy without median longiductinal stripe. Forewing covered mixed up buffy and dirty-white scales. Cilia yellowish-grey/. Hindwing light grey with a yellowish-grey cilia. Spinous plates on abdominal tergites medium long and wide ( Figs 6–8 ).

Male genitalia ( Figs 3, 4 ). Gnathos of medium width, sub-rectangular with rounded corners. Tegumen rather narrow, medium heigth. Transtilla branches connected medially, relatively wide, band-shaped, slightly broadened apically. Saccus relativelly broad and short, apex rounded. Base of valva relatively narrow. Cucullus of medium length and width. Sacculus strongly sclerotized, in the form of a rather wide upwardly curved blade with large tooth processes along a distal and upper edges. Phallotheca rods short and thick, strongly fused each other except for distal half. The left rod is approximately 1/6 length of phallotheca, longer than the right rod and apically with coracoid outgrowth. Cornuti absent.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 5 ). Ovipositor relatively short. Papillae analis short, without bristles, rounded apically, membranous. Both pair of apophyses of medium length and width, apophyses posteriors twice as long as apophyses anteriores. Sternum VIII relatively small, its lateral parts rounded, posterior lobes short and relatively broad, covered with relatively rare and long bristles. Ostium of medium size, cup-shaped, opens in the center of the sternum VIII. Antrum weakly sclerotized, more or less cylindrical, slightly curved and narrowed towards ductus bursae. Ductus bursa of moderate length and width, with rather short spinous patch with central bent that is nearly three times shorter than spinous patch and slightly extends beyond its top. Bursa copulatrix of medium in size, membranous, narrowly egg-shaped. Signa small, basal plate narrow, terminal process short, relatively broad.

DIAGNOSIS. The new species is very similar to the recently described also from Crimea Casignetella suaediphaga Budashkin, 2016 ( Budashkin, 2016). Externally a new species well differs from C. suaediphaga by the presence ocher tones in the forewing. In the male genitalia C. spirobassiaphaga sp. n. unlike C. suaediphaga , has narrower transtilla branches, completely different phallotheca rods and, especially, has no cornuti. The female genitalia C. spirobassiaphaga sp. n. differ from those of C. suaediphaga in the thicker and longer apophyses posteriors, the much shorter sternum VIII (with rounded rather than straight lateral edges), the smaller ostium, the presence a cylindrical antrum, the presence of spinous patch and central bent of the ductus bursa and in much longer signa.

CASE OF MATURE LARVA. Length 8–9 mm, broad, silky, tubular, trivalved, grey or, occasionally, grayish-brown, almost entirely covered with small seashell particles, longitudinal stripes poorly expressed; the mouth of the cap is at an angle of 25–45 degrees.

BIONOMY. C. spirobassiaphaga sp. n. is a univoltine species with adult flying during the late-summer period (August – early September). The larvae host plant of the new species is Spirobassia hirsuta (L.) Frietag & G. Kadereit. The larva feeds on the fruits of the host plant until September – November inclusive. A mature larva overwinters burrowing into soil. The habitats of the new species are seashell beaches of Sivash literally in a few meters from the edge of the water. There is no total plant cover in these very peculiar biotopes. The sparsely vegetation is represented by separately growing individuals of Spirobassia hirsuta , Suaeda prostrata (Pall.) , S. acuminata (C. A. Mey) Moq. , Salsola tragus L. and some other plants.

DISTRIBUTION. The new species is known from the type localities in the South-Eastern Crimea and Azov Sea Region .

ETYMOLOGY. The new species is named by the generic name of its larvae host plant.

Figures

Figs 1–8. Casignetella spirobassiaphaga sp. n. 1 – imago, male, holotype, dorsal view; 2 – same, paratype, female; 3 – male genitalia with phallotheca separated, holotype (gen. slide 70/18, O. Bidzilya); 4 – same, phallotheca enlarged; 5 – female genitalia (gen. slide 71/18, O. Bidzilya); 6 – abdomen, male; 7 – female tergites I–IV; 8 – female tergites IV–VII.