Pharcidopsyche novemplicata Saigusa & Sugimoto, 2025

Saigusa, Toyohei & Sugimoto, Mika, 2025, Pharcidopsyche novemplicata, a curious new genus and species of the Psychidae, representing new subfamily Pharcidopsychinae (Lepidoptera, Tineoidea), Zootaxa 5575 (4), pp. 501-519 : 514-515

Pharcidopsyche novemplicata Saigusa & Sugimoto , sp. nov.

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂, labelled: [ Borneo: Sabah], Kianson 250m [ near Kiansom Waterfall , 5̊58’23.20”N 116̊12’26.58”E 250m], nr. Kota Kinabalu , Sept. 15, 2001, T. SAIGUSA col.; 15.ix.01. larva, 16.x.01 adult; ♂ No.1, reared by Saigusa & Sugimoto; [HOLOTYPE], Pharcidopsyche novemplicata Saigusa et Sugimoto, 2024 .

PARATYPES: 1♀, labelled: [ Borneo: Sabah], Kianson 250m [ near Kiansom Waterfall , 5̊58’23.20”N 116̊12’26.58”E 250m], nr. Kota Kinabalu , Sept. 15, 2001, T. SAIGUSA col.; 15/ix.2001, larva, 13/x emergence; ♀ No.2, reared by Saigusa & Sugimoto; [PARATYPE], Pharcidopsyche novemplicata Saigusa et Sugimoto, 2024 .

1♀, labelled: [ Borneo: Sabah], Kianson 250m [ near Kiansom Waterfall , 5̊58’23.20”N 116̊12’26.58”E 250m], nr. Kota Kinabalu , Sept. 2, 2001, T. SAIGUSA col.; Sept.2. Larva, Sept.20, pupate fix, Oct.10. emerged; ♀ No.1, reared by Saigusa & Sugimoto; [PARATYPE], Pharcidopsyche novemplicata Saigusa et Sugimoto, 2024 (body dissected in vial with glycerol, right wings removed, descaled and mounted on a slide, left wings removed and mounted on a slide).

Larvae and larval cases. Larvae and larval cases collected from Mahua and Kiasom in Sabah were used for description of the early stages. Three cases among some 30 cases were parasitized by a braconid species.

Male

( Fig. 1 )

Size: Body length 2.8 mm; wing expanse 7.1mm; forewing length 3.5mm (including fringe), width 1.15mm; hindwing length 2.8 mm (including fringe), width 1.35 mm; antenna length 0.95 mm (left antenna), 0.9 mm (right antenna).

Integumental characters are as in the description of the genus.

Coloration and vestiture.

Head: Vertical area of head densely clothed with moderately broad long shiny rough scales nearly as long as diameter of eye directing and curving medially (dorsomedially), arising from lateral portions of vertex; vertex also clothed with longer wider scales directing and weakly curving posteriorly on its anterior portion; face densely and tightly covered with wide long yellow scales that are incurved and decumbent; lateral to posteroventral margins of head behind eye with a row of small short broad scales. Antenna: pale on scape and pedicel, dark brown on flagellum; pecten tawny, short and not prominent; flagellomere dorsally with a transverse row of small dark scales, bearing ventrally greyish sensory hairs longer than thickness of flagellomere; flagellomeres of middle of antenna almost as long as thick. Labial palpus covered with short appressed yellow scales on palpomere 1, palpomere 2 dorsally covered with appressed yellow scales, ventrally clothed with rough suberect brown scales projecting posteroventrally; palpomere 3 tightly covered with yellow short scales.

Thorax: Thoracic nota densely covered with tightly appressed long broad blackish scales; mesoscutellum with a brush of broad blackish scales erected and more or less expanded radially; pleura covered with yellowish scales.

Wings: Dorsal side of forewing. Blackish brown with the following greyish yellow markings, short narrow oblique stripe on costa each at middle and apical 1/4, similar but a slightly wider stripe from middle of hind margin, and obscure crescent-shaped marking anterior to tornus. In addition to these markings, an obscure pale area each distal to discocellulars, at middle of space r4+5 and at apex; fringe dark brown, distal row somewhat paler, basal row whitish at apex. Dorsal side of hindwing. Dark brown, narrowly pale yellowish white on basal 2/3 of costa; fringe similar to that of forewing. Fringe scales of forewing and of apical part of hindwing widened on distal part and with serrate distal margin.

Abdomen covered with blackish scales dorsally and yellowish ones ventrally. Distal area bearing black longish scales.

Legs: Covered with appressed scales, without long hair-like scales; coloration of scales yellow on femora, dark on ventral side of mid femur towards apex, black dorsally, yellowish ventrally on tibiae and tarsi, yellow on apical 2 tarsomeres of fore and mid tarsi, distally paled on basal tarsomeres and entirely yellow on tarsomere 5 of hind tarsus. Spurs covered with yellow scales.

Female

( Fig. 2 )

Size: Body length 3.2–3.3 mm; wing expanse 8.2-8.5mm; forewing length 4.0 mm (including fringe), width 1.3 mm (including fringe); hindwing length 3.10–3.15 mm (including fringe), width 1.6–1.7 mm (including fringe); antenna length 0.8–1.0 mm.

Coloration and vestiture.

Head: Similar to male. Anterior vertical scales not erect but overlapping frontal sales which are more or less suffused with greyish and mixing brown ones along eye margin. Antenna densely bearing blackish scales slightly longer than flagellomere; labial palpus as in male; integument of galea (proboscis) yellow. Flagellomere of middle of antenna 50 μm long, 35 μm wide, with a long ventral seta 30 μm long ( Fig. 3H ).

Thorax similar to male; abdomen covered with dark brown to blackish scales dorsally, yellowish ones ventrally; whitish corethrogyne covered with elongate brown scales.

Wing. Almost as in male, but pale markings more prominent, so that image of reduced outwardly angulate middle and postdiscal stripes more discernable.

Vestiture of legs almost as in male. Fore femur 7.2 mm long. Relative lengths of podites, epiphysis and spurs of a paratype female as in Table 1 .

Larvae and larval case. Same as in descriptions of genus Pharcidopsyche .

Biology

We found larvae of the new species near brooks in deep tropical forest. They are usually found on hard mushrooms or on sheet of white mycelia covering rotten logs near the ground ( Fig. 9A ). Cases of active larvae or pupae stand upright on the surface of bark or mushrooms. The larvae feed on the mycelia and mushrooms. As various sizes of cases were found together, the larvae may hatch throughout the year. The final instar larva tightly fixes the entire margin of anterior opening of its case to the substratum ( Fig. 9C ). Pupation cases stand upright as in case of active larvae ( Fig. 9D ); final instar larval exuviae situated near the fixed anterior part of the case. The pupa presumably moves to the posterior opening of the case, protrudes the anterior part of its body and ecloses to the adult ( Fig. 9D ). When a pupa moves inside of the case, it presumably uses a transverse row of spinules near the anterior margins of the abdominal segments. The larval period was not surveyed; the pupal period (including prepupal period after case fixed) was 21 days for one female paratype (Sept. 20 to Oct. 10). Copulation and egg-laying behavior were not observed. Mature larvae were parasitized by a species of Braconidae that spun a cocoon in the case near its fixed portion.

Etymology

The specific epithet means novem (nine) + plicatus (folded), based on the nine longitudinal folds of the larval case.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pharcidopsyche novemplicata, gen. et sp. nov., male.A, habitus; B, head, lateral aspect; C, ditto, anterior aspect; D, body, lateral aspect; E, head and thorax, dorsal aspect; F, left wings; G, distal part of forewing above; H, distal part of hindwing above.

FIGURE 2. Pharcidopsyche novemplicata, gen. et sp. nov., female. A, habitus; B, head, anterior aspect; C, ditto, anteroventral aspect; D, head and thorax, lateral aspect; E, ditto, dorsal aspect; F, right wings; G, abdomen, lateral aspect.

FIGURE 3. Pharcidopsyche novemplicata, gen. et sp. nov., A–D, H, I, female, macerated; E, F, G, male; A, head, anteroventral aspect; B, ditto, lateral aspect; C, maxilla, ventral aspect; D, labial palpus; E, basal 1/2 of left antenna, posterior aspect; F, ditto, ventral aspect; G, left antenna, anterior aspect; H, middle part of flagellum (macerated); I, apical part of flagellum (macerated) (mxpl, maxillary palpus; gal, galea).

FIGURE 9. Pharcidopsyche novemplicata, gen. et sp. nov. A, larval cases of various sizes on mycelia covering a rotten log; B, well-grown larval case on mycelia layer; C, ditto on underside of a mushroom; D, emerged female case; E, cases of various sizes; F, early larva and its case (case accidentally cut); G, cross section of middle part of case; H, cross sections of case (left, posterior end; middle, middle part; right, anterior opening).