Tridentaforma Davis, 1978

Monckton, Spencer K., Levesque-Beaudin, Valerie, Thompson, Ken A., Barnes, Aidan, French, Kami, Hampton, Hunter & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2025, The brown copper moth, Tridentaforma browncopper: DNA barcoding reveals a second species in the family Tridentaformidae (Lepidoptera, Adeloidea), ZooKeys 1257, pp. 25-38 : 25-38

Tridentaforma Davis, 1978

Figs 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6

Tridentaforma browncopper Monckton & Levesque-Beaudin , sp. nov.

Type species.

Lampronia fuscoleuca Braun, 1923 .

Diagnosis.

The genus is distinguished by a trident-like male phallus (Fig. 3 A ) with slender lateral branches about half as long as the median branch (or nearly so), and by a broad valva bearing three or four discrete, transverse rows of spines (pectens) along its ventral margin (Fig. 3 B ).

Comments.

Traits are mostly consistent with the original generic description ( Davis 1978). The following modifications accommodate traits in T. browncopper : antenna approximately 0.5–0.8 × length of forewing; eye index approximately 1.0–1.2; labial palp with apical segment 0.8–1.0 × length of second; female seventh sternite 2.0–2.8 × length of sixth; male valva with three to four pectens along its ventral margin; female ovipositor apically acute or truncate. These modifications apply equally to the family Tridentaformidae , which was established for this genus in Regier et al. (2015).

Figures

Figure 2. Tridentaforma browncopper Monckton & Levesque-Beaudin, sp. nov., male habitus, left lateral view (CBG - A 17480 - H 03). Specimen was dried following storage in ethanol.

Figure 3. Tridentaforma browncopper Monckton & Levesque-Beaudin, sp. nov., male genitalia, ventral view. A. Phallus (CBG - A 18330 - D 10); B. Genital capsule (CNCLEP 00324919 / CBG - A 18330 - D 04); C. Juxta (CBG - A 18330 - D 10). The presence of four pectens (arrows) along the ventral margin of the valva distinguishes this species from T. fuscoleuca (Braun), which has only three.

Figure 4. Tridentaforma browncopper Monckton & Levesque-Beaudin, sp. nov., female habitus, left lateral view (CBG - A 17481 - D 01). Specimen was dried following storage in ethanol.

Figure 5. Tridentaforma browncopper Monckton & Levesque-Beaudin, sp. nov., female genitalia, left lateral view (CNCLEP 00324920 / CBG - A 18330 - H 08). The slightly widened, truncate apex of T 8 and the anterior (AA) and posterior apophyses (PA) of similar length distinguish this species from T. fuscoleuca (Braun), in which T 8 is narrower and subacute apically, and the anterior apophysis is distinctly shorter than the posterior.

Figure 6. Tridentaforma browncopper Monckton & Levesque-Beaudin, sp. nov., holotype specimen and labels (CNCLEP 00324919 / CBG - A 18330 - D 04). Specimen was dried following storage in ethanol.