Gibbovalva lomatiae De Prins, Sruoga & Zwick, 2025

Prins, Jurate De, Hartley, Diana, Sruoga, Virginijus, Nicholls, James, Wallace, Jesse & Zwick, Andreas, 2025, Diversity of Australian Ornixolinae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) with taxonomic and nomenclatural acts within the related taxa (Acrocercopinae and Gracillariinae) based on the evidence of museomics, bionomics, and mitogenomics, Zootaxa 5616 (1), pp. 1-340 : 281-283

Gibbovalva lomatiae De Prins, Sruoga & Zwick , sp. nov.

( Figs 561, 569, 572, 636)

Type locality: Australia, New South Wales, Woolgoolga.

Type specimens: Holotype ♀: [labels verbatim] Australia: [1] 10 mls[miles] N.[orth] of/Woolgoolga/N.S. W. [New South Wales] emg./19 Sept.[ember] 1957/I. F.B. Common; [2] A100. Blotch/underside/ Lomatia / silaifolia ; [3] Barcode of Life/DNA Voucher Specimen/Smple [sample] ID: 11ANIC-16311/ANICY311-11; [4] ‘ANIC Database No/31 053846’, DNA sample NULT023383, genitalia slide ANIC 6303, in ANIC (Canberra).

Paratypes 5 specimens: Paratype 1: Australia, New South Wales, Woolgoolga , 30.1132°S 153.1934°E, blotch underside mine on Lomatia silaifolia , 20 September 1951, leg. I.F.B. Common. Paratype 4: idem locality and rearing data, except the date 09 September, 1957 .

Queensland: Paratype 2: Sunny bank, 27.5793°S 153.0627°E, blotch underside mine on Lomatia silaifolia , 29 September 1957, leg. I.F.B. Common, ANIC Acc. no 31 075748 . Paratype 3: idem locality and rearing data except the date 05 September 1957, ANIC Acc. no 31 075747 . Paratype 5: Caloundra , 26.8044°S 153.1255°E, beaten from Lomatia silaifolia , 20 August 1957, leg. I.F.B. Common, in ANIC (Canberra) .

Unverified specimens that do not belong to the Type specimens: Specimen 1: Caloundra, 26.8044°S 153.1255°E, 31 August 1912, leg. Nihil. Specimen 2: idem data. Specimen 3: idem data .

Type depository: Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Diagnosis: Externally very similar to Gibbovalva zaplaca ( Meyrick, 1907) and G. lambertiae sp. nov. Tiny difference from G. lambertiae is observed sub-basal fascia. It is shaped as triangular in the same way as G. zaplaca . Tiny differences in G. lomatiae sp. nov. from G. zaplaca are found in sub-apical sector of forewing:

● in G. lomatiae sp. nov. the sub-apical fascia is complete, rather broad, edged from both sides, in G. zaplaca this marking is shaped as incomplete oblique stripe.

● the apical patch in G. lomatiae sp. nov. is clearly defined, finely edged prolonged spot; this marking is as two faint patches that are not edged in G. zaplaca .

The diagnostic difference between two new species of Gibbovalva G. lambertiae sp. nov. and G. lomatiae sp. nov. should be looked in female genitalia.

● ductus bursae in G. lambertiae sp. nov. is thick in girth, almost as wide as corpus bursae; while in G. lomatiae sp. nov. ductus bursae is thin, thread-like.

● corpus bursae in G. lambertiae sp. nov. is with signum, while corpus bursae in G. lomatiae sp. nov. is without signum.

● larvae of G. lambertiae sp. nov. feed on Lambertia formosa Sm.

● larvae of G. lomatiae sp. nov. feed on Lomatia silaifolia R.Br.

Like in many groups of tropical species the wing pattern in Gracillariidae might vary, therefore, species-linked diagnostic characters should be searched in internal morphology, bionomics and mitogenomics ( Fig. 636).

Description: Wingspan ca. 5.5–6.0 mm; length of the forewing ca. 3.3 mm ( Fig. 561).

Head: vertex white, covered with long smooth filiform scales, occiput snowy white; antenna slightly longer than forewing, monochromous dark ochreous beige; scape ochreous beige dorsally and white ventrally, pedicel shorter than the following flagellomere, light beige, pecten not perceptible.

Thorax ( Fig. 561): white; tegula ochreous at base and white at apical part; forewing ground colour white with four dark ochreous fasciae and apical curved band; base of forewing at sub-costal part is dark ochreous, the first fascia is triangular-shaped at sub-base, edged apically, the second and the third fasciae are almost of the same size, constricted at middle, edged from both sides by fine curving lines, the second fascia is situated basally to the mid of forewing, the third fascia is situated apically from the mid of forewing; the fourth fascia is situated at sub-apical sector, narrower than the second and the third fasciae, curved, edged from both sides, the apical ornamental marking on forewing is the broad ochreous band, running along the termen, black apical stripe situated at the constriction of sub-apical white fascia, fringe line is fuscous, well defined, running gently along apical margin of the forewing; a brush of dark fuscous lamella-shaped scales present on tornus; fringe white, long, with yellowish shading. Hindwing very narrow with sharp apex, light beige; fringe long, dense, of the same colour at costa and on dorsum, the longest piliform scales at the base and they are ca. 5× longer that the broadest width of hindwing at base. Mid femur dark fuscous, mid tibia dark fuscous at base and at apical part with a white stripe in the middle, spurs are light ochreous, mid tarsomeres white with brown apices. Hind tibia white with ochreous patch in the middle, with a row of loose, erect scales, apical spurs short, dirty white. Hind tarsomere I ochreous at basal half and white at apical half with narrow ochreous ring at sublime apex, tarsomere II white with ochreous apical part, tarsomeres III white with ochreous basal and apical parts, tarsomere IV white with ochreous apical part, anterior tarsomere white with light ochreous tip.

Abdomen ( Figs 561, 572): dorsally fuscous with dark brown shading. Abdominal opening mid-sized, shaped as a trapezium, with double lined, concave ventral crossing joint; sternal apodemes angulated, connect the corners of abdominal opening with the anterior margin of sternal plate, the support function is taken by concave sternal plate; tergal apodemes slender, convex at sub-apical part, gently sinuating along their entire length, apices sharp, almost reaching the posterior margin of segment II. Terminal segment in females without any sclerotisations.

Male genitalia: No data.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 569): papillae anales pressed and flat, joint together by their anterior surfaces, densely setose with long erect setae; apophyses posteriores with broad triangular bases and very narrow, sharp apical part reaching the posterior margin of segment VII; apophyses anteriores with very broad, connected by a ring, triangular bases and sharp anterior part, reaching almost mid of segment VII; sterigma absent; the ostium in this species is on the membranous area between segments VII and VIII. The posterior part of sternum VII overlaps the antrum and part of ductus bursae, antrum as strongly sclerotised broad cylindrical cavity; ductus bursae, narrow, strongly sclerotised with longitudinal furrows stretching from antrum until corpus bursae; corpus bursae relatively small, sac-shaped with longitudinal wrinkles, signum absent; bulla spermathecae situated at anterior margin of segment VII, ductus spermathecae with numerous tight convolutions at the beginning and loose three curves at the end that enters antrum of ductus bursae.

Individual variation: light variation in shape and curving pattern of fasciae on the forewing.

Bionomics: Proteaceae : blotch mine on the underside of leaves of Lomatia silaifolia R.Br. , new host plant genus for Gracillariidae . This moth species is monophagous.

BOLD data: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=ANICY311-11 (as Conopomorpha zaplaca ).

Mitogenomic data: The sister-group relationship between the holotype of this species and G. lambertiae is maximally supported in all analyses ( Fig. 636).

Distribution: Australia: New South Wales: Woolgoolga; Queensland: Sunny bank, and Caloundra.

Etymology: The specific name refers to the genus name of the host plant. It is a noun of feminine gender in the genitive case.