Epicephala zalosticha Turner, 1940

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 : 174-180

Epicephala zalosticha Turner, 1940

( Figs 310, 325)

“ Epicephala zalosticha n. sp. ”—Turner, A.J., 1940. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia 64 (1): 56–57. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41572672

Epicephala zalosticha — Nielsen & Kumata 1996: 48; De Prins & De Prins 2005: 183.

Type locality: [ Australia], New South Wales, Sydney.

Type specimens: Syntypes (♂ and ♀), number not stated (5 syntypes present in the ANIC collection) .

Specimens examined: 5 syntype specimens, ANIC (Canberra) .

Lectotype designation: Hereby we designate as the lectotype ( Fig. 310) of the species Epicephala zalosticha Turner, 1940 the male specimen with abdomen, belonging to the syntype series and carrying the following labels: [1] ‘ Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales]/14 Nov.[ember] 1932/ G.M. Goldfinch‘ (locality name printed on dark beige paper, date handwritten with black Indian ink), [2] ‘ ANIC / Image’ (printed on orange paper), [3] Barcode of Life / DNA voucher specimen/ Smple [Sample] ID: 11 ANIC-16217 /BOLD Proc. ID: ANICY217-11’ (printed on yellow paper), [4] ‘ ANIC Database No. /31 053788’ (printed on white paper), in ANIC (Canberra).

Paralectotypes 4 specimens: Paralectotype specimen 1, with glued abdomen: [1] ‘Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales]/25 Nov.[ember] 1932/G.M. Goldfinch‘(locality name printed on dark beige paper, date handwritten with black Indian ink), [2]’ Epicephala /zalostcha /TYPE Turn.’ (handwritten in black Indian ink on a beige paper), [3] ‘ HOLOTYPE / Epicephala / zalosticha Turn. ’ (the word Holotype printed, the species name handwritten in black Indian ink on a red hard carton paper), [4] ‘SYNTYPE’ [printed on red paper], [5] ‘ ANIC /Image’ (printed on orange paper), [6] ‘ ANIC Database No./31 053788’ (printed on white paper), in ANIC (Canberra).

Paralectotype specimen 2, without abdomen: [1] ‘ Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales]/16 Nov.[ember] 1932/ G.M. Goldfinch‘ (locality name printed on dark beige paper, date handwritten with black Indian ink), [2] ‘ ANIC / Image’ (printed on orange paper), [3] Barcode of Life /DNA voucher specimen/ Smple [Sample] ID: 11 ANIC-16216 /BOLD Proc. ID: ANICY216-11’ (printed on yellow paper), [4] ‘ ANIC Database No. /31 053787’ (printed on white paper), in ANIC (Canberra) .

Paralectotype specimen 3, without abdomen: [1] ‘ Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales]/ G.M. Goldfinch /18 Nov.[ember] 1932‘(locality name printed on dark beige paper, date handwritten with black Indian ink), [2] ‘ ANIC / Image’ (printed on orange paper), [3] Barcode of Life /DNA voucher specimen/ Smple [Sample] ID: 11 ANIC-1621 / BOLD Proc. ID: ANICY215-11’ (printed on yellow paper), [4] ‘ ANIC Database No. /31 053786’ (printed on white paper), in ANIC (Canberra) .

Paralectotype specimen 4, without abdomen: [1] ‘ Sydney, N.S.W. [New South Wales]/30 Nov.[ember] 1932/ G.M. Goldfinch‘ (locality name printed on dark beige paper, date handwritten with black Indian ink), [2] ‘ ANIC / Image’ (printed on orange paper), [3] Barcode of Life /DNA voucher specimen/ Smple [Sample] ID: 11 ANIC-1621 /BOLD Proc. ID: ANICY215-11’ (printed on yellow paper), [4] ‘ ANIC Database No. /31 074489’ (printed on white paper), in ANIC (Canberra) .

The lectotype is designated as part of our taxonomic work to enhance the stability of nomenclature ( Declaration 44— Amendment of Article 74.7.3) with a purpose to delineate this species-group taxon Epicephala zalosticha Turner, 1940 . This designation will preserve stability in nomenclature ( ICZN Recommendation 74A). We gave preference to the specimen indicated in the Australian National Insect Collection which is with abdomen, digitized by the Digitization group for the online ANIC species portal; DNA barcode is presented in the Public Data Portal in the BOLD SYSTEMS Database ( ICZN Recommendations 74B, C, D). The locality of the lectotype specimen is verified ( ICZN Recommendation 74E). The syntype specimens with the same label data as the lectotype are designated as the paralectotypes ( ICZN Recommendation 74F) .

Unverified specimen: Specimen 1: without abdomen, no mid and hind legs: Queensland: Coolangatta , 28,1703°S 153,5305°E, 03-10-1915, leg. Nihil, in ANIC (Canberra) .

Morphological diagnostic characterisation: Wingspan ca. 10.7 mm; length of the forewing ca. 5.3 mm ( Fig. 310).

Head ( Fig. 325): vertex snowy white, labial palpus, slender, straight, light ochreous with sharp apices, antenna approximately as long as forewing.

Thorax ( Fig. 310): white, concolourous with vertex; tegula ochreous, forewing with a characteristic white dorsal stripe until mid-dorsum, with unequal anterior margin that ends with mid dorsal strigula, and two dorsal strigulae at sub-apex. The general ornamentation pattern is obtuse, without a geometrical pattern, costal margin is dirty white; the dominant colouration is ochreous; the apical spot is a small rounded dot, placed on an ochreous irregular patch. Legs light ochreous intermixed with white patches.

Abdomen: beige with dark marked mid part of tergites, anterior tergites ochreous; genital segment having yellow shading.

Male genitalia: No data.

Female genitalia: No data.

Bionomics: No data.

BOLD data: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?searchMenu=taxonomy&query= Epicephala +zalo sticha&taxon= Epicephala+zalosticha

GenBank data: No data.

Mitogenomic data: No data.

Distribution: Australia: New South Wales, Queensland ( Turner 1940: 57).

14. Leurocephala Davis & McKay, 2011

“ Leurocephala Davis and McKay , new genus ”—Davis, D.R., Mc Kay, F., Oleiro, M., Diniz Vitorino, M. & Wheeler, G.S., 2011. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 65 (2): 74–76.

Type species: Leurocephala schinusae Davis & McKay, 2011 . Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 65 (2): 76–89, figs. 1, 4, 16–19, 31–106, by original designation and monotypy.

BOLD data: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxon= Leurocephala &searchTax=Se arch+Taxonomy

GenBank data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term= Leurocephala

Mitogenomic data. No data.

Bionomics: Anacardiaceae : Schinus longifolius (Lindl.) Speg ( Leurocephala schinusae ), S. molle L. ( L. chilensis Vargas & Moreira, 2016 ), S. terebinthifolia Raddi ( L. schinusae ).

Distribution: Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay.

Species richness: World: 2 species; Australian Region: 0 species.

Type species: Leurocephala schinusae Davis & McKay, 2011

“ Leurocephala schinusae Davis and Mc Kay , new species ”—Davis, D.R., Mc Kay, F., Oleiro, M., Diniz Vitorino, M. & Wheeler, G.S., 2011. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 65(2): 76–89, figs 1, 4, 16–19, 31–106.

Type locality and collecting data: Argentina, Misiones Province, Road 12, 2 km N Libertad, e.l. Schinus terebinthifolia 02.viii.2006, leg. F. McKay & M. Oleiro.

Type specimens: Holotype ♂, in USNM (Washington DC) ; Paratypes 27♂, 19♀, in MACN (Buenos Aires), DZUP ( Curitiba ), USNM (Washington DC) .

BOLD data: Leurocephala schinusae | Taxonomy Browser | BOLDSYSTEMS

GenBank data: Leurocephala schinusae - Nucleotide - NCBI (nih.gov)

Mitogenomic data. No data.

Bionomics: Anacardiaceae : Schinus longifolius (Lindl.) Speg , Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Davis et al. 2011: 79) . Distribution: Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay (Davis et al. 2011: 79).

15. Liocrobyla Meyrick, 1916

“ Liocrobyla , n. g. ”—Meyrick, E., 1916b. Exotic Microlepidoptera (Marlborough) 2(1): 5.

Type species: Liocrobyla paraschista Meyrick, 1916b . Exotic Microlepidoptera 2: 5, by monotypy.

Morphological diagnostic characterisation: based on external morphological characters the genus is recognisable by broadly-based costal striga on mid of forewing which is the central ornament on the dark ochreous background of the forewing; frons with lateral tufts of horizontally aligned scales, maxillary and labial palpus roughly covered by more or less loose but short scales. The species within this genus are externally almost not diagnosable. The main diagnostic species-linked characters are in male and in female genitalia. Male genitalia with folded and complex sacculus, apices of valvae are flat or flat with rounded corners; aedeagus especially vesical part covered with a band of spicules. Abdomens of males are with two pairs of long piliform androconial coremata. Segment VIII of abdomen is reduced to a triangular-shaped plate. Anterior segment VIII of males carries a triangular plate of flat tightly arranged scales. Female with prolonged flat, fused papillae anales, short and blunt apophyses posteriores and very complex sterigmatic sclerotisations, ductus bursae short and thick, corpus bursae sac-shaped without signum. Segment VI of abdomens of females is strongly sclerotised. Liocrobyla species feed exclusively on Fabaceae low growing plants.

BOLD data: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/TaxBrowser_TaxonPage?taxid=123249

GenBank data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/?term= Liocrobyla

Mitogenomic data: The monophyly of this genus is maximally supported in all analyses, and relationships between the three sampled species are well supported. In contrast, its placement as sister to the maximally supported monophylum of Conopomorpha , Bridella gen. n., Polydema , Stomphastis and Diphtheroptila is consistently recovered by all analyses, albeit with only moderate support ( Fig. 639).

Bionomics: Fabaceae : Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze ( Liocrobyla paraschista Meyrick, 1916b ), Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. ( L. paraschista Meyrick, 1916b ), Desmodium sp. ( L. kumatai Kuroko, 1982 ), Flemingia lineata (L.) W.T.Aiton ( L. paraschista Meyrick, 1916b ), F. parviflora Benth , new record, F. trifloliastrum Domin , new record, Hylodesmum oldhamii (Oliv.) H.Ohashi & R.R.Mill , ( L. desmodiella Kuroko, 1982 ), H. podocarpum subsp. oxyphyllum (DC.) H.Ohashi & R.R.Mill ( L. desmodiella , L. paraschista ), H. repandum (Vahl) H.Ohashi & R.R.Mill ( L. desmodiella ), Indigofera kirilowii Maxim. ex Palib. ( L. indigofera Liu, Wang & Wang, 2018 ), I. tinctoria L. ( L. indigofera ), Lespedeza bicolor Turcz. ( L. desmodiella , L. kumatai Kuroko, 1982 ), Lespedeza sp. ( L. kumatai ), Millettia Wight & Arn. ( L. paraschista ), Ohwia caudata (Thunb.) H.Ohashi ( L. desmodiella Kuroko, 1982 ), Pleurolobus gangeticus (L.) J.St.-Hill. ex H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi ( L. paraschista ), Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre, new record ( L. kuranda sp. nov. and L. pinnatae sp. nov.), Pongamia sp. , new record ( L. kuranda sp. nov.), Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Maesen & S.M.Almeida ex Sanjappa & Predeep ( L. lobata Kuroko, 1960 ), Pueraria sp. ( L. lobata ), Tephrosia polystachya E.Mey. ( L. tephrosiae Vári, 1961 ), Wisteria brachybotrys Siebold & Zucc. ( L. brachybotrys Kuroko, 1960 ).

Distribution: Afrotropical Region: South Africa: Mpumalanga.

Australian Region: Australia, new record: Queensland, new record, Northern Territory, new record; Fiji, Solomon Islands.

Oriental Region : India: Bihar, Karnataka .

Palaearctic Region: China: Shandong, Tianjin, Japan: Hokkaidō, Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku, Tusima, Russian Federation: Nyzhne Amur region, Primorye region, South Korea, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan.

Species richness: World: 12 species; Australian Region: 5 species.

Australian species

Key to the Australian Liocrobyla species based on external morphological characters and bionomics

(1) costal broad central striga absent.................................................................... L. saturata - costal broad central striga present........................................................................ 2 (2) in Australia larvae feed on Flemingia ( Fabaceae ) plants and other low growing Fabaceae plants except Pongamia spp. .....

......................................................................... L. paraschista and L. desmodiella - in Australia larvae feed on Pongamia spp. plants............................................................ 3 (3) in Australia larvae feed exclusively on Pongamia pinnata ( Fabaceae ) plants........................ L. pinnatae sp. nov. - in Australia larvae feed on Pongamia pinnata and other Pongamia spp. ( Fabaceae ) plants............ L. kuranda sp. nov.

Note: The Liocrobyla species in Australia are not diagnosable from external characters and they feed on closely related plants. The species-linked diagnostic characters are found in internal morphology and mitogenomics.

Note 2: An alien invasive species L. desmodiella might be detected following the external characters by experienced entomologists.

Key to the Australian Liocrobyla species based on internal morphological characters of males

(1) valva with two thin separate appendages.......................................................... L. saturata - structures of valvae are fused............................................................................ 2 (2) costal and ventral margins of valva are folded.................................................... L. desmodiella - costal margin is free, only ventral margin is folded.......................................................... 3 (3) cucullus area with biforked appendix, transtilla complete, aedeagus S-shaped with a short process at coecum..............

.................................................................................... L. kuranda sp. nov. - cucullus area with a short appendix, transtilla incomplete, aedeagus bent without any processes........ L. pinnatae sp. nov.

Note: no data on L. paraschista male genitalia characters. Kuroko (1982) stated in Japanese that the species identified as Liocrobyla paraschista Meyrick, 1916b in Kuroko (1960: Figs 1, 6, Pl. 1, Fig. 9) is a misidentification and named it as a new species, L. desmodiella Kuroko, 1982 .

Key to the Australian Liocrobyla species based on internal morphological characters of females

(1) sterigma with deep notch at central part of sternum VII at anterior part of sterigmatic structure............. L. desmodiella - anterior margin of sterigmatic structure without notch........................................................ 2 (2) lamella post-vaginalis with short broad lateral processes....................................... L. kuranda sp. nov. - lamella post-vaginalis with long, thin, horn-like lateral processes................................ L. pinnatae sp. nov.

Note: no data on L. paraschista and L. saturata female genitalia characters. Kuroko (1982) stated in Japanese that the species identified as Liocrobyla paraschista Meyrick, 1916b in Kuroko (1960: Pl. 1, Fig. 10) is a misidentification and named it as a new species, L. desmodiella Kuroko, 1982 .

Type species: Liocrobyla paraschista Meyrick, 1916

“ Liocrobyla paraschista , n. sp. ”—Meyrick, E., 1916b. Exotic Microlepidoptera (Marlborough) 2(1): 5. https://www. biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9808398

Liocrobyla paraschista — Fletcher 1921: 160–161, 1929: 127, 1933:59, Issiki 1957: 28–29; Kuroko 1960: 2–5 (misidentification); De Prins & De Prins 2005: 198; Evenhuis 2007: 20.

Type locality: [ India, Karnataka], Kanara, Manchikeri; Bengal [recte Bihar], Pusa .

Type specimens: Syntypes males and females, number of specimens not stated in the original description; 3♂, 1♀, in NHMUK (London) .

Illustrations examined: Fletcher 1921: pl. 40, Fig. 2, 1933: pl. 60; Issiki 1957: Fig. 107; LNAUV1220-17; LNAUV1221-17 ( BOLD Systems).

Note: Kuroko (1982) stated in Japanese that the species identified as Liocrobyla paraschista Meyrick, 1916b in Kuroko (1960: Figs 1, 6, Pl.1, Figs 9, 10) is a misidentification and named it as a new species, L. desmodiella Kuroko, 1982 .

BOLD data: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxon= Liocrobyla+paraschista & searchTax=Search+Taxonomy

GenBank data: No data.

Mitogenomic data: No data.

Bionomics: Fabaceae : Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze , Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. ( Meyrick 1916b: 5), Flemingia lineata (L.) W.T.Aiton ( Fletcher 1933: 59), Hylodesmum podocarpum subsp. oxyphyllum (DC.) H.Ohashi & R.R.Mill. ( EIHU Collection, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan), Millettia sp. ( Robinson et al. 2001: 245), Pleurolobus gangeticus (L.) J.St.-Hil. ex H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi ( Fletcher 1921: 160).

Distribution: Australian Region: Fiji ( Evenhuis 2007: 20).

Oriental Region : India: Bihar, Karnataka ( Meyrick 1916b: 5) .