Cuphodes leucoptera 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 : 60-62

Cuphodes leucoptera De Prins, Sruoga & Zwick , sp. nov.

( Figs 55, 107, 128, 637)

Type locality: Australia, Queensland, Red Island Point, Cape York .

Type specimen: Holotype ♀ ( Fig. 55): [labels verbatim] [1] Red Is. [land] Point,/ Cape York, Q.[Queensland]/29 Mar [ March ] 1964/ I. F.B. Common/& M.S. Upton, DNA sample NULT022870, genitalia slide ANIC 6278 , ANIC Acc. no 31 085619, in ANIC (Canberra).

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

Diagnosis ( Fig.55):externally very similar to C. habrophanes due to the white forewing without any pattern,narrowing apical part of forewing, and thickly pilose mid legs. Both species C. leucoptera sp. nov. and C. habrophanes belong to the same species group. The diagnostic differences between both species are tiny, but noticeable as described below. Wingspan 5.2 mm; length of the forewing 2.6 mm. Based on mitogenomic characters C. leucoptera sp. nov. is the sister species to C. albomarginata .

Head: vertex shiny white, occiput light ochrous at mid part, frons snowy white, with very strong silver lustre; maxillary palpus tiny, triangular, ca. 2× smaller than basal labial palpomere; labial palpus slender, rather long, ca. 2× as long as the diameter of eye, apical palpomere with sharp apex; antenna as long as forewing or slightly longer (it is broken in the examined specimen), snowy white, concolourous with vertex, with strong silver shine, pedicel slightly thickened but no longer as the following flagellomere; scape long, as long as ca. 3–4 regular flagellomeres, snowy white, pecten not perceptible.

Thorax ( Fig. 55): snowy white, tegula white, concolourous with thorax and vertex; forewing shape with narrowed apical part, ground colour of forewing snowy white with several tiny irregular light ochreous spots speckled around the mid line of forewing; apical spot absent, apical line not perceptible; hindwing dirty white with very strong silver lustre, narrow, strongly sharpening towards apex. Fore legs with tiny dark ochreous spots at outer lateral side—a species linked diagnostic character; mid and hind legs white, without any specific markings, but heavily covered with piliform scales, especially mid legs, hind tibia thinner than mid tibia, with longer erected and stout scales, continuing on hind tarsomere I.

Abdomen ( Fig. 128): dirty white with silver shine; last abdominal segments with light fuscous shading. Margins of abdominal opening on sternum II narrowly but strongly sclerotised, ventral crossing joint is broadly melanised, corners of abdominal opening sharply angulated, sternal apodemes initiating at the corners of abdominal opening are long, ending slightly anteriorly of tergal apodemes, with sharp apices, well visible; tergal apodemes initiate at the margin on tergum I, with short, erect, digitiform appendix at basal part, slightly bent concavely at the mid part, terminating with sharp apices just beyond the mid of segment II. In females the posterior margin of sternum II strongly melanised; additional melanised fold is present in sub-posterior part of sternum II. Anterior margins of sterna III–VI in females are slightly stronger sclerotised than the posterior ones.

Male genitalia: No data.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 107): Papillae anales flattened, fused and pressed anteriorly. Segment VIII, short reduced, weakly sclerotised; apophyses posteriores with broad bases and blunt apices, entering the posterior margin of segment VII; apophyses anteriores rather long, initiating at the posterior margin and almost reaching anterior margin of segment VII; the sclerotisation degree of segment VII is medial, sterigma consists of a trapezoid-shaped lamella post-vaginalis; ostium bursae opens at sub-posterior sector of sternum VII, antrum long, slightly sclerotised, funnel shaped at the initial part and ends with a strongly sclerotised ring encircling ductus bursae; the transition between corpus bursae and ductus bursae smooth; ductus bursae rather broad, widening towards corpus bursae, corpus bursae bulb-shaped; two signa in the form of prolonged sclerotised stripes are present: the first signum long, curved situated just anteriad the joint of ductus bursae to corpus bursae, the second signum short, straight, situated at sub-posterior sector, close to midline of corpus bursae, ductus seminalis enters ductus bursae just posteriad the ring on ductus bursae.

Mitogenomic data: The single sequence of the holotype is very strongly supported by all analyses as a distinct but relatively close sister to C. albomarginata ( Fig. 637).

Bionomics: No data.

Distribution: Known from the type locality only: Australia: Queensland, Red Island Point, Cape York.

Etymology: The specific name is a compound word consisting of two Greek words ‘λευκός (leukós)’ meaning white and—‘πτερόν’ meaning wing. The name refers to the white forewings of this new species. It is a noun of the feminine gender in apposition.