Diphtheroptila auris 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 : 91-92

Diphtheroptila auris De Prins, Sruoga & Zwick , sp. nov.

( Figs 137, 211, 212, 253)

Type locality: Australia, Queensland, Kuranda .

Type specimen: Holotype ♂: [1] ‘Kuranda / 1900 Oct. [ober]‘; [2] ‘ ANIC Database No. /31 053789’, [3] ‘ Barcode of

Life/DNA voucher specimen/Smple [Sample] ID: 11ANIC-16218/BOLD Proc.ID: ANICY218-11’, DNA sample

NULT022728, genitalia slide ANIC 6259, in ANIC (Canberra).

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

Diagnosis. Many species belonging to Diphtheroptila cannot be diagnosed by external characters, neither by host plants. The external characters of this species remind of those of D. cairna sp. nov., D. glochidia sp. nov., D. nix

sp. nov., D. oxyloga , and D. virosae sp. nov. The DNA sequencing of this tiny specimen of 123 years old was not successful. The very clear diagnostic characters should be searched in the internal morphological structures of male genitalia. Following the shape of valva and the general appearance of male genital capsule D. auris sp. nov. is most similar to the type species D. oxyloga . The major diagnostic differences between those two Diphtheroptila species are as follows:

● In D. auris sp. nov. tegumen is oval shaped, teguminal arms bent, narrowly sclerotised, approaching each other without sclerotised horn-shaped appendages; in D. oxyloga tegumen is broad rectangular-shaped with a triangular anterior part, teguminal arms straight, strongly sclerotised, running parallel to each other with sclerotised horn-shaped appendage.

● In D. auris sp. nov. sacculus with broad sclerotised fold; in D. oxyloga sacculus is shaped as a rectangular hanging flap.

● Vinculum in D. auris sp. nov. is broadly triangular V-shaped with a smooth transition to saccus; vinculum in D. oxyloga is broadly U-shaped with an abrupt distinction between vinculum and saccus.

● Aedeagus in D. auris sp. nov. is tubular shaped, midsized, ca. 8× longer than broad; aedeagus in D. oxyloga is short, thick bulb-shaped, ca. 2.5× longer than the broadest girth at coecum.

Morphological diagnostic characterisation: Wingspan 6.8 mm; length of the forewing 3.2 mm ( Fig. 137).

Head: vertex white with light ochreous shading, occiput covered with stout, thin, piliform, light ochreous scales directed upward, frons white covered three V-shaped levels pressed piliform scales, labral covering semi-round. Maxillary palpus very small, porrect, terminal labial palpomere covered with small but loosely attached piliform scales. Labial palpus rather thick, as long as ca. 1.5× diameter of the eye, white with fuscous patches on the apical sector of basal palpomere, small fuscous ochreous spot on the outer margin of mid palpomere, and an ochreous fuscous band on sub-apex of terminal palpomere; basal palpomere carries a tuft of long hanging piliform scales; scape of antenna with a spectacular row of hanging pecten.

Thorax ( Fig. 137): posterior part dirty white, tegula ochreous anteriorly and dirty white posteriorly, ground colour of forewing ochreous with complex irregular dirty white fasciae, stripes and patches, that resemble the forewing ornamentation of Diphtheroptila species, feeding on Phyllanthaceae plants; apical area of forewing semi-round, bright yellow ochreous with black apical stripe surrounded by dark brown scales, edged with fine apical line consisting on a row of black scales; fringe line broad, brownish fuscous, gently running round the apical margin, termen, and tornus, consisting of light ochreous piliform scales with broad brown apical part. Hindwing narrow with sharply pointed apex, fringe concolourous with hindwing, long, ca. 5× longer than the width of forewing at base, gently increasing in length toward the base of hindwing. Mid femur light ochreous, mid tibia light beige with three fuscous markings, mid tarsus unicolourous, light grey, tibial spurs grey, ¼ shorter than tarsomere I; hind tibia ochreous grey with a characteristic row of stout spiculose scales running down on tarsomere I; medial spurs light ochreous, long, slightly shorter than hind tibia, apical spurs short, fuscous with blunt apices, hind tarsomeres dark fuscous with dirty white apices.

Abdomen ( Fig. 253): bronze-beige on tergites I–II, lighter shading on terga III–VI, anterior genital segment dirty white. The abdominal opening long, triangularly shaped, the margins of the abdominal opening on sternum II strongly sclerotised, the ventral crossing joint is finely sclerotised, thin, twinned by the anterior margin of the sternal plate; the lateral sides of the sternal plate act as sternal apodemes; a lightly melanised joint connecting the lateral sides of abdominal opening on tergum I is present, which is an initiating point of tergal apodemes; tergal apodemes sharply hooked at bases, thin, rather long, reaching sub-posterior part of tergum II; apical part of tergal apodemes hooked. Anterior segment VII in males with one narrow, sclerotised semi-ring, and irregularly shaped anterior plate and invagination on sternum VI. The anterior margin of sternum VI is finely sclerotised.

Male genitalia ( Figs 211, 212). Teguminal arms bent, narrow sclerotised, approaching each other but not meeting each other; sub-scaphium strongly developed, protruding as a narrow blunt teguminal apical part; teguminal plate is oval, densely covered by tiny tubercules. Valvae gently appraised at cucullus, apical part gently rounded, a strongly sclerotised suture follows the costal margin, mid part of ventral surface is enlarged, covered with long slender setae, sacculus as strongly sclerotised prolonged fold, bases of which meets in the cavity of male genitalia forming the support of juxta; basal apodemes of costal valval margin long, meet each other in the genital cavity replacing the support function of transtilla; vinculum is well developed, broad, fully sclerotised, lateral sides folded; saccus short but well developed, V-shaped, broadly triangular. Aedeagus is slightly shorter than valva, mid-sized in girth, almost equally thick along its entire length, with one strongly sclerotised, thick cornutus, occupying the vesica almost entirely.

Female genitalia: No data.

BOLD data: (sic as Epicephala epimicta ) https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_SearchTerms?query=%2 2 Epicephala %20epimicta%22[tax]

GenBank data: No data.

Mitogenomic data: No data.

Bionomics: No data.

Distribution: Known from the type locality only: Australia: Queensland, Kuranda.

Etymology: the specific name derives from the Latin word auris , meaning ear. The species’ name is formed by the resemblance of the shape of valva to the shape of the ear of a kangaroo. The species name is a noun in apposition of the feminine gender of the third declension in the nominative case.