Topiris sampitella ( Lvovsky, 2014 ), 2025

Sterling, Mark J., Price, Ben W. & Lees, David C., 2025, A revision of the hitherto neglected genus Topiris Walker, 1863 (Lepidoptera, Xyloryctidae) with taxonomic notes on the genus Athrypsiastis Meyrick, 1910, ZooKeys 1229, pp. 297-368 : 297-368

Topiris sampitella ( Lvovsky, 2014) comb. nov.

Figs 18 , 48

Metathrinca sampitella Lvovsky, 2014: 196.

DNA barcode.

N / A.

Type material.

Indonesian Borneo [Kalimantan]: Holotype • ♂, South Borneo, Sampit , 0–50 m, 20.ii.1950, W. Buyn leg., specimen no. RMNH.INS.1283491 , slide no. Gen Prep No. 63, A. Lvovsky det. The holotype is held at NBC .

Material examined.

Photographic images of the adult, original description including Alexander Lvovsky’s drawing of the male genitalia. The genitalia slide was not located. The original description does not contain an image of the adult.

Remarks.

It is apparent from a low-resolution image of the ventral surface of the adult that, in the forewing, R 3 is present, R 3, R 4, and R 5 have a common stalk and M 3 and CuA 1 are stalked. The data which was apparent from the material examined was included in our analyses, although the genitalia drawing does not show the saccus, vinculum, sacculus or tegumen characters and, importantly, according to the original description the aedeagus is missing. However, the drawing of the gnathos shows a typical Topiris gnathos, with a medial plate weakly projecting posteriorly from the lateral arms (Fig. 48 ) and is not Athrypsiastis . The species appears in Figs 1 b , 2 within the Topiris clade and not within the candidella or albidella groups. It does not form a clade with Metathrinca . It is therefore placed within the T. salva group.

Figures

Figure 1. a analysis using IQTree (UFbootstrap values as percentage of 1000) and MrBayes 3.2. 7 (/ posterior probabilities) of DNA barcodes of Topiris, including all unique haplotypes sequenced (except one 133 bp sequence of Topiris albidella), showing their relationship to the genus Athrypsiastis and two exemplars of Metathrinca, rooted by Xylorycta (type species: X. luteotactella). The reconstructed DNA barcode Topiris candidella (NHMUK 010219690, highlighted in blue) from Sarawak falls in a clade with specimens of other members of the BIN cluster BOLD: ADR 9781 from which it differs by 1-3 bp. Topiris is recovered as monophyletic. HT = holotype, PT = paratype, NT = neotype; bp = no of nucleotides sequenced, if not 658 b morphological dataset (65 characters) as analysed for 24 taxa in MrBayes 3.2. 7 under a gamma model, rooted by the type species of Xylorycta (X. luteotactella). The specimen numbers and sexes of the exemplars used for describing the morphological characters are set out in this figure. Where possible, the holotype (HT) [or neotype (NT) was used for scoring. PT = paratype, NT = neotype, m = male, f = female. The male of Topiris candidella (highlighted in blue) is represented by a modern specimen (NHMUK 019223170), since the holotype is incomplete. T. candidella is morphologically cryptic with T. cinderella except for small differences in the male genitalia.

Figure 2. Combined morphological and molecular tree run in MrBayes 3.2. 7 under a split-partition gamma and inverse gamma model (with posterior supports where > 0.94) and with the morphological part of the matrix mapped onto this tree using WinClada v. 1.00. 08. This tree shows supporting characters (filled circles show forward nonhomoplasious changes, which may be either synapomorphies or autapomorphies; unfilled circles show forward changes with homoplasy or reversal) for Topiris and other ingroup species. The support values in red are posterior probabilities of at least 0.94 for a two partition run in MrBayes 3.2. 7 for the combined 723 character matrix. HT = holotype, NT = neotype, PT = paratype, m = male, f = female. Character numbers appear above the circles. State numbers appear below the circles.

Figures 4–21. Dorsal images of Topiris spp. 4 Topiris candidella Walker, 1863, holotype ♂ 5 T. candidella, Sarawak, leg. A. R. Wallace, ♂ 6 T. candidella, Brunei, ♂ 7 T. cinderella sp. nov., paratype ♂ 8 T. ochrotincta sp. nov., holotype ♂ 9 T. schneeweissella sp. nov., holotype ♂ 10 T. sericella sp. nov., holotype ♂ 11 T. salva (Meyrick, 1932), comb. nov., neotype ♂ 12 T. salva (Meyrick, 1932), comb. nov., paraneotype ♂ 13 T. salva, ♂ 14 T. albogrisella sp. nov., holotype ♂ 15 T. lacteella sp. nov., paratype ♂ 16 T. madonna sp. nov., holotype ♂ 17 T. meyricki sp. nov., holotype ♂ 18 T. sampitella (Lvovsky, 2014), comb. nov., holotype ♂ 19 T. thunbergella sp. nov., holotype ♂ 20 T. albidella sp. nov., holotype ♂ 21 T. digiticosta sp. nov., holotype ♂. Scale bar: 10 mm.

Figures 48–56. Male genitalia of Topiris and Athrypsiastis spp. 48 T. sampitella (Lvovsky, 2014), holotype, Gen. prep. No 63 49 A, B Athrypsiastis phaeoleuca Meyrick, 1910, holotype, slide no. NHMUK 010316398 50 A, B A. cheesmanae sp. nov., holotype, slide no. NHMUK 010316428 51 A, B A. edelweissella sp. nov., holotype, slide no. NHMUK 010316429 52 A. penumbrella sp. nov. A holotype, slide no. NHMUK 010316430 B paratype, slide no. NHMUK 010316843 53 A, B A. symmetra Meyrick, slide no. NHMUK 010316443 54 A. halmaherella (Lvovsky), holotype, Gen. prep. No 62 55 A. chionodes Diakonoff, 1954, holotype 56 A. delicata Diakonoff, 1954, holotype. Scale bar: 1 mm (49–53 B).