Stueningeria kinmena Yen, Wickramasinghe, Liao & Cheng, 2025

Yen, Shen-Horn, Liao, Shih-Rei, Wickramasinghe, Manupa Pabasara & Cheng, Chung-Te, 2025, Description of a new species of Stueningeria Lehmann, 2019 (Lepidoptera, Cossoidea, Metarbelidae) from Kinmen Island of Taiwan, Biodiversity Data Journal 13, pp. e 161543-e 161543 : e161543-

Stueningeria kinmena Yen, Wickramasinghe, Liao & Cheng sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; establishmentMeans: native; disposition: in collection; occurrenceID: 6FAE088E-E8DB-5861-9E4B-B2D779E80C0C; Taxon: higherClassification: Insecta; Lepidoptera ; Cossoidea; Metarbelidae ; Stueningeria ; Location: continent: East Asia; island: Kinmen; country: Taiwan; county: Kinmen; locality: Kinmen Agriculture Research Institute ; verbatimLatitude: 24.448365; verbatimLongitude: 118.446909; Identification: identifiedBy: Shen-Horn Yen; dateIdentified: 09 November 2022; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from larva collected from litchi tree; eventDate: 6-11 May 2022; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionCode: National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU); basisOfRecord: PinnedSpecimen

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: individualCount: 14; sex: 8 males, 6 females; lifeStage: adults; establishmentMeans: native; occurrenceStatus: present; disposition: in collection; occurrenceID: 6596D8FC-A24D-5D84-81D2-BE3A3AE03F81; Location: continent: East Asia; island: Kinmen; country: Taiwan; county: Kinmen; locality: Kinmen Agriculture Research Institute ; verbatimLatitude: 24.448365; verbatimLongitude: 118.446909; Identification: identifiedBy: Shen-Horn Yen; dateIdentified: 9 November 2022; Event: samplingProtocol: reared from larva collected from litchi tree; eventDate: 6-11 May 2022; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionCode: National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU); basisOfRecord: PinnedSpecimen

Description

Wings (Fig. 1 ). Length of forewing 12.5 mm on average in male (n = 9) and 13.9 mm on average in female (n = 6). Head: covered with scales light grey with brown tips; eyes light grey with black patches; labial palpus light grey. Thorax: Patagia and tegulae covered by light grey scales with brown tips. Fore-wing upperside with 12 dots between costa and Sc arranging from wing base to apex; proximal dot within discoidal cell much darker than distal one; dots on postmedial zone more conspicuous on m 2, m 3 and cua 1 cells; dots along outer margin clearly separated by m 1, m 2, m 3 and cua 1 cells; androconial patch white, arising from wing base and extending to tornus. Forewing underside light grey, glossy, costal margin with brown dots. Hind-wing upperside creamy-white with medial to marginal zones greyish-brown; hind-wing underside with similar pattern, but lighter in colouration.

Male genitalia (Fig. 2 ). Uncus bifurcate at posterior part; scaphium and subscaphium present and fused into a long spindle-like tube; gnathos with lateral arms lamellar and slender lateral processes upcurved; valva short and rounded with costal margin curved; sacculus much more sclerotised than other parts of valva with a triangular projection situated dorsally; juxta present and lamellar; saccus reduced; aedeagus thick with a large cornutus.

Female genitalia (Fig. 2 ). Papillae anales conical, semi-circular at apex, apophyses anteriores and posteriors short, apophyses anteriores 1.2 times longer than apophyses posteriors, antrum sclerotised, narrow, funnel-like, ductus long, corpus bursae short and small, sternite of 7 th abdominal segment concave at posterior and lateral margins.

Diagnosis

The wing pattern of S. kinmena sp. nov. can be distinguished from the congeners by the following characters. Compared with S. nepalensis (see Lehmann (2019)), colouration of the spots lying along the inner margin of fore-wing in S. kinmena sp. nov. are much lighter. The dark medial zone in S. campbelli (see fig. 4 in Yakovlev and Zolotuhin (2021 b)) is not shown in S. kinmena sp. nov. Both the distal and proximal spots within the discoidal cell of fore-wing in S. phaga (see figs. 5-6 in Yakovlev and Zolotuhin (2021 b)) are much darker than S. kinmena sp. nov. The postmedial zone of S. kinmena sp. nov. is much lighter than those of S. htatae , S. csovari , S. ihtei and S. pinratanai (see figs. 1-15 in Yakovlev and Zolotuhin (2021 b)). Compared with S. loeffleri (see fig. 10 in Yakovlev and Zolotuhin (2021 b)), the proximal dot within fore-wing discoidal cell is more rounded. The “ gaps ” between each spot lying on submarginal and postmedial zones of S. kinmena sp. nov. are clearer than those of S. murzini .

The male genitalia of S. kinmena sp. nov. resembles that of S. phaga (see fig. 17 in Yakovlev and Zolotuhin (2021 b)), but can be distinguished by the following characters: the posterior margin of each lobe of uncus slightly concave, the outline of the postero-dorsal margin of valva more rounded and the triangular projection on valval saccus is less sharp than that of S. phaga .

Etymology

The new species is named after Kinmen Island, an island lying roughly 2 km from the south-eastern coastline of China. Kinmen is one of the few islands located close to the Chinese coastline, but under the control of Taiwan.

Distribution

Kinmen Island (Taiwan). This new species is very likely to be discovered in the lowlands of Fujian Province of China.

Ecology

The larvae of this species are stem-borers and bark-feeders of many broad-leaved trees like the larvae of other species of Metarbelidae , but the larvae only bore into the stem when not feeding and pupation. They are mostly feeding on bark surrounding the silken tunnel mouth under a sleeve, which is made of frass and excreta of the larva (Figs 3 , 4 ). The larvae can be found in litchi (Litchi chinensis) and other ornamental trees (such as Bauhinia variegata ) in Kinmen. Adults start to emerge during May to June (Fig. 3 ). The female adults start to lay eggs in June and the larval stage lasts for 9 - 10 months. Pupation occurs within the larval tunnel (Fig. 3 ). The adults can be attracted to light.

Figures

Figure 1. Adults of Stueningeria kinmena sp. nov. A Holotype male; B Paratype female.

Figure 2. Genitalia of Stueningeria kinmena sp. nov. A Male; B Female.

Figure 3. Biology of Stueningeria kinmena sp. nov. A A newly-emerged adult; B A pupa situated within the larval tunnel; C A mature larva found within the tunnel.

Figure 4. The silken tunnel made of larval frass hanging on bark of a litchi tree.