Epicephala xerocarpa 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 : 172-174

Epicephala xerocarpa De Prins, Sruoga & Zwick , sp. nov.

( Figs 308, 309, 321–324, 336–339, 356–358, 368, 369, 375, 382, 384, 637)

Type locality: Australia, Northern Territory, Solar Village.

Type specimens: Holotype ♀: [labels verbatim] [1] Australia NT [Northern Territory]/ 12.37S 131.15E /Solar Village/ Humpty Doo em.[emerged] 16 Feb.[February]1998/T. & M. Kumata [2] Host 5852/ Glochidion / xerocarpus / (Fruit), DNA sample NULT025549, genitalia slide ANIC 6220, ANIC Acc. no 31 085532, in ANIC (Canberra).

Paratypes 2 specimens: Paratype 1(♂): same collecting data as for the holotype. Host 5852 Glochidion xerocarpus O.Schwarz. ( Phyllanthaceae ), DNA sample NULT025424, genitalia slide ANIC 6219, ANIC Acc. no 31 085585. Paratype 2(♀): same collecting data, except the date 15 February 1998, DNA sample NULT024717, genitalia slide ANIC 6221, ANIC Acc. no 31 085586, in ANIC (Canberra).

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

Diagnosis: The plant genus Glochidion is a usual host plant for Epicephala moths. No less than eighteen species of Epicephala , mainly distributed in the Oriental region, are recorded to feed on Glochidion plants. This species is the first Epicephala species recorded to feed on Glochidion in the Australian biogeographical region. The bionomics and the host plant specificity Glochidion xerocarpus O. Schwarz. ( Phyllanthaceae ) could serve as a diagnostic indicator. Oligophagy cannot be excluded in this particular case, especially keeping in mind the fact that quite some biological records for Epicephala spp. indicate the host plant genus only. The morphological diagnostic characters among closely related species should be searched in genital morphology. This group of closely related species has a strongly developed sacculus that is separated from the costal part of the valva in male genitalia. In E. xerocarpa sp. nov. sacculus is broad, shorter in comparison with sacculus in E. acrobaphes and E. philippa sp. nov., more or less quadrate rectangular with a truncate apical part, in E. acrobaphes sacculus is prolonged rectangular, with gently rounded apical part, which is covered by bent, apically setose fold, while in E. philippa sp. nov. the apex of sacculus in male genitalia is bluntly triangular, almost pointed. In female genitalia, all four morphologically and genetically related species E. xerocarpa sp. nov., E. dunkensis sp. nov., E. acrobaphes sp. nov. and E. philippa sp. nov. have very long both pairs of apophyses that almost reach the anterior part of ductus bursae, strongly sclerotised colliculum and complex and well-developed sterigma. The most obvious diagnostic characters can be found in the shape of sterigmatic plates (lamellae post-vaginalis). In E. xerocarpa sp. nov. sterigmatic plates are big, broad, extending beyond segment VII, more or less quadrangular with irregular, with small indentations posterior margin, with deep, almost until anterior margin indentation, clearly dividing the sterigma into two mirroring plates; in E. philippa sp. nov. the mirroring sterigmatic plates are approximately twice smaller than in E. xerocarpa sp. nov., with small concave indentation and with smoothly cut posterior margin; in E. dunkensis sp. nov. the sterigmatic plate is narrowing posteriorly, with a shallow concave indentation, while in E. acrobaphes the two mirroring sterigmatic plates are petal-shaped, touching each other and partly fused at the mid part of lamellae. The other independent reliable set of diagnostic characters are found in the mitogenomics. This species is the sister lineage to the clade E. dunkensis sp. nov. + E. acrobaphes + E. philippa sp. nov.

Description: Wingspan ca. 6.0– 6.5 mm; length of the forewing 2.8–3.2 mm ( Figs 308, 309).

Head ( Figs 321–324): vertex smooth, consisting of two fused tufts of white slightly lifted piliform scales directed anteriorly; occiput with two short separate lateral tufts of piliform scales, directed posteriorly. Frons snowy white covered with long pressed piliform scales followed by lose hanging scales on labrum; two ochreous tufts with hanging lighter ochreous lose scales at the lateral sides of frons just next to the bases of antennae. Maxillary palpus approximately as long as the eye, curved, drooping from terminal two palpomeres, covered with lose, light ochreous scales. Labial palpus slightly longer than maxillary palpus, ca. 1.5× diameter of the eye, light ochreous, or dirty white at inner side and dark ochreous at outer side, directed straightforward, covered with small tightly supressed scales without any additional hanging piliform scales. Proboscis yellow, strongly rolled. Antenna slightly longer than forewing, dorsally ochreous, each flagellomere contains numerous tiny brown lines, flagellomeres with narrow brown apices, not ringed; ventrally light ochreous; pedicel slightly shorter and thicker than the following flagellomere, light ochreous with brown lateral sides; scape rather long, approximately as long as three flagellomeres, equally thick at base and apex, light ochreous, with long hanging 18–20 pecten of more or less the same length.

Thorax ( Figs 308, 309, 337, 339): snowy white, tegula ochreous, concolourous with the ground colour of forewing. Forewing elongated, equally broad along all its length, with gently rounded apex, ground colour equally ochreous with white not margined markings. Costal margin with three short oblique white costal strigulae at sub-base, and two at subapical part, dorsal margin white with three short oblique strigulae at sub-basal area, sub-apical area is decorated by two horizontal rather long lines, situated at the mid of forewing with two oblique long narrow stripes at sub-tornal area; apical spot very clear slightly triangular surrounded by semi-round apical area which is bordered by black scales, with a small white dot-like spot at apex and a horizontal white line at tornus; apical line very well defined, black. The fringe line is only present in the apical area. Fringe is dirty white with golden shine, shorter at tornus, the longest at sub-apical part and again shortening towards base of forewing. Hindwing narrow, elongate, sharply pointed, ground colour grey ochreous, fringe long, ca. 6× longer than the width of hindwing at the base, slightly lighter in shading than the colour of hindwing, the longest piliform scales hanging at the base of the dorsum of the hindwing. Fore leg grey, tarsomeres grey with fuscous bases and apices, tip of fore leg fuscous; mid femur and tibia light grey with broad basal and sub-apical ochreous bands, tarsomeres light grey with ochreous fuscous basal and apical parts, tibial spurs ochreous fuscous, tip of mid tarsus ochreous; hind femur dirty white with ochreous band at sub-base, hind tibia with much broader apical part than the basal one, light ochreous fuscous, with a row of sharp long spines of more or less equal length stretching along tibia; median spurs long, slightly longer than half length of tibia, light grey with a dark tip, apical spurs significantly shorter (ca. half of the length) than median ones, dirty white with dark fuscous apices; tarsi light fuscous grey, the tip of hind tarsus black.

Abdomen ( Figs 308, 309, 336, 338, 375, 382): tergites light ochreous beige, terga I and II with orange shading, genital segments light beige, ovipositor orange; sternites dirty white with oblique light fuscous stripes on lateral sides of abdomen. Abdominal opening arc-shaped, lateral sides of abdominal opening on sternum II broadly and strongly sclerotised especially anteriorly; posterior corners of abdominal opening rounded with short sternal apodemes that run at the sides of the sternal plate; ventral crossing joint thin lightly interrupted at the middle, doubled by an anterior sclerotised margin of sternal plate that is entirely sclerotised; tergal apodemes slender, straight, reach posterior 1/3 of sternum II, connected by a midsized, sclerotised joint; sternal plate on sternum II is sclerotised, clearly visible through the abdominal cuticle; anterior segment in males with a thin sclerotised bow at anterior margin, and two pairs of prolonged semi-oval (aubergine-shaped) strongly sclerotised plates that bear coremata, the posterior margin of the anterior segment with prolonged triangular plate consisting of lamellar scales; basal part with shorter ventral triangular cuticular plate; anterior segments in females simple; the anterior margin of every segment in both sexes finely but visibly sclerotised.

Male genitalia ( Figs 356–358): Tegumen elliptical, bifurcated at apex; teguminal arms are thick, the outer margin finely and strongly sclerotised; sub-scaphium well-developed, narrow, longer and protruding the apex of tegumen, apical part triangular with attached tape-shaped sclerotisation with minute scobination; an arc-shaped dorsal, transverse, thick joint connect the teguminal arms; valva with very broad, ca. twice as broad as valva itself, sacculus, that has a complex structure at the costal margin; costal margin of valvae slightly sinuating, cucullus gently rounded with a differently sclerotised apical sector that gently round around the cucullus, ventral an sub-ventral sectors densely setose with thin, horizontally placed setae; costal margin of sacculus with a bent thick appendage that initiates at the basis of sacculus and ends with a bunch of strong spiculose setae, the apical costal part of sacculus prolonged lobe-shaped, strongly sclerotised, setose, with a bunch of long sharp and strongly sclerotised setae placed at the apical part of sacculus; inner surface and ventral margin of sacculus setae free; transtilla absent but the transverse support function is taken by dorsal teguminal joint, and the basal appendages of valvae that are long, meet and cross each other in the mid of the cavity of genital capsule; basal appendages of costal part of sacculus are long, slender, but do not meet each other, vinculum U-shaped with strongly developed lateral sides, all inner sutures dividing vinculum into left and right sides are clearly visible; saccus mid-sized, rather thick, digitiform with gently rounded anterior part. Aedeagus slightly longer than valva, rather thick in girth, tubular, with triangular vesica, vesica with numerous tiny wrinkles and a prolonged ellipsoid sclerotisation area; one stick-shaped cornutus stretches along the entire length of aedeagus: from coecum till the tip of the vesica.

Female genitalia ( Figs 368, 369): Papillae anales and segment VIII are fused to a long narrow and sharp ovipositor. Apophyses posteriores strong, thick, and straight, fused at ovipositor and segment VII, separate and distancing from each other from sub-anterior margin of segment VII, ends at the basal part of corpus bursae; posterior margin of segment VII with two strongly sclerotised sterigmatic plates, mirroring each other; posterior margin of sterigmatic plates irregularly shaped with numerous indentions of different sizes and different depths; posterior half of segment VII is strongly sclerotised, anterior half of segment VII is well-melanised; apophyses anteriores initiate at the sub-anterior sector of segment VII, long and strong, as thick as apophyses posteriores; apophyses anteriores end at mid part of corpus bursae; ostium bursae opens sub-posterior part of sternum VII; antrum strongly sclerotised biforked and dentate from internal surface; colliculum in the shape of lineal longitudinal sclerotisations extends along entire length of ductus bursae and partly in ductus seminalis; ductus bursae rather thick in girth, with collicular sclerotisations, the distinction between corpus and ductus bursae is clearly evident. Corpus bursae short sac-shaped, mid part with squamous wall that form signal pattern, signum one small, situated in mid of bursal wall, dentateshaped; bulla seminalis irregularly shaped, smaller that corpus bursae, ductus seminalis wide in girth.

Individual variation: a slight variation is observed in the sub-apical ornamentation of forewing, this variation can be even between left and right forewing, the length, thickness of white stripes may vary; a similar variation is observed in costal strigulae, length, thickness, obliqueness and even position might slightly vary.

Bionomics ( Fig.384):The host plant of this species is identified: Glochidion xerocarpus O.Schwarz. ( Phyllanthaceae ), new record for the genus Epicephala . The peculiar bionomical characteristics of this species is that it feeds on fruits of the host plant about mid-February. The flight period starts from mid-February.

Pupa: Pupation in a transparent, geometrically oval cocoon; pupa shining golden, cocoon cutter flat, the appendages for future antennae, posterior legs and wings are free, not attached to the pupal case, longer than abdomen, end of abdomen is moving freely; appendages for future maxillary palpus, labial palpus, proboscis, fore and mid legs attached but not fused in a pupal case.

Mitogenomic data: All analyses support maximally the monophyly of this species (all specimens from same locality) and its inclusion within a monophylum that comprises additionally E. dunkensis sp. nov., E. acrobaphes and E. philippa sp. nov. ( Fig. 637). In contrast, its position as sister to all other members of this monophylum is only strongly supported in the CODON analysis.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality: Australia: Northern Territory, Solar Village.

Etymology: The specific epithet xerocarpa is derived from the species-group name of the host plant Glochidion xerocarpus . The species name is a noun of the feminine gender in the nominative case that has been formed following the rules of Latin grammar and agrees in gender with the generic name (Art. 31.2.).