Introduction

Crossotocera wagnerella Zerny, 1930, in Wagner, was originally described based on two males and one female collected in Turkey (Akşrehir, in Central Anatolia) ( Zerny, 1930). Alongside a detailed description of the male specimens, Zerny (1930) noted the female as having a lighter stripe along the costa, as well as a dark longitudinal stripe from the base of the forewing to the apex and ciliae of hind wing that is lighter than that of the males. Later records, such as those from Romania ( Popescu-Gorj, 1984) or more recently from Turkey ( Kemal & Koçak, 2020), have concerned only males of the species. Male genitalia were first described and drawn by Lvovsky (2002), and the first photographic documentation of them was provided by Kemal & Koşak (2020). The aim of this paper is provide a first description for the female genitalia of this species.

Material and methods

Study material collected by the second author was attracted via ultraviolet light tubes (8W/12V) attached to portable light traps.

The present study is based on material from the following collections:

NMPCNational Museum, Prague, Czech RepublicRCIGRResearch collection of Ignác Richter, Malá Čausa, SlovakiaRCJSResearch collection of Jan Skyva, Prague, Czechia

Results

Crossotocera wagnerella Zerny, 1930, in Wagner

Crossotocera wagnerella Zerny, 1930, in Wagner. Int. ent. Z., 24, 20

LT: Anatolia [TURKEY]

= Rhipidocera monotona Amsel, 1952. Bull. Soc. Found 1er Ent., 36, 130, figures 5- 6

LT: Homs, SYRIA

= Crossotocera wagnerella tripunctella Amsel, 1958. Z. wien. ent. Ges., 43, 74 (subspecies)

LT: Prodomos, CYPRUS

Material examined Adult ( Figures 1- 4): For description see Zerny (1930). Male genitalia ( Figure 6). For description see Lvovsky (2002).

Description of female genitalia ( Figures 7-8): Apophyses anteriores slightly shorter than apophyses posteriores; ostium concealed by a narrow elongate lobe associated with a quadrate sclerotized process and exceeding the posterior margin of sternum VIII; antrum indistinct, ending in weakly sclerotised colliculum; ductus bursae moderately long, 2.5x shorter than bursa copulatrix, narrow, membranous; ductus seminalis at approximately half the length of ductus bursae; bursa copulatrix oval, without signum.

Bionomy: Host plant unknown. In North Macedonia, the species was collected on open steppe habitat containing thermophilic flora ( Figure 5).

Distribution: Pontomediterranean, Bulgaria ( Soffner, 1967), Cyprus ( Amsel, 1958), North Macedonia (this paper), Romania ( Popescu-Gorj, 1984), Turkey ( Zerny, 1930; Kemal & Koçak, 2020), Syria ( Amsel, 1952).

Discussion

The genus Crossotocera Zerny, 1930, in Wagner, comprised only one known species, the typespecies C. wagnerella. A separate genus, Rhipidocera Amsel, 1952, with R. monotona Amsel, 1952 as type-species, was created some years later. In 1958, the same author described C. tripunctella from Cyprus (currently considered a subspecies endemic to Cyprus) and synonymized R. monotona with C. wagnerella ( Amsel, 1958).

Generally speaking, C. wagnerella is considered to be rare due to the limited number of known localities, however it is often very abundant where it does occur (cf. Popescu-Gorj, 1984, this paper). While it is currently still one of the rarest Lepidoptera species in the Balkans, it is widespread in Turkey, as confirmed by a number of recent findings ( Kemal & Koçak, 2020).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Jan Skyva for providing his collection data. The authors thank Kristina Lexová for English language corrections and to Antonio Vives for preparing the Spanish text. Jan Sumpich carried out his portion of the work for this article with support from the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic (DKRVO 2019-2023 / 5.I.d, National Museum, 00023272).

References

Amsel, H. G. (1952). Neue Kleinschmetterlinge aus Syrien. Bulletin de la Société Fouad 1er d’Entomologie, 36, 127-134.

Amsel, H. G. (1958). Cyprische Kleinschmetterlinge. Zeitschrift der Wiener Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 43(69), 69-75.

Kemal, M., & Koçak, A. Ö. (2020). On the new records of Crossotocera wagnerella in Turkey (Lepidoptera, Oecophoridae). Centre for Entomological Studies Ankara. Miscellaneous Papers, 211, 10-12.

Lvovsky, A. L. (2002). Examination of Crossotocera wagnerella Zerny,1930, with the description of a new tribe (Lepidoptera, Oecophoridae). Atalanta, 33(1/2), 209-212.

Popescu-Gorj, A. (1984). Crossotocera wagnerella Zerny a less known species new to Romania’s fauna. Travaux du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa”, 26, 107-109.

Soffner, J. (1967). Kleinschmetterlinge aus Bulgarien (Lep.). Mitteilungen der Münchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 57, 102-122.

Zerny, H. (1930). Pyralidae-Tineidae. In F. Wagner. Zweiter (III) Beitrag zur Lepidopteren-Fauna Inner-Anatoliens. Internationale Entomologische Zeitschrift, 24(1), 16-22.

Author notes

*Autor para la correspondencia / Corresponding author