Neopseustis meyricki Hering 1925

Neopseustis meyricki Hering

Neopseustis meyricki Hering, 1925:146–147.—Kristensen, 1968: 137, 141–147—Mutuura, 1971:1129, 1133; 1972:1065.

Formopseustis takamukui Matsumura, 1931:1115, new synonym.

ADULT (Figure 6).—Wing expanse: , 20 mm; 9, 20–22 mm.

Head: Vertex and frons brownish fuscous. Antennae brownish fuscous; underside of scape pale brown. Maxillary palpi pale brown to stramineous. Labial palpi brownish fuscous, becoming lighter, more stramineous on underside toward base (first segment).

Thorax: Dorsum brownish fuscous with a small, bilateral tuft of whitish scales arising anteriorly near margins of tegulae; venter stramineous, without conspicuous banding. Forewings with basal two-thirds predominantly light brown, mottled with irregular patches of darker brown to dark fuscous and with a sparse scattering of broad, silvery white scales, particularly along veins; distal third primarily whitish, mottled with rather large spots of brownish fuscous bordering outer margin; largest and most conspicuous spot extending along costa from Sc2 almost to apex. Hindwings with basal two-thirds pale grayish brown; distal third primarily whitish with series of partially contiguous spots of pale grayish brown bordering wing margin from R1 to CuA1.

Abdomen: Sparsely clothed with slender, brownish scales. Male with a relatively long (3 times its width in length) stout, median spinelike process arising from caudal margin of seventh sternite; apex of process minutely bidentate; caudal margin of eighth sternite with a median, low, broad, indistinctly bilobed process bearing a single transverse row of coarse, irregular teeth. Female with median spine of seventh sternite stout, acute, and serrulate along its ventral margin; caudal margin of seventh sternite with a median, rugose patch of 40–60 blunt teeth; bilateral pair of pads on fourth sternite nearly 0.5 the length of segment in diameter.

Male genitalia (Figures 74–78): Gnathos a slender, uncinate process arising between socii and projecting ventrally. Valvae with a small, slender, bilateral pair of clavate lobes arising from sacculus and nearly contiguous along midline. Lateroposterior lobes of anellus rather symmetrical in outline, deeply forked near base, giving rise to two slender processes (Figure 77); a relatively short, bilateral pair of processes arising nearly contiguous to one another from median posterior margin of anellus; apices of these processes not acute, instead, irregularly serrate. Parameres greatly lengthened, surpassing apex of uncus, densely pubescent over ventral half, slightly enlarged near acute apices.

Female genitalia (Figures 88–91): Apex of ovipositor broad, heavily sclerotized, with a triangular, tricuspidate, and bluntly rounded median lobe and a bilateral pair of more acute lobes. Lateral margin of ninth tergite produced into a bilateral pair of bilobed, somewhat scalloped, ridgelike processes. Caudal margin of eighth sternite deeply excavated, with lateral margins extending posteriorly as rather broad, triangular lobes. Ductus bursae relatively long, strongly curved in a sagittal plane so as to appear sigmoid in outline viewed laterally; walls heavily thickened. Corpus bursae completely membranous, spherical in outline.

TYPES.—Holotype, 9 (Neopseustis meyricki); in the Zoologisches Museum of Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. Lectotype, (Formopseustis takamukui, present designation), bearing the following labels: Horisha, Formosa, 1917; Formopseustis takamukui M.; type, Matsumura; genitalia on slide 2940, D. R. Davis; lectotype , Formopseustis takamukui Mats., by Davis 1975.

TYPE-LOCALITIES.—Kosempo, Formosa (Neopseustis meyricki); Horisha, Formosa (Formopseustis takamukui).

DISTRIBUTION (Map 1).—This species has been collected only from the central highlands of Taiwan (Formosa), where it appears to occur rather widely at elevations exceeding 1000 meters.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.—2 males and 6 females.

TAIWAN. Horisha [Pu-li]: 1 (lectotype, F. takamukui), 1 (paralectotype, F. takamukui), 1917 (HU); 1 (paralectotype, F. takumukui), 1917 (USNM). Kanshirei [Kuan-tzuling]: 2 ,3 April 1909 and 7 July 1908 (BMNH). Kosempo [Chia-hsien]: 1 (holotype, N. meyricki), 1 (paratype, N. meyricki), Sept. 1909 (ZMHU). Raisya [Lai-i-ts′un]: 15, 23 Nov. 1934 (USNM).

Neopseustis meyricki is a species of moth belonging to the family Neopseustidae. It was described by Hering in 1925. It is known from the central highlands of Taiwan, where it occurs rather widely at elevations exceeding 1,000 meters.

The wingspan is 20 mm for males and 20–22 mm for females.