Cydia pseudomalesana Clarke 1986

Cydia pseudomalesana

Alar expanse 10–14 mm.

Labial palpus light ochraceous buff. Antenna light ochraceous buff. Head and thorax light ochraceous buff, the latter slightly darker posteriorly. Forewing ground color light ochraceous buff heavily overlaid with rust colored or grayish scales, particulary toward dorsum; entire costa marked with prominent oblique rust colored or fuscous strigulae, the outer ones alternating with leaden metallic dashes; ocelloid patch marked with two to four short, longitudinal black dashes, and bordered inwardly and outwardly by transverse leaden metallic bars: termen very narrowly fuscous; cilia grayish fuscous. Hindwing fuscous toward margins, much lighter basally; cilia ochraceous buff to grayish fuscous with darker subbasal line. Hindwing of male with narrow line of modified whitish scales. Fore-, mid-, and hindlegs light ochraceous buff variously marked with fuscous. Abdomen grayish fuscous dorsally, light ochraceous buff ventrally.

Male genitalia slide USNM 24590. Harpe nearly of equal width throughout; cucullus slightly wider, rounded distally. Socius indicated by a few weak setae. Vinculum subtrianular. Tegumen narrowed posteriorly. Anellus triangular. Aedeagus broad basally, narrowed distally.

Female genitalia slides USNM 24543, 24544, 24591. Ostium crescent-shaped. Sterigma with two long, curved sclerotized patches. Antrum elongate, sclerotized. Inception of ductus seminalis slightly posterior to junction with bursa copulatrix. Ductus bursae with posterior two-thirds sclerotized, anterior third membranous and broadened. Bursa copulatrix membranous, except granular at junction with ductus bursae. Signa two, curved, thornlike.

HOLOTYPE.—USNM 100769.

TYPE-LOCALITY.—Fatu Hiva, Omoa.

DISTRIBUTION.—Marquesas Islands.

FOOD PLANT.—Unknown; probably seeds of leguminous plants.

Described from the holotype (16 Mar 1968), 8 and 11 paratypes as follows. Fatu Hiva: Omoa, 16–18 Mar 1968, 3, 3; Tahuna, 2000 ft (610 m), 27 Mar 1968, 1; Mt. Teoaiua, 2000 ft (610 m), 22 Mar 1968, 3. Eiao: N. Uplands, 400 m, 7 Aug 1977, at light, 4, 4 (Montgomery); Hiva Oa, Ootua, 800 m, 27–30 Jul 1977, 1 (Montgomery).

This is a variable species with the size of the costal strigulae different in different examples and the color of the hindwing varying from specimen to specimen, but the genitalia place them all together.

Meyrick (1920:352, 353) described Laspeyresia malesana and L. pycnochra, both from Madras and both were reared from pods of leguminous plants. The male of malesana and a female of pycnochra are extant and it appears very probable that they represent the same species, but without both sexes of each it is impossible to tell. The species described here is very obviously related to the above-named species but differs in several respects: The male sex scaling on the inner margin of the hindwing of pseudomalesana shows no evidence of a black line as in malesana and the “spine-cluster” near base of cucullus of malesana is composed of short, stout setae curved basad. In pseudomalesana this “spine-cluster” is composed of longer setae directed transversely. Moreover, the sacculus of malesana is notched but entire in pseudomalesana. The female pseudomalesana has a longitudinal division of the sclerotized patches on each side of the ostium, such as are present in pycnochra, but they are not as pronounced. Both male and female of pseudomalesana show strongly contrasting costal strigulae, absent in both malesana and pycnochra.

Cydia pseudomalesana has female genitalia that are very close to the African Laspeyresia platydryas Meyrick (Clarke, 1958 [1955–1970] pl. 224: fig. 2–2b). See also Cydia pycnochra (Clarke, 1958 [1955–1970], pl. 225: fig. 3–3c).