Casanovula brevipalpa (Hoare ex Hoare & van Nieukerken 2013) van Nieukerken et al. 2016

Pectinivalva brevipalpa is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in New South Wales.

The wingspan is 4.3–5.9 mm for males and 4.3–5.2 mm for females. Two-thirds of the forewings is dark fuscous with purplish reflections, there is a shining silver to pale golden fascia at 2/3. The apex of the wing is dark fuscous without reflections. The hindwings are grey.

Mine

The larvae feed on Tristaniopsis collina. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as a very long narrow gallery either filled with greenish frass or with black linear frass. It broadens rather abruptly into a gallery with a central line of black frass. The exit-hole is located on the upperside and has the form of a semicircular slit. Pupation takes place in a reddish-brown cocoon.

Male (Fig. 6). Wingspan 4.3–5.9 mm. Head capsule (Figs 23–26): labial palpi reduced, 2-segmented; maxillary palpi with ratio of segments from base approximately 0.2: 0.4: 0.5: 1.2: 1.0; interocular index 0.67; vertex with a pair of sclerotized crests. Frontal tuft ferruginous; collar white; eyecaps white; antennae with basal segments dilated and flattened, gradually tapering, shining lead-grey, whitish beneath, ca. 32 segments. Thorax and tegulae dark fuscous with purplish reflections. Forewing to 2/3 dark fuscous with purplish reflections; a shining silver to pale golden fascia at 2/3, slightly broader on costa, apex of wing dark fuscous without reflections; cilia pale grey beyond a line of fuscous-tipped scales. Hindwing grey, unmodified; cilia grey. Abdomen lead-grey, slightly shining. Female (Fig. 7). Wingspan 4.3–5.2 mm. Similar to male, but antennae not dilated at base, 18 segments. Male genitalia (Figs 43–45, 60, 61). Capsule ca. 250 μm. Anterior extension of vinculum with semicircular excavation. Uncus squarish, bilobed, with a tuft of 5–6 setae arising from dorsal side of each lobe near tip, centre of uncus with two weakly sclerotized ‘windows’. Gnathos with elongate central element and short lateral arms. Valva (Fig. 44) ca. 190 μm, squarish; pectinifer consisting of ca. 27 narrow elements. Transtilla absent. Aedeagus (Fig. 45, 61) 360 μm, a single rather broad, blunt spine at apex on left. Vesica with numerous close-set rather broad cornuti. Female genitalia (Fig. 74, 83–85). Total length 520 μm. T9 with 7 setae on each side. Apophyses anteriores rather narrow with slightly incurved tips; apophyses posteriores slightly narrower and longer than anteriores. Lateral sclerotizations of vestibulum narrow, bent inwards, tips unmodified. Ductus spermathecae with 1 indistinct convolution. Posterior part of corpus bursae very convoluted; anterior part with many coarse pectinations; 2 or 3 indistinct elongate sclerotizations ½ way down corpus. Larva. Green. Head (Fig. 105) elongate, pyriform; length of head ca. 410 μm; width ca. 295 μm. Thorax: prothoracic sternite as in Fig. 110. Chaetotaxy (Fig. 116) as described for subgenus; T2 with 10 pairs of setae (L3 absent); A10 with 4 pairs. Anal rods distinctly forked posteriorly.

New South Wales.