Neopseustis archiphenax Meyrick, 1928

Neopseustis archiphenax Meyrick, 1928 View in CoL ( Figures 1–4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 )

Neopseustis archiphenax Meyrick, 1928: 404 View in CoL ; Davis 1975: 20–21, figs 1, 5, 7–10, 15, 21–22, 35, 53, 55; Davis 1997: 5; Chen et al. 2009: 17 View Cited Treatment ; Huang et al. 2021: 45; Liao et al. 2021: 340.

Diagnosis. Neopseustis archiphenax is very similar to N. rectagnatha ( Liao et al. 2021) in the external morphoiogy, but it can be distinguished by the genital structure of male adult: i) the gnathos is curved, while straight in N. rectagnatha ; ii) the lateroposterior process of anellus is S-like bifurcated, while h-like in N. rectagnatha . In addition, the female genitalia of this species can be distinguished from other Neopseustis species by the shorter, more rounded corpus bursae.

Description. Male. Forewing length 10.0 mm; wingspan 22.0 mm.

Head. Vertex and frons pale brown. Antennae with about 80 nodes; brown to dark brown, darkening near base ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 ). Eyes large, purplish black, with irregular reticulate pattern. Maxillary palpi well developed, yellow brown; fourth segments longer than fifth. Labial palpi of the same color and thickness as the maxillary palpi, but shorter than the latter.

Thorax. Dorsum brown, central bare, margin covered with brown scales. Forewings chiefly of three colors and can be divided into two parts of different shades. Basal two-thirds of wing grayish brown, distributed with blackish brown patterns and spots; out third of wing white, slightly transparent, streaked with grayish brown patterns and spots. Between M2 and CuA1, usually with a large dark patch in the middle of the wing; an almost continuous line of semi-circular grayish brown spots along edge of the wing. The patterns and spots on the wings of different individuals may be quite different.

Abdomen. Slender brown scales covering the abdomen. Seventh sternite with a small spinous conical projection at the top of the center; eighth sternite with a low median ridge-like lobe with a dozen rod-like spines.

Male genitalia. Gnathos slender, curved process that gradually becomes sharp from the bottom to the top. Surface of socii covered with thick bristles, which are separated to both sides. Tegumenal lobes extended to form a pair of slender, slightly curved projecting arms with rounded tips. Valvae wide, with a pair of small, rod-shaped projections on both sides, and the top close to each other. Lateroposterior process of anellus developed, symmetrical on both sides, and bifurcate near the base, producing two branches of different shapes: inner branch stouter, S-like, roughly serrated along entire length of outer edge; the other one shorter, slender, straight, with small spines at the top. Paired processes of anellus hardened, curved, with serrated spinules at the ends, and close to each other at the middle trailing edge of anellus. Juxta with a broad flat central lobe extending forward, slightly beyond lateral arms of vinculum. Parameres symmetrical, very slender, transparent near the base, and two-thirds near the top are densely covered with short bristles, with sharp ends ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 ).

Female. Forewing length 11.2 mm; wingspan 24.5 mm.

Head and thorax. Similar to male.

Abdomen. Surface covered with brown scales like male. A pair of oval glands can be seen at the back of the fourth sternite forming a pair of membranous windows on the integument ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 ). Seventh sternite strongly hardened, with a small backward conical bulge in the middle. The rear edge of seventh sternite with some bristles and bend inward at the middle, many small tumor-like bulges on it. ( Figs 4 View FIGURE 4 A-B).

Female genitalia. Eighth tergite extends downward at the rear end to form a hood-like structure. Eighth sternite concave inward, forming two wide triangular lateral lobes at the tail end. Ninth sternite reduced to a pair of hardened plates, and nineth tergite with a pair of semicircular plates on both sides of ovipositor, with the inner edge bent and raised. Posterior apophysis hardened and extends to more than half of eighth tergite ( Figs 4A–B View FIGURE 4 ). Ductus bursae thick, and the middle part obviously expanded, D-shaped. Corpus bursae suborbicular, membranous. ( Fig. 4C View FIGURE 4 ). Spermatheca small and transparent, ovoid, with slender ducts.

The females of Neopseustis are rarer than males, had been reported only in two species, N. meyricki and N. rectagnatha . The female genital structure of the latter is very similar to that of N. archiphenax , indicating that they are closely related, which is consistent with the results of COI sequences analysis.

Examined specimens: 2 males, China: Chongqing, Wuxi County, Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve, Hongqi Management and Protection Station , June 25, 2022, light trapping, leg. W.-W. Zhang; voucher number: HAUHL077900-077901 ( HUNAU) ; 1 female, same locality as the male with the voucher number: HAUHL077902 ( HUNAU) .

Host. Unknown.

Molecular analysis. According to the COI barcoding sequences analyses, the Kimura-2-parameter distances of the species population individuals in the genus Neopseustis are given in Table S1 View TABLE 1 . The minimum interspecific divergence occurred between N. fanjingshana and N. bicornuta was 1.6%. The maximum intraspecific genetic divergence among individuals of N. archiphenax is 0.5% (N = 3) ( Table. S1 View TABLE 1 ). In the ML tree based on COI sequences, N. archiphenax was closest to N. rectagnatha , N. meyricki and N. sinensis . Compared with other species, these four species were clearly clustered (bootstrap value: 98%) ( Fig 5 View FIGURE 5 .).