Onceroptila eremonoma Braun 1948

Onceroptila eremonoma new species (Figs. 53, 53a.)
Head and palpi whitish, with a faint ashy tinge, basal segments of antennae whitish, shading to dark fuscous outwardly. Basal two-thirds of the fore wing whitish, except for a gradually widening stripe along costa, and a few minutely pale fuscous-tipped scales; costal stripe and outer third of the wing evenly dusted with dark brown, the brown and white about equal ; on the middle of the fold a group of darker scales forms an irregular spot; this is followed by a patch of clearer white scales which extends to dorsum ; in the apical part of the wing, the dark-tipped scales project irregularly into the cilia of the termen ; opposite apex, dark scales form a short oblique bar; through the middle of the cilia, the dark tips of projecting scales form a transverse line through the apical cilia fading out along termen. Hind wings pale silvery fuscous, cilia yellowish at their bases. Legs pale silvery fuscous. Abdomen fuscous.
Alar expanse : 9 mm.
Male genitalia (figs. 53, 53a) : socii absent; harpe broadly expanded, cucullus a broad lobe, sacculus clothed inwardly with strong curved setae, broadly lobed at apex ; transtilla incomplete, with two setose papillae arising lateral to the acuminate apices of the lateral lobes of the anellus, anteroventral plate of anellus trapezoidal ; aedeagus curved toward apex, manica with acute projection apically and ventrally dividing at base into two narrow tapering diverging wings.
Type. — S, Eureka, Utah, August 9, 1911, (Tom Spalding), [U. S. N. M. Type No. 34825].
Paratype. — 1 S , same data as the type.
Food plant and early stages unknown.
0. eremonoma is separated from 0. cygnodiella by the pale base of the fore wing, the even dusting of the outer third of the wing and the absence of a discal spot at the end of the cell. In male genitalia it is strikingly different (compare figs. 53 and 54) ; the female is unknown.
3. STEPHENSIA Stainton Stephensia Stainton, 1858. Trans. Ent. Soc. London, (2) iv, pp. 269-270. Genotype: brunnichiella (Linnaeus).
Head entirely smooth-scaled; labial palpi short, in the American species minute; tongue short, scaled at base. Antennal pecten of one or two fine hairs, stalk sparsely ciliate in female, finely pubescent in male.
Fore wing (figs. 10, 11) lanceolate; R 4 and Rlong stalked, and R, to costa at apex, or, in the American species, R 4 absent ; M 1 out of stalk of R 4 + 5 ; M 3 absent (or coincident with Cu la ) ; 1A + 2A not forked at base (lb simple).
Hind wing (figs. 10, 11) one-half to two-thirds the width of the fore wing, lanceolate, pointed; Sc + R x reaching costa near middle of wing; R s and M x stalked, M„ absent, M 3 and Cu la approximate in the type of the genus, coincident in the American species ; Cu 2 distinct and two anal veins discernible.
Posterior tibiae with short, stiff, more or less appressed hairs above; first pair of spurs somewhat above the middle.
Male genitalia (figs. 52, 52a) : uncus lobes conical, setose at apex; gnathos a more or less elongate spined knob; harpe elongate, cucullus abruptly pointed,
basal process of sacculus fused except at apex ; ventral plate of anellus, two conical lobes ; aedeagus straight, no cornutus.
Female genitalia (figs. 102, 102a): anterior apophyses furcate; ductus bursae coiled; bursa copulatrix bilobed, signum large, dentate.
Two species of the genus are known, one European, one North American ; both are miners in leaves of species of Labiatae.
The egg (of S. cunilae) (fig. 24) is a leaning cone, strongly ridged, with the micropylar area vertically placed on the short side of the cone.
The full-grown larva (of S. cunilae) is cylindrical with the head but little flattened; the head capsule is broad, rounded, lying horizontal; prothoracic shield transversely elliptical ; a pair of small rounded sclerotized plates is present on the ventral surface of the first thoracic segment ; the three pair of thoracic legs are well developed and functional ; abdominal prolegs are present on segments 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10; the crochets except on the anal prolegs form a complete circle, weakest toward the meson and anterior ; the crochets of the anal prolegs form an anterior half circle ; a small though well-sclerotized suranal plate is present ; setae moderate in length.
There is no such extreme development of tubercles and spines in the pupa of S. cunilae (fig. 33) as in the pupae of species of the grassfeeding genera ; the thorax bears merely low rounded humps and is without the sculpturing characteristic of Elachista; the appendages are fused to the body to the posterior margin of segment 7.
Meyrick (1927, Revised Handbook of British Lepidoptera, p. 711) interprets the three stalked veins from apex of cell of fore wing in S. brunuichiella as veins 5, 6 and 7 (M 2 , M„ and R-,), with 8 (R4) absent. I prefer to homologize these veins with the similarly placed veins in other genera of the family, i.e. as 6, 7 and 8 (M,, R.-,, R 4 ) with vein 7 (R.-) reaching costa at apex. Vein 4 (M 3 ) is then the vein absent or coincident with vein 3 (Cu 1a ). In the American species, vein 8 (R*) is absent, the stalk dividing into two veins only, the upper by its form apparently R r , alone.
The interpretation of the structures of the male genitalia here referred to as lobes of the uncus is open to some question; by some authors they may be regarded as the socii ; however a few setae near the arms of the gnathos, elsewhere homologized with the socii, are present in Stephensia.