35.071 Monochroa lucidella (Buff-marked Neb)
ws: 12-14mm; Jun-Jul; common spike-rush (Eleocharis palustris); locally common in fen, marsh, water meadow in England & Wales
Monochroa lucidella §1 female
ID: Cannot be reliably identified without genital dissection; however, once recognised as Monochroa, MBGBI4.2 keys to this species as follows: forewing without blackish longitudinal streaks; only one stigma present (2nd discal); forewing not whitish-ochreous; ws>9mm; dorsal surface of abdomen wholly fuscous; antenna without white rings in apical area.
Male genitalia: Monochroa species vary in the shape of the valva and sacculus and in the arrangement of aedeagal cornuti. In M.lucidella the valva is almost triangular without any significant apical process; the sacculus is a short curved process (similar to several other species); the aedeagus has a cluster of cornuti in the bulb (the only species with quite this arrangement).
Female genitalia: the signum has a distinctive form - an elongate rectangular plate with paired spines at each end, the proximal pair connected narrowly, the distal pair connected more broadly. The ovipositor is also distinctive with tapering papillae anales and apophyses posteriores which dilate at their anterior ends.
Note that both §1 & §2 are larger than the quoted size range for this species.
Male genitalia: Monochroa species vary in the shape of the valva and sacculus and in the arrangement of aedeagal cornuti. In M.lucidella the valva is almost triangular without any significant apical process; the sacculus is a short curved process (similar to several other species); the aedeagus has a cluster of cornuti in the bulb (the only species with quite this arrangement).
Female genitalia: the signum has a distinctive form - an elongate rectangular plate with paired spines at each end, the proximal pair connected narrowly, the distal pair connected more broadly. The ovipositor is also distinctive with tapering papillae anales and apophyses posteriores which dilate at their anterior ends.
Note that both §1 & §2 are larger than the quoted size range for this species.
Dissection
Male genitalia
Female genitalia
§1 Westcliff-on-sea, Essex; 23/07/2013; female; fw 7.7mm
§2 Conwy Mountain, Caernarvonshire; 21/07/2015; male; fw 6.9mm
§3 Arne, Dorset; 07/07/2016; male; fw 7.3mm; to light
§4 Westcliff-on-sea, Essex; 20/07/2018; female; fw 7.7mm
All images © Chris Lewis
§2 Conwy Mountain, Caernarvonshire; 21/07/2015; male; fw 6.9mm
§3 Arne, Dorset; 07/07/2016; male; fw 7.3mm; to light
§4 Westcliff-on-sea, Essex; 20/07/2018; female; fw 7.7mm
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 29/08/2013 §1 | §2 added 09/04/2016 | §3 added 29/11/2016 | §4 added 27/04/2019
