Neosphaleroptera Réal
Type species: nubilana Hübner
The genus is monotypic.
DIAGNOSIS
External characters:
Venation:
venation N. nubilana
Forewing: All veins are separate; chorda weakly developed.
Hindwing: All veins are separate.
Forewing shape and markings:
N. nubilana male 1; N. nubilana female 1
Forewing costa gradually arced in males, more curved basally in females; apex rounded. Markings obscure in males; consisting of irregular fasciae in females.
Sexual dimorphism:
Sexual dimorphism expressed in forewing shape and markings; antenna simple in males, stouter than in females, fuscous, weakly annulate with white.
Additional characters:
Female subgenital sternite with posterior pit.
Genitalia:
Male:
male genitalia N. nubilana
Uncus strong, minutely spined except for basal lobes, tapering apically; gnathos simple, vinculum simple, slender; socii large. Valva fairly broad, with non-angulate sacculus provided with subterminal process of ventral edge; transtilla band-shaped with small median prominence; juxta broad with short lobes. Aedeagus curved, with series of dents on wall of apical end.
Female:
female genitalia N. nubilana
Papilla analis wide, clothed with long hairs; sterigma cup-shaped, with distinct antivaginal part and proximal prominences; a small ventral sclerite fused with sterigma; ductus seminalis situated medially on very short ductus bursae; corpus bursae small; signum reduced to indistinct group of spines.
Early stages:
Larva translucent, light green; head yellowish brown. Swatschek, 1958, provides the following diagnosis based on chaetotaxy.
Crochets on abdominal prolegs arranged biordinally. L3 absent on the ninth abdominal segment; D1 and SD1 share a pinaculum.
Pupae are blackish in colour.
Biology:
There is only one generation yearly. Larvae can be found in spun shoots of Crataegus, Prunus, Malus, Pyrus and Betula, drawing the leaves together and feeding in the heart. They overwinter in an early instar and recommence feeding in the spring. Pupation takes place in the larval habitation.
Distribution:
Europe (except the south-west) to Asia Minor.