Elachista fuliginea Braun 1948

Elachista fuliginea new species (Figs. 79, 79a, 122.)
Head brownish black, darkest behind, face faintly lustrous, brownish ; second segment of palpi black in male, grayish brown in female, whitish above and inwardly, third segment mostly whitish with extreme tip black, not thickened. Antennae slender, black with faint paler annulations in the female. Thorax black. Fore wing before the fascia sooty black with a faint purple tinge, very slightly irrorated beyond fascia which lies just beyond one-third and is lustrous white; just beyond two-thirds a rather broad lustrous white costal spot extends to the middle of the wing, a little nearer base, a smaller dorsal spot; both may be obliquely produced joining in the middle of the wing to form an angulated fascia. A row of black-tipped scales around apex, with a sprinkling of dark scales in cilia below apex; cilia dark gray, paler opposite apex. Underside of fore wing blackish. Hind wing acuminate with the dorsal margin slightly concave before apex, dark gray, irrorated with black. Legs dark gray, hind
tibiae with an oblique white band before middle and tip white, inwardly whitish ; tarsi white-tipped. Abdomen dark gray above, paler beneath posteriorly.
Alar expanse : 9 to 10 mm. ( S ) ; 10 mm. ( 2 ).
Male genitalia (figs. 79, 79a) : harpes scarcely exceeding the uncus, sacculus process rather broad, laterally flattened ; anellus lobes truncate ; aedeagus not thickened at tip, emarginate ; cornuti, a blunt tooth-like spine and a slender acute spine beyond it.
Female genitalia (fig. 122) : very similar to those of irrorata, except for the greater length of the sclerotized portion of ductus bursae, with dilated part before ostium deeper and ostium narrower, with spinules longer than their distance apart ; signum as in irrorata.
Type. — 8, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, VIII-7 (F. M. Jones), [A. N. S. P., Type No. 7812].
Allotype. — 2, Ottawa, Ontario, July 10, 1934 (C. H. Young), [C. N. Coll., Type No. 5739]. The one female is associated with the males on the basis of identical coloration and scaling, identical venation and shape of hind wing.
Paratypes. — 14 $ , Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, June 29 to September 4 (F. M. Jones), [10 paratypes, A. N. S. P., 2 paratypes, F. M. Jones Coll., 2 paratypes, A. F. B. Coll.] ; 1 $ , Caldwell, New Jersey, July 8, 1900 ( W. D. Kearfott), [M. C. Z.].
In addition to the type material, one specimen in poor condition, Caldwell, N. J., July 8, 1900 (W. D. Kearfott), [U. S. N. M.].
Food plant and early stages unknown.
This species is very close to E. irrorata and worn specimens of the two species are superficially scarcely distinguishable. However, in E. juliginea, veins M 2 and M 3 + Cu la of the fore wing are widely separate, R 3 connate with the stalk of R 4 , R-, and M,, and the hind wing is narrower and acuminate. The two species are easily distinguished in the male by characters of the aedeagus, and less easily in the female by differences in the ductus bursae and ostium.

Elachista fuliginea is a moth of the family Elachistidae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Massachusetts and southern Ontario.

The wingspan is 9–10 mm for males and about 10 mm for females. The forewings are sooty black with a faint purple tinge before the fascia and slightly irrorated (speckled) beyond the fascia which is lustrous white. The hindwings are dark grey, irrorated with black. Adults have been recorded on wing in July.