Polyptychus smithi, Takano, 2021

Takano, Hitoshi, 2021, Two new species of Polyptychus Hübner, [1819] (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae: Smerinthinae) from West Africa, Ecologica Montenegrina 47, pp. 1-8 : 2-4

Polyptychus smithi sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:27148C60-936C-4ABE-A7A1-F51A9A268D4A

( Figs. 1–4 )

Holotype ♂ ( ANHRT):

“ TOGO 415m / Fazao- Malfakassa NP., / Point de vue campsite / (Sudanian savannah) / 08˚48’50”N, 0˚49’3.2”E / 16-23.viii.2018 MV Light Trap / Aristophanous, M., Geiser, M., / Moretto, P., Sanbena, B. leg. / ANHRT:2018.31 // ANHRTUK / 00190231”.

Paratypes (13♂♂, 2♀♀):

BURKINA FASO: Bobo-Dioulasso , 20.ii.1985, Cadiou coll. (1♂ NHMUK) ; CAMEROON: Wack (La Falaise), 900m, 07˚40’17”N, 13˚33’18”E, 2-21.x.2018, General Collection, leg. S. Safian & G. Simonics (2♂♂ ANHRT) ; IVORY COAST: Comoe, iv.1998, Cadiou coll. (1♂ NHMUK) ; Comoe, v.2001, Cadiou coll. (1♂ NHMUK) ; Denguele Classified Forest , 479m, 09˚30’01”N, 07˚40’51”W, 6-14.vi.2018, LepiLED Light Trap, leg. M. Aristophanous, W. Miles, P. Moretto & Y. Outtara (1♂ ANHRT) ; Gbando Village , 417m, 09˚34’17”N, 06˚41’01”W, 15-22.vi.2018, MV Light Trap, leg. M. Aristophanous, W. Miles, P. Moretto & Y. Outtara (1♂ ANHRT) ; Kakpin Village , 259m, 08˚39’07”N, 03˚46’59”W, 27.vi-22.vii.2015, Light Trap, leg. M. Aristophanous, P. Moretto & E. Ruzzier (1♀ ANHRT) ; NIGERIA: Zaria , 29.xii.1961, K. Harris (1♀ NHMUK) ; SIERRA LEONE: [no precise locality], viii.1991, Cadiou coll. (1♂ NHMUK) ;

TOGO: identical data to holotype (5♂♂ ANHRT) .

Description

Forewing length: holotype: 32 mm; paratype males: 29–34 mm; paratype female: 34 mm.

Upperside. Ground colour of head, thorax and abdomen grey. Vertex with a slight crest. Antenna thick, strongly fasciculate, with grey-white scaling along its entire length. Abdominal segments 3-8 with white scales along posterior margin and dark scales more distally, giving the abdomen a banded appearance. Forewing triangular, broadly pointed at apex; outer margin sinuate, sub-apically falcate, the remainder convex. Ground colour whitish-grey with several dark grey bands; basal band, indicated by three small, poorly-developed, circular dark grey spots aligned transversely. Antemedial line sinuate; medial band well-developed, gently curved and sharply kinked at vein Rs3, inner edges with diffuse dark grey scaling; both antemedial and medial bands converge towards the ventral margin. Postmedial band well-developed, straight, kinked outwardly at vein CuA2. Submarginal and subterminal bands weakly-developed, sinuate; diffuse patch of dark grey scales in submarginal region between M2 and CuA1 reaching outer margin. Tornal marking short with a small spot positioned dorsad. Fringe white with dark grey vein spots. Hindwing brick red except for grey tornal region. Anal fold with a short, dark grey stripe. Wing margin dark grey with dark grey scales encroaching along veins in submarginal region; two small dark grey spots near ends of CuA2 and anal fold. Fringe white.

Underside. Ground colour of head, thorax and abdomen beige with a pinkish undertone. Labial palps and legs whitish-grey, the legs with a pinkish undertone. Forewing ground colour brown, with light, pinkish scaling along costal region; basal, antemedial and medial bands absent. Postmedial band well-developed, dark brown. Submarginal and subterminal bands weakly-developed, dark brown. Region beyond postmedial band with diffuse grey scaling. Subterminal region with a triangular, dark brown patch, the dorsal edge, straight and well-defined approximating the apex, and just reaching the subterminal band; proximal edge reaching outer margin at vein CuA1. Hindwing beige with a pinkish undertone; basal half (as far as the medial band) and tornal region slightly paler. Medial line straight, well-developed and dark brown, terminating in anal fold. Postmedial band indistinct and submarginal band more strongly developed, both curved and running parallel to each other.

Male genitalia. Uncus broadly triangular, obtusely angled at apex, apically bluntly pointed. Gnathos poorly-developed as a triangular process. Vinculum elongate, Y-shaped. Juxta cup-shaped with a triangular, apically-pointed medio-distal process on each side. Valve ovaline in shape, truncate apically; sacculus short, gently arcuate dorsally, straight ventrally; harpe bilobed, medio-distally covered in dense setae; the dorsal lobe is digitate and rounded at apex, the ventral lobe somewhat triangular, bluntly pointed at apex; the section between the two lobes evenly arcuate. Valve costa, short, well-sclerotised, its margin concave. Ventral margin of valve with a weakly-sclerotised ventrally directed digitate costal process. Phallus well-sclerotised, dorsally slightly concave, apically slightly expanded and produced into a gently recurved carinal hook with an ovaline expansion basally; caecum short and anteriorly rounded. Vesica expanded basally into a spherical sac.

Female. Antenna thinner than in male. Upperside markings similar to the male but ground colour of forewing brownish, basal half (as far as the antemedial band) and section between medial and postmedial bands slightly paler and more grey. Underside markings similar to male but ground colour generally darker.

Diagnosis

Polyptychus smithi ( Figs. 1–2 ) is similar in appearance to P. coryndoni (Figs. 5–6) but is on average a smaller moth, with more strongly falcate forewings and more contrasting forewing markings and lighter undersides. The male genitalia of P. coryndoni (Figs. 7–8) are similar to P. smithi ( Figs. 3–4 ) but differ in the following characters: the vinculum is shorter and more robust; the process of the juxta more elongate; the harpe is shorter, the digitate distal lobe wider and the proximal lobe less protruding; the digitate process of the ventral margin of the valve slightly longer and thinner; the carinal apical hook of the phallus unevenly arcuate and straight medially; the base of the apical hook with strongly developed crenulations dorsally. As these two species are distributed allopatrically (see Distribution below), there is unlikely to be any confusion in specimens with good provenance.

Polyptychus smithi is not dissimilar to P. andosa (Walker, 1856) but the latter is generally smaller in size, the antennae are slenderer, the forewing postmedial band is clearly sinuate, the subterminal band is indicated by black spots on the veins and the tornal marking is larger and more triangular in shape. The dark scaling along the hindwing veins extend further towards the base. These two taxa are not sympatric, P. smithi being found in savanna habitats and P. andosa in forested environments.

DNA divergences

The new species has been assigned the Barcode Index Number (BIN) BOLD:AAC2743. Intraspecific pairwise distances (PWD) were 0.0% (n=3) and interspecific PWD between the new species and P. coryndoni were 4.1–4.6%.

Figures

Figures 1–4. Polyptychus smithi sp. nov.: 1 – holotype ♂, upperside; 2 – paratype ♀, upperside; 3 – holotype ♂, genital capsule; 4 – idem., phallus. Figures 5–8. Polyptychus coryndoni Rothschild & Jordan, 1903: 5 – ♂, Zambia, Kapishya Hot Springs [ANHRTUK00021480], upperside; 6 – ♀, Zambia, Lukwakwa, W. Lunga National Park [ANHRTUK00149927], upperside; 7 – idem. ♂, genital capsule; 8 – idem., phallus. Scale bar equals 10 mm for the adults and 1 mm for the genitalia.