Alucita tropeki Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich, 2020

Ustjuzhanin, Petr, Kovtunovich, Vasily & Streltzov, Alexander, 2020, New species of many-plumed moths (Lepidoptera: Alucitidae) from Liberia and Ghana (Western Africa), Ecologica Montenegrina 32, pp. 26-31 : 27

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.37828/em.2020.32.4
publication LSID	urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8C961967-EA43-4A05-965C-67CF2C3A7933
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13231533
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A151D13C-A0FB-4682-86D7-999E31198A2E
taxon LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:act:A151D13C-A0FB-4682-86D7-999E31198A2E
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Alucita tropeki Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Alucita tropeki Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich View in CoL , sp. nov.

( Figs. 1 View Figure 1 , 2 View Figure 2 )

Type material: Holotype, male, ( ZMJU, gen.pr. Nr. 202004), LIBERIA, Gambo Trail. Sapo N.P. Grand Gedeh County, 21-26.xi.2012, lgt. Safian Sz., Tropek R.

External characters. Head and thorax with pale-yellow scales interspersed with brown scales. Labial palpi pale-yellow, bent forward and upwards, third segment noticeably darkened. Antennae lightyellow, finely serrated. Wingspan 14 mm. Wings light-brown. Series of elongated spots along costa of fore wing, spots basally dark-brown, medially and distally light-brown. Four white bands on all wings, bands medially wider than basally and distally. Fringe on wings with alternating portions of light and brown hairs. Hind legs white.

Male genitalia. Uncus narrow, long, apically ellipsoid. Gnathos narrow, apically slightly sharpened, a little shorter than uncus. Gnathos arms short, wide. Valves short, wide, wing-like. Anellus arms wide, long, apically sharpened. Saccus short, triangle. Aedeagus almost straight, equal to all genital structure without uncus, with accumulation of portions of large and small spiky cornuti, apical part of aedeagus with sharp narrow sticking out cornuti.

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Externally, the new species is very similar to Alucita bakweri Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich, 2020 (Type locality: Mount Cameroon), but has a smaller size, paler wings and a different genital structure. In the male genitalia, in the wing-like wide short valves and the shape of the aedeagus, the species is similar to Alucita mishenini Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich, 2018 (Type locality: Mount Cameroon), but differs in the narrow ellipsoid uncus, the shorter gnathos, the specific structure of the cornuti and the wings color.

Flight period: November.

Etymology. The species is named after the prominent Czech entomologist Robert Tropek.