Tigricollis drozdovi Spitsyn & Bolotov, 2021

Spitsyn, Vitaly M., Spitsyna, Elizaveta A. & Bolotov, Ivan N., 2021, A new species of the lichen moth genus Tigricollis Singh & Kirti, 2016 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) from eastern Indonesia, Zootaxa 4999 (6), pp. 595-598 : 595-596

Tigricollis drozdovi Spitsyn & Bolotov sp. nov.

Figs 1–5 .

Holotype. Male RMBH Sph 0893; INDONESIA: East Nusa Tenggara, Flores Island , Labuan Bajo , Mbeliling Mountain Ecolodge , mountain monsoon forest, 8º35’21”S, 119º59’12”E, alt. 510 m, 05–07.ii.2020, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg.

Paratypes. INDONESIA: 2 males, East Nusa Tenggara: Flores Island, Labuan Bajo, Mbeliling Mountain Ecolodge , mountain monsoon forest, 8º35’21”S, 119º59’12”E, alt. 510 m, 05–07.ii.2020, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ( RMBH Sph 0894 – Sph 0895) ; 8 males, 2 females, Flores Island, Wolokoro Ecolodge , heavily disturbed monsoon forests and eucalyptus plantings, 8º49’02”S, 120º56’03”E, alt. 1010 m, 28–31.i.2020, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. ( RMBH Sph 0896 – Sph 0905) ; 1 female, Flores Island, Sano Ngoang Lake , geothermal site, primary mountain rainforest, 8º43’01”S, 120º00’10”E, alt. 670 m, 23.i.2015, Bolotov leg. ( RMBH Sph 0906) ; 2 females, Flores Island, Sano Ngoang Lake , camp site, secondary mountain forest with old nutmeg trees on a hill slope, 8º42’34”S, 119º59’51”E, alt. 660 m, 21–22.i.2015, Bolotov leg. ( RMBH Sph 0795 and RMBH Sph 0796) .

Diagnosis. The new species is almost indistinguishable from T. puncticollis and T. parapuncticollis externally. However, it can be distinguished from these taxa by having a prominent basal saccular process (vs the lack of this process in T. puncticollis , and T. parapuncticollis , sharing a distal saccular process only) and a thick, strongly sclerotized distal saccular process, which is longer than the valva’s apex.

Description. Male morphology: Wingspan 33–42 mm (holotype 35 mm), forewing length 15–21 mm. Eye black. Antenna brown, with light grey scales dorsally. Head with frons beige to dark brown, with a variable number of dark brown scales. Labial palpus slightly larger than the eye diameter, brown dorsally and apically, light orange ventrally and basally. Proboscis well developed. Patagium and tegula beige with a central black spot. Thorax beige. Legs light beige, tarsus dark beige. Upperside of the forewing beige, sometimes slightly darkened in the marginal and submarginal areas, with two (rarely one) spots in the submarginal area close to the anal margin. Hindwing light beige. Abdomen yellowish grey. Male genitalia: Uncus short and broad; tegumen high; saccus narrow. Juxta with a spinose ring (annulus), completely encircling the aedeagus near its apex. Valva long, with large distal saccular process and broad, short basal saccular process. Distal saccular process large, elongated, slightly incurved medially, strongly sclerotized, with weakly pointed and rather broad apex. Aedeagus broad and relatively short. Vesica broad, with a relatively small field of very thick cornuti. Female morphology: Wingspan 39–45 mm, forewing length 18–21 mm. Similar to male but with smaller spots at the tegula and patagium, light beige head, and yellowish grey hindwing. Female genitalia: Papilla analis broad; apophysis posterioris and apophysis anterioris of medium size; corpus bursae large and rounded; appendix bursae large, strongly elongated.

Etymology. The species is named after Dr. Nikolay N. Drozdov, a prominent Russian zoologist and TV presenter, for his valuable contribution to promotion of zoology and animal conservation.

Distribution. Eastern Indonesia: Flores Island.

Figures

FIGURES 1–2. Type specimens of Tigricollis drozdovi sp. nov. from Flores Island, Indonesia: 1) holotype male RMBH Sph0893; 2) paratype female RMBH Sph0904. Scale bar = 10 mm. Photos: Elizaveta A. Spitsyna and Vitaly M. Spitsyn.

FIGURES 3–5. Tigricollis drozdovi sp. nov. from Flores Island, Indonesia: 3) male genitalia [holotype RMBH Sph0893]; 4) aedeagus [holotype RMBH Sph0893]; the red arrow shows a spinose ring (annulus), which was separated from juxta; 5) female genitalia [paratype RMBH Sph0906]. Photos: Elizaveta A. Spitsyna and Vitaly M. Spitsyn.