Hypotrabala tabithae, Takano & László, 2024

Takano, Hitoshi & László, Gyula M., 2024, Descriptions of new Hypotrabala Holland, 1893 (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae: Lasiocampinae: Selenepherini) in the collections of the African Natural History Research Trust, with notes on allied genera and the description of a new genus, Ecologica Montenegrina 72, pp. 19-63 : 41-42

Hypotrabala tabithae sp. n.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:29002537-E9B4-47A5-B2AA-DAC3A185544F

( Figs 33–34 , 82 )

Holotype ♂ ( ANHRT):

“ ZAMBIA 1400m / Hillwood, Ikelenge / S11°16’02”; E24°18’59” / 21-28.x.13 Light Trap / leg. Smith,R., Takano,H., / Chmurova,L. & Smith,L. // African Natural History / Research Trust / 2017.10 // ANHRTUK / 00224480 // Gen. slide No. / LG 6319 ♂ / prep. by Gy. M. Laszlo [black border; partially handwritten]”

Paratype ♂:

ZAMBIA: same data as holotype but 23–30.xi.2019, leg. M. Bashford, W. Miles, L. Mulvaney & R. Smith (1♂ ANHRT) .

Description.

Forewing length: holotype and paratype: 23 mm.

Upperside. Ground colour of head and prothorax orange with brown irroration; tegulae and the rest of the thorax orange with brown and yellow irroration; abdomen warm buff. Antenna bipectinate, brown. Forewing rounded at apex, outer margin gently arcuate. Ground colour of forewing orangey-brown becoming mahogany distally beyond the postmedial fascia. Antemedial fascia mahogany, bilineate, crenulate, arising perpendicularly from costa, and gently curved to terminate perpendicularly along anal margin. Discal spot reniform, silvery-white, the width of the cell and ringed in mahogany; area around spot between antemedial and postmedial fasciae irrorated with mahogany scales. Postmedial fascia mahogany, bilineate, crenulate, the outer of the two indistinct. Both arise perpendicularly from the costa and indented strongly at vein R5 terminating along anal margin; the outer forms the boundary of the dark outer half of the wing. Outer half of wing with paler scales distally, darkest in a broad band running from discal spot to tornus. Subterminal fascia indicated by orangey-brown patches on its outer edge between veins R4 and CuA1, the largest between veins M1 and M3, broadly parallel to the outer margin, indented between veins R5 and M3. Termen with a narrow row of orangey-brown scales. Fringe dark brown. Hindwing outer margin arcuate, almost angled at vein CuA2; ground colour warm buff becoming darker towards anal fold. Costa with mahogany scaling. Fringe pale buff.

Underside. Ground colour of head and thorax warm buff; forelegs mahogany with orange irroration, mid- and hindlegs buff. Abdomen warm buff with darker tufts medially on each segment. Ground colour of forewing orangey-brown becoming buff posteriorly. Forewing discal spot narrow chevron-shaped pointed proximad, indistinct, white. Subterminal fascia mahogany, indistinct; terminal fascia mahogany, strongly bisected with orange scales along veins. Hindwing ground colour buff, costal margin with mahogany scaling.

Male genitalia. Socius moderately long, ca. two-thirds as long as length of valve, arms relatively broad at base, gradually tapered to rounded apex, slightly arched inward, arising far apart from each other from a strongly constricted distal and of tegumen, more or less parallel. Tegumen short and relatively narrow, inner margin arcuate. Valve short, narrow basally, gradually tapered to pointed tip, evenly gently curved dorsad. Juxta with short, broad, rounded posteromedial process. Vinculum narrow ribbon-like medially, with short, triangular lateral plates. Phallus short, coecum penis large, as long as sclerotised part of phallus, membranous sack-like, tightly attached to juxta; sclerotised section of phallus tapered, curved dorsad, apically pointed. Vesica basally inflated, rather large, spherical, finely scobinate, bearing two sharply serrate parallel, longitudinal plates, a longer one on the left consisting of 9–11 teeth and a very short on the right with 3–4 teeth. Sclerotised plate of eighth sternite with straight anterior margin and short rounded anterolateral apodemes, posteriorly with two acute, moderately long, elongate-triangular processes arising from a quadrangular central plate encompassing a narrow Vshaped medial notch.

Diagnosis. Hypotrabala tabithae is similar to H. ophioglossa and the sympatric H. lunda but can easily be separated based on external and genital morphology. In H. ophioglossa , the pale orange markings on the forewings are more reduced and the antemedial and postmedial fasciae are less well-defined, whilst in the male genitalia, the arms of the socii encompass a V-shaped posteromedial gap, the valves are broader, postmedially dilated, strongly setose and armed with a stout apical spine, the vesica lacks serrate plates, and the posterior processes of the eighth sternite are longer, narrower and only apically bifurcate. Hypotrabala lunda is a smaller moth with more pointed forewings and brighter orange markings. In the male genitalia, the basal plate of the socii is broad with a narrower gap between the arms, the vesica is less inflated, more elongate with V-shaped serrations, and the posterior processes of the eighth sternite are substantially longer, thinner and divergent.

DNA divergences. The new species has been assigned the BIN BOLD:AAZ7769. Intraspecific PWD was 0.2% (n=2) and diverged by 6.0% from the nearest sample ( H. horridula ).

Derivatio nominis. The new species is dedicated with great pleasure to Tabitha Taberer, ANHRT, a specialist in the Afrotropical Limacodidae and Chrysopolomidae who has undertaken fieldwork in the country from where the new species originates.

Figures

Figures 29–38. Hypotrabala species: 29. H. volynkini sp. n., holotype ♂. 30. H. ophioglossa sp. n., holotype ♂. 31. H. lydiae sp. n., holotype ♂. 32. Id., paratype ♂. 33. H. tabithae sp. n., holotype ♂. 34. Id., paratype ♂. 35. H. lunda sp. n., holotype ♂. 36. Id., paratype ♂. 37. H. neavei (Aurivillius, 1915), ♂, Malawi, Mzuzu Wildlife Sanctuary [ANHRTUK 00270070]. 38. Id., holotype ♂ of Pachymeta neavei Aurivillius, 1915 [NHMUK 0010292291].

Figures 78–83. Male genitalia of Hypotrabala species, a: clasping apparatus, b: lateral view of phallus, c: eighth sternite, d: dorsal view of phallus (a, b, c to scale, d magnified). 78. H. cinereamargo sp. n., holotype [LG 6310]. 79. H. igneata sp. n., holotype [LG 6305]. 80. H. joiceyi Tams, 1925, D.R. Congo [LG 6349]. 81. H. lydiae sp. n., holotype [LG 6318]. 82. H. tabithae sp. n., holotype [LG 6319]. 83. H. volynkini sp. n., holotype [LG 6312].