Vansoniella chirindensis, Mey, 2018

Mey, Wolfram, 2018, Vansoniella chirindensis gen. n., sp. n. - an unusual taxon with translucent wings from Zimbabwe (Lepidoptera, Limacodidae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 65 (1), pp. 75-80 : 75-76

Vansoniella chirindensis sp. n.

Material examined.

Holotype ♂, [ Zimbabwe], "Chirinda For-/est, S. Rhod. XII/ -1937 G. van Son " [printed on white card], [20°24'S 32°41'E], genitalia slide Mey 85/17 (deposited in TMSA)

Etymology.

The specific epithet is derived from the collecting site of the holotype, Chirinda on Mount Selinda.

Description.

Adult male (Figs 7 , 8 ): Length of forewing 7 mm, wing span 16 mm. Vertex of head with tuft of dark brown, shining, piliform scales projecting frontad between scapes; frons with appressed, downwardly directed, yellow scales; ocelli and chaetosemae absent; labial palpi short, porrect, with terminal segment not protruding beyond frontal scaling; scape and pedicellus short; antenna yellow-brown, bipectinate from base to tip, 52 pairs of rami, sparsely scaled dorsally and with numerous, short cilia on ventral sides. Thorax and tegulae dorsally with long, dark brown, shining scales; tibia of forelegs shorter than femur, epiphysis absent, tarsal segments of all legs without ventral spines, metatarsus with broad arolium and short pulvilli (Fig. 4 ), dorsal side of all legs with tufts of long scales, spurs 0.2.2.; forewings densely scaled on veins and in costal and anal fields, wing membrane with small, broad, short scales in upright position and widely spaced, multi-dentate at apex; scales on hindwing membrane smaller and mostly bi-dentate at apex; scales usually brown but yellow on bases of cubital and medial veins; fringes orange-brown with metallic shine. Forewing venation (Fig. 6 ) without areole, R2+3+4+5 stalked from upper corner of cell, A1+2 without distinct basal loop; hindwing with frenular bristle, R+M1 and M3+Cu1a shortly stalked, anal field densely covered by long, dark brown scales. Abdomen dark brown, tergum VIII with short, quadrangular plate on apical margin.

Male genitalia (Figs 1-3 , 5 ): Tegumen and vinculum largely separate structures, interconnected in one point; lateral arms of vinculum slender, saccus large and broad; tegumen dorsally excised, separated from beak-like uncus by a small, membranous band; gnathos hook-like, preapical dorsal margin with minute den ticles; valva triangular, apex rounded, costal margin concave, inner side with a rounded hump on the basal dorsal corner close to vinculum; juxta large, covering the ventral and lateral sides of the phallus base and produced apically into a pair of finger-like processes bearing small dents on the tips, base of juxta with long and slightly curved apophyses, reaching into segment VIII; phallus tubular, longer than valva, apex with curved, dorsal process and short, subapical spine, directed ventrad; vesica without cornuti.

Female: unknown.

Distribution.

The new species is known from the type locality only. The Chirinda Forest is an isolated patch of mountain forest on Mt. Selinda from about 1000 m to 1250 m elevation in East Zimbabwe (Fig. 9 ). The species may occur also in the Chimanimani Mts. north of the Chirinda Forest.

Remarks.

Janse (1964) was not able to examine himself all species known at that time. But he included the information provided by other authors in his revisionary work (e.g. West 1937). In addition, after 1964 a number of further species of Limacodidae was described from Africa ( Carcasson 1965, Pinhey 1968, Rougeot 1977, Viette 1980). They are fully scaled and not related to Vansoniella gen. n., with the exception of males of Latoia pumilus (Hering, 1957) and L. heringi (Viette, 1965) from Madagascar which exhibit some resemblance by the presence of hyaline patches on the forewings, but other characters as antennal structure and wing venation indicate that this resemblance is due to convergence.

Figures

Figure 5. Vansoniella chirindensis sp. n., male genitalia slide Mey 85 / 17, caudal view

Figure 6. Vansoniella chirindensis sp. n., male wing venation

Figure 9. Map of southern Africa showing the type locality of V. chirindensis sp. n. in Zimbabwe (20 ° 24 ' S 32 ° 41 ' E).

Figures 7 - 8. Vansoniella chirindensis sp. n., male holotype, 7. dorsal view, 8. lateral view of head and labial palpi.

Figures 1 - 4. Vansoniella chirindensis sp. n., male genitalia, 1. lateral, 2. dorsal, 3. ventral, 4. ventral view of pretarsus