Homadaula larseni, Mey, 2022

Mey, Wolfram, 2022, Unexpected diversity: ten new species of Homadaula Lower, 1899 from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (Galacticoidea: Galacticidae), Metamorphosis 33 (1), pp. 21-33 : 27-28

Homadaula larseni sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B33904B1-10D4-41A4-BD1F-F827DB9878CB

Type material: Holotype ♂, Ghana, Ashanti, Bobiri 240 m, 4 km N Kubeasi, 9–12.iii.2010, leg. Knut Larsen & Wojciech Kubasik (coll. K. Larsen) . Paratypes: 1 ♂, 2 ♀, same data as holotype, genitalia slides Mey 32/21, 33/21 ; 2 ♀, same locality, 8–11.ii.2008, leg. Knut Larsen (coll. K. Larsen, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, MfN) .

Description: Adult ( Fig. 14 ). Length of forewing 5–6.5 mm, wingspan 11–16.5 mm. Head and thorax brown, with white-grey-tipped scales; labial palpi straight, as long as eye diameter, slightly ascending, basal segment white; proboscis long, light brown. Antennae filiform, 0.5 of forewing length, short ciliated (0.2 of flagellomere diameter) on ventral side. Fore and middle legs grey, tarsomeres ringed apically, hind femur and tibia yellow-brown. Forewing brown, with some white-grey tipped scales in apical part, darker scales forming indistinct streaks on costal magin and small spots on wing surface, hindwings brown, darker apically and along veins, translucent patch present, Cu1 and M3 with long stalk, male with one frenular bristle and female with three bristles.

Male genitalia: ( Fig. 15 ). Pleural lobes of segment VIII short and flat, with long, lamellar scales, tergal plate (= segment VIII) slightly excised on apex between rounded, lateral corners, ventral side with long bristles, on base small acute process present on lateral side; segment IX compact, ring-like structure, vinculum with narrow bridge between bases of valvae; uncus a long, tube-like rod, with small denticules on lateral and apical sides, gnathos arms (or derived socii) bulbous, asymmetrical, sclerotised apically and encompassing anal tube; anellus with elongate basal part and large, distal part in form of a large gear wheel-like structure, pair of appendices of anellus absent; valva long, with large, dorsal lobe and slightly longer ventral lobe, curved dorsad, valva deeply split in ventral view, tips of ventral lobes pointed at apex and with subapical bump equipped with some long bristles in lateral view. Phallus short, dagger-like, reniform bulla seminalis present.

Female genitalia: ( Fig. 16 ). Sternum VII shorter than tergum VII; henia long, sclerotised, curved sinus-like, originating from right side out of a shallow pocket in intersegmental membrane; in central position one rounded bud with small papillae on its surface, another bud on distal end of pocket; bulla seminalis absent, bursa copulatrix with pair of weak, rod-like signa, bulla seminalis close to origin of short ductus bursae.

Diagnosis: In the male genitalia, the new species resembles H. ravula Mey, 2004 . There are only some small details, which separate the two species: apical corners of tergal plate slightly produced and rounded in H. larseni , acute in H. ravula . The complicated anellus-phallus complex of the new species has a gear wheel-like process on its distal margin. The phallus-anellus complex is larger and more compact than in H. ravula . In the females, the genital differences are more pronounced. The shape of the henia and the presence of two, papillated bud-like outgrows in the intersegmental pocket form a unique and bizarre configuration in females of Homadaula .

Etymology: The species is named in honour of Knud Larsen (Cobenhagen), passionate collector and researcher of African Microlepidoptera.

Figures

Figure 14 – Homadaula larseni sp. nov., female paratype.

Figure 15 – Male genitalia of Homadaula larseni sp. nov., a – lateral, b – dorsal, c – ventral, scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 16 – Female genitalia of Homadaula larseni sp. nov., a – lateral, b – dorsal, c – ventral