Palaeugoa secunda Volynkin, 2017

Volynkin, Anton V. & László, Gyula M., 2020, Revision of the genus Palaeugoa Durante, 2012, with descriptions of seven new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), Ecologica Montenegrina 36, pp. 53-77 : 57-61

Palaeugoa secunda Volynkin, 2017

( Figs 5, 6, 33–35, 52)

Palaeugoa secunda Volynkin, 2017 , Zootaxa 4353 (2): 385, figs 1, 2, 5, 7 (Type locality: “ Sierra Leone, 180 m, Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve , N 08°20'57''; W13°10'42''”).

Type material examined. Holotype ( Figs 5, 33): male, “ Sierra Leone, 180m, Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve , 6.X.15, N08°20'57", W13°10'42" Light Trap R. Goff coll. leg. Smith, R & Takano, H”; “ ANHRT:2017.18.1”; “African Natural History Research Trust ANHRT:2018.18”; “IMAGED”; “ANHRTUK 00073622”; gen. slide No.: AV2926 ( ANHRT).

Paratypes. SIERRA LEONE: 1 male, 1 female, with same data as the holotype, unique numbers: ANHRTUK 00073623, 00073624, gen. slide No.: AV2928 (female) ; 5 males, same site, 24.x.2015, unique numbers: ANHRTUK 00073625–00073629, gen. slide No.: AV2927; 3 males, 1 female, same site, 21.ix.2015, unique numbers: ANHRTUK 00073630–00073633, gen. slide Nos.: AV3010, AV3011, AV3012 (males), AV5991 (female) ( ANHRT) .

Additional material examined. SIERRA LEONE: 1 male, 1 female, Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve , 180m, 21.ix.2015, N08°20'57", W13°10'42", Light Trap, R. Goff coll. leg. Smith, R . & Takano, H., ANHRT :2018.19 ( ANHRT).

Diagnosis. The forewing length is 7.5–8.5 mm in males and 10 mm in females. Palaeugoa secunda is very similar externally to P. spurrelli and P. moa . Some male specimens of P. secunda have slightly broader forewing than that of the other two congeners, but the reliable identification requires examination of the genital structures. The male genital capsule of P. secunda differs from that of P. spurrelli by the conspicuously narrower and more elongate transtillar process lacking an inner triangular protrusion, the slightly longer juxta with shallower basal depression. In addition, the valva of P. secunda bears a conspicuously shorter medial dorsal process, and a much smaller, narrow-triangular costal process, which is elongate crest-like in P. spurrelli . The female genitalia of P. secunda are very similar to those of P. spurrelli , but distinguishable by the somewhat smaller papillae anales, the slightly stronger dentation of the postvaginal area of the 7 th sternite, and the noticeably longer antevaginal plate which has a shallower medial depression at the ostium bursae. The corpus bursae of P. secunda has a slightly shorter area of spinulose scobination medially and a somewhat broader appendix bursae bearing more robust spinulose scobination compared to those of P. spurelli . The differences between P. secunda and P. moa are discussed in the diagnosis of P. moa .

Distribution. The species is known only from the western coast of Sierra Leone, its type series was collected in the lowland forest of the Western Area Peninsula ( Volynkin 2017).