Hellinsia diana Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich, 2021

Ustjuzhanin, Petr, Kovtunovich, Vasyly & Streltzov, Alexander, 2021, New species of plume moths (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) from Ecuador, Ecologica Montenegrina 46, pp. 84-97 : 86-87

Hellinsia diana Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D9C380CE-913F-4BD5-BE08-25E4EA61A6DB

Figs 3−4

Type material: Holotype, female ( ZISP, gen.pr. Nr. 1972), Ecuador, Pichincha prov., Camping Tambo Tanda , 1969 m, 0°01'22"S, 78°38'48"W. 25.X.2011, V. Sinyaev leg.

Description. External characters. Head with dark-brown scales. Thorax and tegulae light-yellow. Labial palpi thin, directed forward, 1,5 times longer than longitudinal eye diameter, brown from outside, yellow from inside. Antennae cross-striped with alternating yellow and brown segments. Wingspan 21.5 mm. Fore wings yellow up to cleft base, slightly interspersed with red-brown scales. Both lobes of fore wing reddish-brown. First lobe apically with two small bright white portions of scales. Fringe inside cleft brown. Fringe on dorsal edge of fore wing yellow from base to beginning of second lobe, then sharply turning into brown. Hind wings unicolorous, light-brown. Fringe on third and fourth lobes light-brown, on fifth lobe yellow from outside. Hind legs pale-yellow with sputtering of brown scales at bases of spurs. Spurs on hind legs of different length.

Female genitalia: Papillae anales oval. Posterior apophyses thin, long. Lamina vaginalis wide, rectangular. Antrum goblet-like, sclerotized, ostium funnel-like. Ductus wide, smoothly narrowing into oval bursa copulatrix. Signa in bursa shaped as accumulation of tiny plaques. Ductus seminalis twice longer than bursa copulatrix, elongated and tapered at end.

Differential diagnosis. Externally, the adult of the new species is slightly similar to Hellinsia hamadryadis Gielis, 2012 , but differs in the completely colored reddish-brown lobes of the fore wing, the absence of the spots at the cleft base and the yellow colour on the wing basally, while in H. hamadryadis , the first lobe is not completely unicolorous: it is brown only above the cleft base, while distally it is yellow. Additionally, H. hamadryadis has a brown spot at the cleft base, and the fore wing is basally noticeably darkened with brown scales. In the general structure of the female genitalia, the new species is similar to Adaina primulacea Meyrick, 1929 , but differs in the cluster of tiny signa in the bursa copulatrix, in the wider antrum, in the completely another color of the wings and finally, in the significantly bigger size.

Distribution: Ecuador, Pichincha Province.

Flight period: October

Etymology: The species is named in memory of Diana, the Princess of Wales, a humanist, well-known benefactor, generous and sympathetic woman, the Queen of human hearts (1961−1997).

Figures

Figure 3. Hellinsia diana Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich. sp. nov., adult (Holotype, female, ZISP).

Figure 4. Hellinsia diana Ustjuzhanin & Kovtunovich. sp. nov., female genitalia