Melittia ruficincta ( Felder et Felder, 1874 )

Gorbunov, Oleg G., 2017, On the taxonomy and morphology of Leuthneria ruficincta (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), Zootaxa 4244 (1), pp. 127-136 : 129-133

Melittia ruficincta ( Felder et Felder, 1874) , comb. rev.

Figs 1–18

“ Eublepharis ruficincta F. ♀ ”— Felder & Felder 1874: 4, Taf. 75, Fig. 4 . Type locality: “t. Bogos ( Hansal )” [= Eritrea: Anseba region, Keren ] . Holotype ♀ ( Figs 1–4 ) ( BMNH) .

Boisduval 1875 [“1874”]: 461 (“ S.?[esia] Ruficincta .”); Hampson 1919: 94 (“ Melittia ruficincta . ”); Dalla Torre & Strand 1925: 149 (“ Leuthneria ruficincta Felder ”); Gaede 1929: 531 (“ M.[elittia] ruficincta Fldr. ”); Heppner & Duckworth 1981: 43 (“ Leuthneria ruficincta ( Felder, 1874) ”); Pühringer & Kallies 2004: 44 (“ Leuthneria ruficincta ( Felder, 1874) ”).

Description. Male ( Figs 11, 12 ) ( Sesiidae pictures ÑÑ 0261-0262–2016). Alar expanse 19.6 mm; body length 10.8 mm; forewing 8.6 mm; antenna 4.3 mm.

Head with black antennae with dark blue sheen, with an admixture of individual snow-white subapical scales dorsolaterally; scapus snow-white ventromesally; frons white with an admixture of individual black scales, with a group of brick scales forming a horizontal shelf just under scapus; vertex black mixed with white hairs, with a few brick scales at scapus; labial palpus white mixed with black hairs ventrolaterally both on mid and apical joints; occipital fringe white with a few black hairs dorsally. Thorax with patagia black with dark blue sheen, with a row of brick scales anteriorly; tegula black with dark green-bronze sheen, with a narrow brick inner margin and a few brick scales at base of forewing anteriorly; mesothorax black with dark green-bronze sheen, with a few brick scales posteriorly; metathorax dark brown with dark green-bronze sheen, with a few white hairs; besides this, patagia, tegula and mesothorax covered with sparse, short, white hairs; thorax laterally white with purplish hue, mixed with a few dark grey scales with bronze sheen; posteriorly thorax white with an admixture of dark grey scales, densely clothed with white hairs masking background coloration. Legs with fore coxa white mixed with a few black and brick scales; fore femur black with dark green-bronze sheen, densely covered with white scales masking background coloration, with long white scales at posterior margin; fore tibia ventrally white basally and dark brown to black with dark purple sheen distally, dorsally black with dark purple sheen, mixed with individual white scales in basal half; fore tarsus black with dark green-blue sheen, with a small white spot dorsobasally on each tarsomere; mid coxa white mixed with black scales with dark green sheen; mid femur black with dark green sheen, densely mixed with white scales and with white hairs at posterior margin; mid tibia black internally, densely covered with white hairs, externally black with dark green sheen, with two white spots both basally and medially, with a brick spot between white spots and a brick-red spot distally; spurs black with dark purple sheen externally and white internally; mid tarsus black with dark green sheen, with a small white spot dorsobasally on each tarsomere and with a few brick-red scales dorsolaterally on basal tarsomere; hind coxa white with a few dark grey scales; hind femur black with dark green sheen, densely mixed with white scales and with white hairs at posterior margin; hind tibia ventromesally black, densely clothed with white hairs, dorsolaterally black with dark green sheen, with two brick spots both basally and medially, with a brick-red spot distally, and two white spots between brick spots; spurs black with dark green-bronze sheen externally and white internally; hind tarsus black with dark green sheen, with a few white scales ventrolaterally and a narrow brick-red stripe dorsolaterally on basal tarsomere. Abdomen dorsally black with dark green sheen, sparsely covered with narrow white scales, hairs and a few brick scales on tergite 2; tergites 3–6 each with a few brick scales laterally; distal row of scales on tergite 2 white mixed with brick; distal row of scales on tergites 3–5 brick while those on tergites 6 and 7 white; ventrally white with two dark grey spots with bronze sheen medially; anal tuft small, black with dark green sheen mixed with white. Forewing dorsally dark brown to black with dark purple-bronze sheen, sparsely covered with individual white scales, slightly yellowish at anal margin; transparent areas poorly-developed, covered with brownish semitransparent scales; anterior and posterior transparent areas short and narrow, external transparent area extremely small, consisting of two short cells between veins R4+5–M2; cilia dark brown with bronze sheen, basal row of scales brick; ventrally dark brown with bronze sheen, with an admixture of individual white scales. Hindwing transparent; anal area black with dark blue sheen; veins, discal spot and outer margin dark brown to black with dark bronze sheen; discal spot extremely narrow, triangular, reaching base of vein M2; outer margin about twice narrower than cilia; ventrally anal area, veins, discal spot and outer margin dark brown with bronze sheen; cilia dark brown with bronze sheen, white anally.

Male genitalia ( Figs 15, 16 ) (Genital preparation Ñ OG–013-2015). Tegumen-uncus complex broad; uncus bilobed distally, with a relatively large semi-oval plate of strong, short, pointed setae internally on each side; gnathos rather small, membranous, with a small, narrow, slightly sclerotized plate mediobasally; valva broadly trapeziform ( Fig. 15 ); distal field of setae short, slightly separated from medial one; setae of medial field rather short, slightly covering a pocket-shaped crista; ventral lobe broad, rounded distally, not exceeding distal margin of valva; pocket-shaped crista small and narrow; saccus rather broad, slightly club-shaped, rounded basally; aedeagus ( Fig. 16 ) relatively broad, somewhat longer than valva; vesica with numerous minute cornuti.

Female (holotype) ( Figs 1, 2 ). Unknown to me in nature, but, based on the remains of the holotype ( Figs 1, 2 ), the female is larger (alar expanse 32.2 mm) and more robust than the male. Hampson wrote that “The type has no abdomen or legs” ( Hampson 1919: 94), but Gaede, obviously using a short description by Boisduval (1875 [“1874”]) and the original picture ( Fig. 3 ), wrote, “Abdomen red with light segmental margins and large black dorsal spots” ( Gaede 1929: 531). The transparent areas of the forewing are absent.

Individual variability. Unknown for females. The males are rather variable in size and the degree of development of transparent areas of the forewing, but invariable in colour pattern ( Figs 5–14 ). Thus, the transparent areas of the forewing vary from inconspicuous ( Figs 9, 10 ) to well-developed ( Figs 5, 7 ) with the external transparent area consisting of six cells between veins R3–CuA1. Individual sizes range as follows: alar expanse 16.0– 25.8 mm; body length 8.8–13.0 mm; forewing 7.2–11.3 mm; antenna 3.6–5.8 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Superficially, this species seems to come the closest to M. aurociliata (Aurivillius, 1879) and M. astarte ( Westwood, 1848) , but differs from both by the presence of transparent areas of the forewing (completely opaque in the species compared), the coloration of the cilia (completely orange in the species compared, cf. Figs 5–14 with fig. 15 in Arita & Gorbunov 1995 and with fig. 1 in Arita & Gorbunov 2001). Besides this, M. ruficincta can be distinguished from M. astarte by the coloration of the abdomen (dorsally dark brown to black with greenish sheen; tergite 1 densely covered with thin, hair-like, dark orange scales; tergites 4 and 5 each with a narrow distal margin, grey-brown with greenish sheen; ventrally dark brown; distal margin of 4th and 5th sternites with a few whitish scales; anal tuft small, entirely orange in M. astarte ). Melittia ruficincta is distinguished from M. ectothyris Hampson, 1919 by the presence of transparent areas of the forewing (entirely opaque in the species compared), the coloration of the cilia (completely dark brown in M. ectothyris ), the coloration of the abdomen (without brick scales in M. ectothyris ), and the coloration of the hind leg (orange dorsolaterally in the species compared). In addition, M. ruficincta easily differs from M. aureosquamata ( Wallengren, 1863) , M. abyssiniensis Hampson, 1919 , M. houlbergi Le Cerf, 1917 , M. azrael Le Cerf, 1914 , M. simonyi ( Rebel, 1899) and M. gephyra Gaede, 1933 by the entirely transparent hind wing (opaque in all these species compared).

Bionomics. The host plant is unknown. The specimens from Ethiopia were attracted by synthetic pheromones at about noon in the beginning of November. A specimen from Kenya with labels “Dr. van Someren / MARSABIT. / Oct, - Nov. 1927 ”, “ Melittia / ruficincta / Felder / W.H.T. Tams det / Not in BM.” (BMNH), was collected in October or November.

Habitat. All material has been collected in thorn bush with Acacia trees ( Figs 17 , 18 ).

Distribution. At present this species is known from the type locality in Eritrea (Anseba region, Keren) ( Fig. 4 ), Ethiopia (Oromia Region, Ora) and Kenya (Eastern Province, Marsabit). Both latter localities are the first records from Ethiopia and Kenya.

Material. 1 ♂ ( Figs 5, 6 ): “ Ethiopia, Oromia Region, / Bale Zone , 6 km W Ora, / 05˚58.97΄N, 039˚41.73΄E, / 1118 m, 01.xi.2015, / O. Gorbunov leg.”, “ SESIIDAE / Pictures ÑÑ / 0127-0128–2016 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ” ( CSIM)” ; 1 ♂ ( Figs 7, 8 ): “ Ethiopia, Oromia Region, / Bale Zone , 6 km W Ora, / 05˚58.97΄N, 039˚41.73΄E, / 1118 m, 01.xi.2015, / O. Gorbunov leg.”, “ SESIIDAE / Pictures ÑÑ / 0129-0130–2015 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ”; (Genital preparation ffi OG–007-2014) ( CSIM) ; 1 ♂ ( Figs 9, 10 ): “ Ethiopia, Oromia Region, / Bale Zone , 6 km W Ora, / 05˚58.97΄N, 039˚41.73΄E, / 1118 m, 01.xi.2015, / O. Gorbunov leg.”, “ SESIIDAE / Pictures ÑÑ / 0131- 0132–2016 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ” ( CSIM)” ; 1 ♂ ( Figs 11, 12 ): “ Ethiopia, Oromia Region, / Bale Zone , 6 km W Ora, / 05˚58.97΄N, 039˚41.73΄E, / 1118 m, 01.xi.2015, / O. Gorbunov leg.”, “ SESIIDAE / Pictures ÑÑ / 0261- 0262–2016 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ” ( CSIM)” ; 1 ♂ ( Figs 13, 14 ): “ Ethiopia, Oromia Region, / Bale Zone , 6 km W Ora, / 05˚58.97΄N, 039˚41.73΄E, / 1118 m, 01.xi.2015, / O. Gorbunov leg.”, “ SESIIDAE / Pictures ÑÑ / 0133- 0134–2016 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ”, “ Genitalia examined / by O. Gorbunov / Preparation Ñ / OG–013-2015” ( CSIM).

Figures

FIGURE 17. Habitat of Melittia ruficincta (Felder et Felder, 1874), comb. rev. Ethiopia, Oromia Region, Bale Zone, 6 km W of Ora, 05 ˚ 58.97 ΄ N, 039 ˚ 41.73 ΄ E, 1118 m, 01. xi. 2015. View to the north from the collecting site.

FIGURE 18. Habitat of Melittia ruficincta (Felder et Felder, 1874), comb. rev. Ethiopia, Oromia Region, Bale Zone, 6 km W of Ora, 05 ˚ 58.97 ΄ N, 039 ˚ 41.73 ΄ E, 1118 m, 01. xi. 2015. View to the south from the collecting site.

FIGURES 1 – 4. Holotype, ♀ of Melittia ruficincta (Felder et Felder, 1874), comb. rev. (BMNH). 1) upperside. Alar expance 32.2 mm; 2) ditto underside; 3) the original figure (Felder et Felder 1874: Taf. 75, Fig. 4); 4) labels.

FIGURES 5 – 14. Variability of males Melittia ruficincta (Felder et Felder, 1874), comb. rev. 5) upperside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0127 – 2016. Alar expanse 25.8 mm; 6) ditto underside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0128 – 2016; 7) upperside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0129 – 2016. Alar expanse 25.1 mm; 8) ditto underside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0130 – 2016; 9) upperside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0131 – 2016. Alar expanse 16.0 mm; 10) ditto underside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0132 – 2016; 11) upperside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0261 – 2016. Alar expanse 19.6 mm; 12) ditto underside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0262 – 2016; 13) upperside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0133 – 2016. Alar expanse 18.9 mm; 14) ditto underside. Sesiidae picture Ñ 0134 – 2016.

FIGURES 15 – 16. Male genitalia of Melittia ruficincta (Felder et Felder, 1874), comb. rev. 15) ventral view. Genital preparation Ñ OG – 013 - 2015; 16) aedeagus. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.