Archithosia (Acanthosia) brevis Durante & Potenza sp. nov. (Figs. 5D; 8)

Holotype: ♀, GABON, Ipassa (Makokou), 500 m, 0°30'43"N 12°48'13"E, 19-2/ 11-3-2011, Durante leg., gen. sl. n. 1280 MAD; in coll. MSNS.

Diagnosis. Species outwardly indistinguishable from other Archithosia, except for the one above: Archithosia oblonga sp. nov. presents much smaller dots. In any case, the genitalia are clearly diagnostic: the corpus bursae is spherical and voluminous (almost as large as the whole abdomen); the ductus bursae is short, about half the diameter of the corpus: normally, i.e. in all other Archithosia except Architosia duplicata Birket-Smith, 1965, the ductus is as long as the corpus ( oblonga sp. nov., similis, tryphosa, parva sp. nov.) or longer ( flavifrontella, similis). In A. duplicata the ductus-corpus complex is very similar to that of brevis sp. nov., but the latter differs in having a shorter lamella antevaginalis, and mostly a lamella postvaginalis that is not divided into two halves as in duplicata . We also note that the signum of brevis sp. nov. is surrounded by a scobination of spines (Fig. 8 E), similar to that of flavifrontella, whereas in oblonga sp. nov. the scobination is made up of irregular smoother or more rounded granicula (Fig. 7 F).

Description. (Fig. 5D). Wingspan ♀ 26.5 mm. Head ochreous yellow; antennae ciliated, dorsally same colour as head, ventrally unpigmented; labial palpi porrect, not extending beyond frons, same colour as head, with distal segment beige.

Patagia, tegulae and notum ochreous yellow, thorax ventrally light beige. Legs same colour as thorax sternites; spurs formula 0-2-4. Forewing upperside ground colour ochreous yellow with one black dot at middle of costa and one smaller dot in middle of space between veins CuA2 and 1A+2A. Angled band common to Archithosia species joining said dots faintly visible. Forewing underside unmarked, ochreous yellow, slightly darker than upperside, with margins lighter. Hindwing upperside and underside unmarked, ground colour straw yellow with slightly darker margins. Fringes concolorous with margins.

Abdomen same colour as thorax sternites. A2 sternum apodemes long (plesiomorphic character according to Bendib & Minet (1999: 243), but see also Holloway (2001: 281)). Seventh abdominal sternite as long as sixth; seventh-eighth tergum complex twice as long as sixth. Eighth abdominal sternite coincident with lamella postvaginalis.

Genitalia. ♀ (Fig. 8). Seventh sternite membranous, with caudal margin (ca) very slightly sclerotised in a broad U-shape; lamella antevaginalis (la) well sclerotised, bar-like. Eighth sternite coincident with lamella postvaginalis (lp), well sclerotised, trapezoidal with the caudal margin bearing a U-shaped sclerotization (us).

Papillae anales (pa) smoothly squarish; anterior apophyses slender, about ¼ shorter than sixth sternite; posterior apophyses slender, about as long as sixth sternite; dorsal pheromone glands (pg; Fig. 8B) unpaired, with one caudal opening at intersegmental membrane between A8 and A9, anteriorly deeply bifurcated into two finger-like lobes half as long as posterior apophyses.

Ductus bursae (db) membranous, anterior half scobinated with small uneven and irregular granicula (Figs. 8C, F), half as long as corpus bursae, with ductus seminalis (ds) arising dorsally from caudal end (Fig. 8D); corpus bursae (cb) spherical, almost as large as whole abdomen; signum (si) ventral, nearly in middle, concave, with scobination of tiny spines, also seen in surrounding area (Fig. 8E).

Etymology. The name of this species derives from the Latin “brevis ”, meaning short, referring to the length of the ductus bursae.