Hygrostola dallolmoi (Berio) Le Ru

Ru, Bruno Le, Capdevielle-Dulac, Claire, Conlong, Desmond, Pallangyo, Beatrice, Berg, Johnnie Van Den, Ong’Amo, George & Kergoat, Gael J., 2015, A revision of the genus Conicofrontia Hampson (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Apameini, Sesamiina), with description of a new species: new insights from morphological, ecological and molecular data, Zootaxa 3925 (1) : -

Hygrostola dallolmoi (Berio) Le Ru , comb. nov.

( Figs. 5 a– 5g)

Conicofrontia dallolmoi Berio, 1973:143 .

Type material. Holotype (male) of Conicofrontia dallolmoi : Tanzania: Kipengere Mountain, Ikonda, 19-xii-1970, Prep. Berio N°4974 [ MCSN].

Other material: Tanzania: 1♂, 1♀, Iringa region, Njombe, Igosi, 09°18.443’S, 34°29.132’E, 2119m a.s.l., i.2012, ex light trap [1♂ gen. prep. LERU Bruno/G90, 1♀ gen. prep. LERU Bruno/G91] (B. Le Ru, leg.) [ MNHN]; 2♂, 1♀, Iringa, Dabaga, 08°01.549’S, 35°51.131’E, 1832 m a.s.l., xii.2012, ex light trap (B. Le Ru, leg.) [ MNHN]; 1♀, Iringa, Sao Hill, 08°27.421’S, 35°10.036’E, 1845m a.s.l., i.2012, ex light trap [1♀, gen. prep. LERU Bruno/ G98] (B. Le Ru, leg.) [ MNHN].

Redescription. The male holotype was poorly described by Berio (1973). The female is described here for the first time; it looks very similar to that of the male, however a little bit larger ( Figs. 5 a–5d): antennae ochreous, filiform in female, serrate in male, cilia short, fasciculate, flagellum adorned dorsally with ochreous scales, palpus brown, eyes brown. Head and front of thorax ochreous brown, tegulae ochreous, legs fuscous with brown scales, ground colour of abdomen ochreous adorned with a dense suffusion of brown scales on the top particularly in the male. Forewing: a longitudinal thin and short brown fascia from the base along the lower margin of the cell, defined by the greatly indented sub-basal and antemedian veins. The cell ochreous, all other areas (costa, apex, termen and inner margin) ochreous suffused with brown scales; a black spot at the base of the fascia just on the subbasal vein, antemedian vein adorned with brown scales. Fringe bistre adorned successively with a narrow basal ochreous line, and brown spots, variable in number, between the veins. Hindwing: ground colour ochreous strongly suffused with brown scales; an oblique longitudinal fuscous fascia between the posterior cubital and the 1A+2A anal veins, the anal area adorned with dark ochreous, a brown diffuse spot at the apex of the cell; fringe bistre adorned with a broken and brown broad basal line. Underside of forewing bright ochreous slightly suffused with brown scales in the costa, termen and inner margin areas, strongly suffused with brown scales in the apex and cell areas, two brown spots in the cell, a post-medial series of brown elongated marks on the veins, fringe bistre adorned with brown spots, variable in number, between the veins; Underside of hindwing uniformly suffused with brown scales, one brown spot in the cell, a post-medial series of brown elongated marks on the veins, fringe bistre adorned with brown spots, variable in number, between the veins.

Wingspan 53–56 mm (males) (n = 5); 57–58 mm (females) (n = 3).

Male (53, 56, 55, 54, 54), Female (57, 58, 58)

Male genitalia ( Figs. 5 e, 5f). Uncus long and thin, rounded at the apex and tufted with medium size hair on the upperside; tegumen with medium-size rounded peniculi, vinculum with medium-size rounded saccus, with a pronounced u-shaped indentation at the top margin; valves elongate and narrow; strong cucullus, club-shaped, with a short neck tufted with bristles; sacculus without clavus, presence of a sclerotized plate across the upper edge of the sacculus, costal margin with a small sclerotized ridge-like expansion roundly pointed and slightly curved inwardly; juxta small and flattened. Aedeagus short, curved, without cornuti, presence of a sclerotized elongate like carina crest, vesica armed with many rows of short stout spines.

Hygrostola dallolmoi : 5a—male upper side, 5b—male under side, 5c—female upper side, 5d—female under side, 5e male genitalia, 5f—male penis, 5g—female genitalia.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 5 g). Corpus bursae long and cylindrical without signa; ductus seminalis from the basal part of the bursa; ductus bursae short, bulb-shaped and slightly sclerotized; ostium bursae small with a cup-shaped antrum; dorsal plate large broad, sclerotized. Ovipositor lobes long and narrow 3 times longer than wide, with small setae, rounded at apex with an apical crest of short stout bristles.

Bionomics. Biology unknown. The moths were caught with a light trap in grasslands surrounding wetlands inhabited with Cymbopogon spp., Cyperus spp., Hyparrhenia spp., Sporobolus spp. However considering the large size of this species, the host plant probably belongs to a species with a thick stem like Cymbopogon giganteus Chiov. or Cyperus spp.

Distribution. Tanzania. The four records are from Afromontane (Mosaic no 19) vegetation mosaic ( White 1983) ( Fig. 6 ).

Remarks. Easily separated from Conicofrontia spp. with an uncus rounded apically, a broad club-shaped cucullus, a very small and flattened juxta, absence of two-lobed sclerotization on the manica, no cornuti, elongated ovipositor, no signa.

Phylogenetic and molecular species delimitation analyses. The ML analyses yield a best ML tree with a likelihood score of -14326.10 ( Fig. 7 ). Overall the tree is well supported and all nodes leading to putative taxa (i.e. morphospecies) have BV> 70%. Regarding the five species of interest, our analyses underline that Conicofrontia sensu Poole (1989) is paraphyletic because of the position of H. dallolmoi , which appears phylogenetically unrelated to the other Conicofrontia species. Specimens belonging to the Conicofrontia genus constitute a wellsupported clade (BV of 100%). Within this clade it is interesting to note that specimens corresponding to C. bipartita and C. sesamoides are not closely related. Conicofrontia sesamoides is sister to a clade grouping C. bipartita and C. diamesa ; these three species which are distributed in the Republic of South Africa are sister to the last species, C. lilomwa from Tanzania. Regarding the PTP molecular species delimitation analyses, the putative molecular species clusters are completely consistent with the morphological identification.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Adults and genitalia of Hygrostola dallolmoi. Scale bar = 10 mm for adults, 2 mm for male genitalia, 1 mm for male penis and 3 mm for female genitalia.

FIGURE 6. Distribution map of sampled Conicofrontia and Hygrostola specimens.

FIGURE 7. Results of molecular analyses. Support of major nodes is provided by BV (only BV> 50 % are shown). On the right we provide the former names of two species (sensu Poole 1989). Results of PTP analyses are figured using coloured branches. Putative molecular species clusters are indicated using transitions between blue-coloured branches to red-coloured branches.