Docleomorpha epsilon Huang & Horie, 2025

Huang, Si-Yao, Horie, Kiyoshi & Espeland, Marianne, 2025, A review of the genus Docleomorpha Hering (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae) with descriptions of four new species, Zootaxa 5689 (1), pp. 155-164 : 157-158

Docleomorpha epsilon Huang & Horie sp. nov.

Figs 4–7 , 14, 15 & 20 .

Material examined. Holotype. male, “ Cyclosia | Boholica | Bohol. Philippines Semp.”/ “Joicey |Bequest.| Brit.Mus. | 1934-120” / “Mindanao | Philippines | I. I. Mounsay ” / QR-code label with unique number “ NHMUK015106663 ”, gen. slide No. NHMUK014331807 ( NHMUK) . Paratypes. 1 male, 3 females, 2011, Mt. Balocawe , C Leyte, The Philippines, genitalia preparation No. KH 54 (female) and KH55 (male) ( CKH) ; 1 male, IV. 2012, Mt. Halcon , Mindoro, The Philippines ( CKH) ; 1 female, IV-VI. 2021, Mt. Halcon , Mindoro, The Philippines ( CKH) .

Diagnosis. In male, Docleomorpha epsilon sp. nov. can be distinguished from D. boholica superficially by the smaller size, the slender and more obliquely placed yellow band on forewing and the narrower medial stripe on hindwing. In male genitalia, D. epsilon sp. nov. can be distinguished from D. boholica by the shorter and narrower uncus, the shorter posterior bilateral projections, the ε-shaped distal process of sacculus (semilunar-shaped in D. boholica ) and the shorter phallus. The comparison with D. zeta sp. nov. is provided below in the diagnosis of that species.

Description. External morphology of adults. Male. Length of forewing 12.5–14 mm. Antennae black with long rami. Head, thorax and abdomen black dorsally and yellow ventrally. Abdomen ringed with yellow between segments. Forewing ground color black with a rodlike yellow stripe extending from costa to vein CuA 2 in male and to vein CuP in female. Hindwing ground color black, in male the patterns consisted of a pale yellow stripe stretching along costal area and a yellow club-like stripe extending from wing base to submarginal zone medially. Male genitalia. Uncus nearly rectangular with its distal margin slightly concave, bearing setae along lateral and distal margins. Scaphium moderately sclerotised, band-like. Tegumen nearly trapezoid with straight margin, about twice the width of the uncus. Posterior bilateral projection blade-like with the bases of the projections connected medially by a band-like sclerite. Vinculum moderately broad, nearly the same width of the tegumenal lobe. Juxta M-shaped. Saccus distally rounded and broad U-shaped. Valva broad (ca. 3.5 × uncus length) and short (ca. 2 × uncus length), costa stripe-like, simple; valvula membranous and fan-shaped, covered sparsely with setae; sacculus band-like, elongated (ca. 2 × uncus length), with the outer margin covered with numerous spike-like spines from the medial to distal section and the distal section formed an ε-shaped process. Lamella centralis long triangular, extended from the base of valva to the distal section of sacculus. Phallus elongated, simple and cylindrical with coecum well-developed. Female. Length of forewing 15–15.5 mm. Antennae similar to male but with much shorter rami. Head black with metallic greenish blue scales dorsally, thorax and abdomen similar in male. Forewing apex less pointed than in male with similar yellow pattern, and bearing an additional metallic greenish blue patch at submarginal area. On hindwing the two stripes expanded, fused together and formed a large yellow patch, with the black pattern between reduced to a short stripe stretching from wing base to the medial section of discal cell. Female genitalia. Papillae anales long (ca. 0.5 × apophyses posteriores length). Apophyses posteriores slightly longer than apophyses anteriores, both heavily sclerotised. Ostium rounded. Antrum funnel-shaped, with the posterior section sclerotized and the anterior section somewhat membranous. Ductus bursae membranous. Corpus bursae membranous and globular.

Distribution. The Philippines (Mindanao, Mindoro and Leyte Islands).

Etymology. The specific epithet epsilon is derived from the lower-case Greek letter “ε”, referring to the shape of the distal section of sacculus. It is a noun in apposition.

Figures

FIGURES 1–12. Adults of Docleomorpha spp. Depository of the specimens: 2 in SMF, 3, 5–9 in CKH; 4 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 10 & 11 in MfN, 12 in CHSY. Scale bar for figures 2–12.

FIGURES 13–15. Male genitalia of Docleomorpha spp. Depository of the specimens: 13 in SMF; 14 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 15 in CKH.

FIGURES 16–20. Male (16–19) and female (20) genitalia of Docleomorpha spp. Depository of the specimens: 16, 17 & 20 in CKH; 18 in MfN; 19 in CHSY.