Prasinocyma beryllaria, Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016

Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016, The Geometrinae of Ethiopia II: Tribus Hemistolini, genus Prasinocyma (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4065 (1), pp. 1-63 : 26-27

Prasinocyma beryllaria sp. n.

( Figs 26 , 66 )

Holotype. 1♂, S. Ethiopia [southern Oromia], Sidamo 13 km W Yabello Motel, 1960m, 4.90°N 38.01°E, 28 – 30.III.2009 ( BC ZSM Lep 81817, gen.prp. ZSM G 19463).

Description. Adult ( Fig. 26 ). Wingspan. Male 31 mm. Ground colour pale bluish green, irrorated with white strigulae. Forewings without spot at the inner termen. Fore- and hindwings with black discal dot, whitish encircled. Hindwing termen slightly angled at M3. Length of male palpi 1.0 times diameter of eye, tip and upperside ochraceous, underside white. Frons green. Antennae bipectinate in male, antennal branches pale ochre. Male frenulum present.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 66 ). Uncus short, rounded at tip, broad at base. Socii reduced to inconspicuous setose patches. Valva broad, sub-rectangular distally, subapical ventral lobe large. Sacculus membranous. A slerotized, slightly dentate ridge arising from the centrobasal part of valve to the ventral margin between tip of sacculus and subapical lobe. Aedeagus large and very broad, length 2.35 mm, with two short cornuti and a large lateral sclerite. Sternum A8 with two poorly sclerotized, shallow, round lobes.

Differential diagnosis. In habitus almost indistinguishable from the somewhat larger P. aquamarina sp. n. (so far available only in the opposite sex), but the large genetic distance clearly contradicts conspecifity. In habitus also reminiscent P. f u s c a sp. n., the latter differing in the brown frons, the longer palpi, furthermore with strongly differing genitalia and COI barcodes. In male genitalia the dentate ridge arising from the centrobasal part of valva possibly homologous to the spinulose process at the same position in P. corrugata . The latter also shows two cornuti in the aedeagus and a very similar habitus. In P. c a ec a t a Fletcher, 1958 from SW Uganda /NE Zaire there is a similar ridge arising from the centrobasal part of valve, but less sclerotized, not dentate and not exceeding the ventral margin of valva; furthermore the socii are longer, the lateral sclerite of aedeagus smaller and the posterior projections of sternum A8 triangular.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:ACL7753. Nearest neighbours in Ethiopia: P. albivenata (5.8%), P. neglecta (8.9%), P. gajdacsi (9.5%) and P. beryllaria sp. n. (9.9%).

Etymology. The name refers to the green ground colour similar to that of the beryl gem.

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 30. Adults of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar— 1 cm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides, and / or DNA barcoding, and / or nomenclatural status of the illustrated specimen are given. 25. Prasinocyma aquamarina sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 26135; Holotype); 26. Prasinocyma beryllaria sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 81817; Holotype); 27. Prasinocyma lutulenta sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 85809 - 81481; Holotype); 28. Prasinocyma septentrionalis sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 13197; Holotype); 29. Prasinocyma neglecta Prout, 1921 (BC ZSM Lep 83223); 30. Prasinocyma gajdacsi Prout, 1930.

FIGURES 64 – 67. Male genitalia of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar (s) — 1 mm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides are given. 64. Prasinocyma magica sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 16003); 65. Prasinocyma batesi distans subsp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 19591); 66. Prasinocyma beryllaria sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 19463); 67. Prasinocyma septentrionalis sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 16247).