Ptilothyris porphyrea Ghesquière, 1940

Park, Kyu-Tek, Mey, Wolfram, Koo, Jun-Mo, Prins, Jurate De & Cho, Soowon, 2019, Revision of the genus Ptilothyris Walsingham, 1897 (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Lecithoceridae), with descriptions of eight new species from Africa, Zootaxa 4567 (2), pp. 201-235 : 209

2. Ptilothyris porphyrea Ghesquière, 1940

( Figs. 5 A–G)

Ptilothyris porphyrea Ghesquière, 1940b: 107 . TL: DR Congo. [RMCA]

Diagnosis. Adult ( Fig. 5A, B ). Forewing length 10.5–11.5 mm. Ptilothyris porphyrea is similar to P. purpurea Walsingham by having an orange-white hyaline patch on the hind wing, but it can be distinguished by the hind wing with more ovate patch medially and with pale-orange fringe on inner margin from basal 1/3 to near tornus. Male abdomen ( Fig. 5G ) has spinous zones on tergites, with a pair of shorter hair pencils on anterior margin of segment VIII, and with segment VIII similar to P. purpurea . Female abdomen is not strongly modified as in P. purpurea . The male genitalia provide a more distinct diagnostic character by the juxta, lacking two, symmetrical, long, caudal lobes that are present in P. purpurea .

Male genitalia ( Figs. 5 C–F). Uncus broadly expanded from base, forming a fan-shaped process, strongly convex along caudal margin. Basal plate of gnathos trifurcate, with elongate median lobe, exceeding caudal margin of uncus; lateral lobes broadly rounded. Valva elongate; costa slightly expanded dorsally near base; cucullus strongly upturned, rounded apically, costal margin slightly concave, with dense hairs around ventro-proximal margin, Ventral plate of juxta elongate-trapezoidal, with shortly produced caudal lobes. Vinculum a narrow bandlike, heavily sclerotized. Phallus slender, slightly shorter than valva, strongly curved along basal 1/3; dorsal margin sharply produced apically; cornuti consisting of a narrow sclerotized spine with a dorsal row of serration, about 1/4 the length of phallus, and a small, short apical spine.

Female genitalia ( Figs. 5H, I ). Abdominal sternite VIII deeply emarginate medially. Ostium bursae deeply emarginate medially. Lamella postvaginalis weakly produced. Apophyses posteriores about 3/4 the length of apophyses anteriores. Antrum weakly sclerotized. Ductus bursae about 1.5 times length of corpus bursae; ductus seminalis arising from middle, as broad as 1/2 the width of anterior part in ductus bursae. Corpus bursae ovate; signum large, prolonged, more sclerotized in posterior half.

Material examined. [RMCA]: 1♂ (holotype), DR Congo, written as “ P. chalibaea ”, MUSEE DU CONGO, Eala, x [19]35, J. Ghesquière, det. Ptilothyris . chalibaea Ghes., 1940 , n. DET. E. 4409, gen. slide no. CIS-7092; 1♂, paratype, named as “ P. chalibaea ”, MUSEE DU CONGO, Eala, vi [19]36, R. DET. G. 4409, leg. J. Ghesquière ; 1♀, paratype, “ P. chalibaea ”, MUSEE DU CONGO, Eala, vi [19]36, leg. J. Ghesquière, r. DET. F. 4409, gen. slide no. CIS-7093 .

Distribution. DR Congo.

Remarks. The three specimens that were designated as “ holotype, paratype, and allotype ” have their labels written as Ptilothyris chalybaea Ghes., 1940 . However, it was confirmed that Ghesquière himself, or possibly his technician, mislabeled “ porphyrea Ghes. ” as chalybaea Ghes. , because all the data on the labels of chalybaea Ghes. are exactly written in the same way as those of porphyrea Ghes. in its description. Moreover, no name of chalybaea Ghes. could be found in the NHMUK card index (Lepindex) or any other available references. Ghesquière (1940) probably described the species with a different name, porphyrea Ghes. , instead of P. chalybaea , the one he originally suggested on the label under the specimen. In the Afromoths (2018), the name of P. porphyrea Ghes. has been used as the valid name, instead of P. chalybaea . After the publication of this revision, the correct labels with the valid name should be placed on the specimens.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Ptilothyris porphyrea Ghesquière. A, Holotype, male, in NHMUK; B, Labels of holotype; C, Male genitalia, gen. slide no. CIS-7092; D, Phallus; E, Uncus and gnathos; F, Juxta; G, Abdomen, with hair-pencils; H, Female genitalia, gen. slide no. CIS-7093; I, Signum.