Asuroides rosea Durante

Durante, Antonio, 2008, Asuroides, a new genus of lithosiine moths (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae, Lithosiinae), Zootaxa 1713, pp. 53-68 : 63-65

Asuroides rosea Durante , new species

(Figs. 10, 16, 28)

Material analyzed: Ψ holotype, Zomba Plateau, Nyassaland [ Republic of Malawi], 1-1921, g. sl. Arct. 5866 BMNH, in BMNH.

Forewing: wingspan 31 mm; upperside ground color light orange yellow, darker and shaded with pink inside cell in postdiscal and submarginal areas; pattern brown-grey; basal area with small costal patch, a subcostal dot,and streak posteriorly and distally; all bands in this species more slender than the average thickness for the genus; basal band similar to that in A. retromaculata , even if with more pointed corners; median and postmedian bands similar to those in A. retromaculata , even if postmedian band has sharper angles; number of streaks in submarginal band reduced to seven, since one of four posterior streaks is absent; C-shaped patch with distal concavity present; costa entirely yellow except for small portion from submarginal band to apex; underside paler yellow than upperside; submarginal band present only as streaks; fringes brown-grey.

PLATE 4. Figures 18–22. Asuroides species, male genitalia. 18, Asuroides sagenaria (Wallengren) , type, Caffraria [ Republic of South Africa], genitalia ♂; 19, Asuroides atricraspeda (Hampson) , lectotype, Gold Coast [ Republic of Ghana], genitalia ♂, g. sl. Arct. 5646 BMNH; 20, Asuroides atricraspeda (Hampson) , Kamerun, genitalia ♂, g. sl. Arct. 5732 BMNH; 21, Asuroides rubea Durante , holotype, Johannesburg [ Republic of South Africa], genitalia ♂, g. sl. Arct. 5868 BMNH; 22, Asuroides similis Durante , paratype, Nyassaland [ Republic of Malawi], genitalia ♂, g. sl. Arct. 4656 BMNH.

Hindwing: upperside straw-yellow, with two dark marginal streaks; underside like the upperside, but with the two marginal streaks not well marked; fringes brown-grey.

Body: head, thorax and abdomen light orange yellow; some grey scales on vertex of head; antennae yellow, filiform; labial palpi yellow, porrect, not extending beyond frons; tegulae with two grey dots; notum in holotype rubbed, pattern therefore unknown; forelegs yellow with dark scales on distal portion of femur and entire tibia; mid and hindlegs yellow with dark scales only on distal end of femur and tibia; tibial spurs 0-2-2; VII abdominal segment rigid; VII sternum trapezoidal, about one and one-half times as long as VI; VII tergum trapezoidal, twice as long as VI; abdominal segment VIII less than half as long as VI; tergum rigid, like VII; sternum less rigid, with large sub-rectangular membranous median area (lamella postvaginalis); dorsal pheromone gland bilobate, twice as long as posterior apophyses; ventral pheromone glands formed by two small semicircular pouches, less than one third of the depth of posterior apophyses.

Genitalia: Ψ: ostium elliptical, occupying entire posterior edge of abdominal VII sternum; ductus bursae funnel-shaped, well sclerotized, slightly shorter than VII sternum; corpus bursae without signa, and joining ductus to forming a small portion with same size and shape of ductus, after it enlarges like a sack with a dorsal dome-shaped expansion. Ductus seminalis arises at the connection of corpus and ductus bursae.

Etymology: the name refers to the pink shading in the forewing discal and postdiscal areas.

Remarks: this species has the weakest pattern in the genus, and the basal and postmedian bands have the sharpest angles. The pink shade in the forewing cell is diagnostic, and the dark hindwing fringes are shared only with A. retromaculata . The male is unknown.