Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937

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 : 17

Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937

( Figs 10 , 51 , 86 )

Prasinocyma hailei Debauche (1937) : 323. Locus typicus: Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, 'over 8000 ft' (Holotype ♂ NHM, examined).

Material. Addis Ababa: 2♂ 1♀, Addis Ababa (locality no. 41); BC ZSM Lep 83225, 83226, 85811, 85812; gen.prp.19592, 19593). Oromia: 1♀, Finchawa (no. 61; BC ZSM Lep 84186); 1♀, Bale (no. 57; BC ZSM Lep 84187); West Shoa (no. 29, BC ZSM Lep 09781; gen.prp. ZSM G 19394).

Redescription. Adult ( Fig. 10 ). Wingspan. Male and female 20 – 22 mm. Ground colour leaf green, strongly irrorated with white strigulae. Forewing without dot at ½ of the inner margin. Conspicuous dark green discal dots on all wings, terminal dots absent. Hindwing termen rounded at M3. Length of male palpi 0.8 – 1.0 times diameter of eye, tip and upperside reddish, underside white. Length of female palpi 1.3 times diameter of eye. Frons red. Antennae bipectinate in male, filiform in female. Antennal branches ochre, markedly darker at base. Male frenulum present. Male legs reddish dorsally; hindtibia with four spurs, without pencil.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 51 ). Valva with small subapical ventral lobe, harpe sclerotized, stout, curved towards the ventral margin of valva, broad and rounded at tip. Aedeagus bent twice at centre, long and narrow, with basal stalk approx. 2/5 of the total length. Sternum A8 with two sub-truncate projections, sclerotized and concave between.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 86 ). Antrum sclerotized, broad, posteriorly bilobous. Lamella antevaginalis narrow, transverse, alate, anteriorly bilobous. Ductus bursae short, corpus bursae very small, membranous.

Differential diagnosis. In habitus and male genitalia reminiscent of P. angolica but the latter with a narrower harpe and long posterior processes on sternum A8.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:AAF8134. Nearest neighbour in Ethiopia: P. oblita (6.4%). Genetically well nested within the immaculata species-group. The specimen from West Shoa shows a genetic divergence of 1.4% from the populations of Addis Ababa and Bale, perhaps due to isolated populations with disruptive feature patterns and thus referring to a (sub)specific subdivision. Further research with more material is required.

Figures

FIGURES 7 – 12. 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. 7. Prasinocyma getachewi sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 13169; Holotype); 8. Prasinocyma baumgaertneri sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 81479; Holotype); 9. Prasinocyma oblita Prout, 1930 (gen. prp. ZSM G 16002); 10. Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937 (BC ZSM Lep 85812 - 83226); 11. Prasinocyma loveridgei Prout, 1926 (cf. perpulverata Prout, 1916); 12. Prasinocyma nereis Townsend, 1952 (comb. n.) (BC ZSM Lep 83221).

FIGURES 51 – 55. Male genitalia of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar (s) — 1 mm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides are given. 51. Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937 (gen. prp. ZSM G 19395); 52. Prasinocyma loveridgei Prout, 1926, Kenya (cf. perpulverata) (gen. prp. ZSM G 16092); 53. Prasinocyma nereis Townsend, 1952 (comb. n.) (gen. prp. ZSM G 19402); 54. Prasinocyma shoa Herbulot, 1993 (gen. prp. ZSM G 16246); 55. Prasinocyma shoa yabellensis subsp. n., (gen. prp. ZSM G 19401).

FIGURES 86 – 91. Female genitalia of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar (s) — 1 mm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides are given. 86. Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937 (gen. prp. ZSM G 16089); 87. Prasinocyma loveridgei Prout, 1926, Kenya (cf. perpulverata) (gen. prp. ZSM G 16101); 88. Prasinocyma shoa yabellensis subsp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 15972); 89. Prasinocyma robusta sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 16090); 90. Prasinocyma amharensis sp. n. (gen. prp. DAEF GU); 91. Prasinocyma jefferyi Prout, 1930 (gen. prp. ZSM G 15991).