Robinsonia decaensi Laguerre, 2021

Laguerre, Michel, 2021, Partial revision of the genus Robinsonia Grote 1866: description of five new species for the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Phaegopterina), Zootaxa 4990 (1), pp. 65-80 : 70-71

Description of Robinsonia decaensi Laguerre , sp. nov.

(BIN = BOLD:AAM8441) Fig. 7 .

Holotype. ♂, BRAZIL, Parà, Moju: Reserva de Floresta da EMBRAPA, 14-IV-2010, 19 m, -2.18° -48.8017°, Gen. ML 2255 (white manuscript label).— Sample ID BC-INCT0780—BOLD Process ID INCTA780-10 (yellow printed label), T. Decaëns leg.— Will be deposited in MPEG.

Paratype. 1 ♂, same data as holotype but Sample ID BC-INCT0536—BOLD Process ID INCTA536-10 .

Holotype male description ( Fig. 7 ). Head and thorax. Antennae bipectinate, shaft and rami greyish beige, scape light ochreous. Frons mixed with white and brownish grey, vertex yellowish with white base. Patagia, tegulae and thorax, white. Palpi light brownish grey, last segment very short.

Legs. Anterior coxae pure white. First pair of legs light brownish grey. Second and third pairs dirty white below with a brownish grey upperside.

Forewing. Wings elongated with an almost straight termen, entirely silky white, slightly translucent, with the veins creamy yellow. The costa up to the apex is covered by a narrow black line bordered inside by a greyish line then by a creamy yellow color ending on cell. Below similar to upper side but the costa narrowly black at base then widening toward apex, bordered internally by dirty creamy yellow until the cell.

Hindwing. Rounded wings entirely silky white, slightly translucent, some veins being creamy yellow. Underside similar to upper side, the costa being suffused with creamy yellow.

No androconial structures on both wings.

Abdomen. Silky white and hairy upper side and creamy yellow underside.

Forewing length: 16 mm (n = 2).

Female: unknown.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 8A–E ). Coremata absent. Uncus as a long and narrow blade, bent at 90° near tip and pointing downward. Valvae short, just reaching the base of the uncus. Subrectangular at base then narrowing quickly ventrally, just leaving a dorsal process divided into two parts by a translucid area. The upper part with a small pointed tip. The lower one as a narrow blade slightly bent upward. Outside this process a narrow oval translucent area covered with long hairs. Juxta as a sharp triangle. In between the juxta and the base of valvae and on each side, a triangular expansion the same size as juxta and covered with small spines. Saccus short and roughly triangular. Aedeagus short and cylindrical, caecum penis present. Vesica with a single huge lobe perpendicular to the main axis of the aedeagus. The lobe split into two different parts: one very large almost smooth and one very short covered with spicules.

Early stages. Unknown.

Etymology. Named in honour to its collector, Thibaud Decaëns, Professor at the Montpellier 2 University, for his important contribution to the fauna knowledge of the lower Amazon river.

Distribution. Presently only known from the vicinity of Belèm in the lower Amazon area.

In the same material as above, was found a unique female collected near the Marañhao / Parà border, around 300 km South-East of Belém. It is also externally identical to R. simulans or R. decaensi , but its sequence was largely different from those of R. decaensi (6.6%) or R. praphoea (8.0%) and is in fact closer to R. simulans with a distance of 2.4–2.7 % (see Fig. 3 ), which, allied to the different female genitalia, is sufficient to justify the description of a new entity under the name Robinsonia maranhensis Laguerre sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Neighbour-Joining tree of 17 selected COX1 sequences of the studied group, distances in % are given below each branch and bootstrap supports are given above each branch in bold (only if larger than 70 %) (obtained with MEGA7, see Ku- maR et al., 2016). The newly described species are highlighted in bold.

FIGURE 7. Holotype of Robinsonia decaensi Laguerrre sp. nov., dorsal view on the left and ventral view on the right, labels are not to scale. Scale 10 mm.

FIGURE 8. A–E: male genitalia of Robinsonia decaensi Laguerre sp. nov., A ventral view, B dorsal view, C lateral view, D detail of the valva, E aedeagus with everted vesica.