Nymphicula nyasalis ( Hampson, 1917 ) Agassiz, David J. L., 2012

Agassiz, David J. L., 2012, The Acentropinae (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae) of Africa, Zootaxa 3494, pp. 1-73 : 25

Nymphicula nyasalis ( Hampson, 1917) comb. n.

Cataclysta nyasalis Hampson, 1917: 457 .

Type locality: Malawi: Mt. Mlanje .

Imago (Fig. 35): Wingspan 9–14mm. Head fuscous, whitish on crown; labial palpus curved upwards, pale fuscous, basal two segments clothed with scales, terminal segment short. Thorax pale fuscous. Forewing base fuscous; an oblique orange subbasal fascia followed by a narrower whitish fascia, the two separated by fuscous scales, neither reaching costa; medial area densely irrorate fuscous on whitish ground colour; a metallic bronzy grey tornal spot; two orange strigulae separated by metallic bronzy grey scales; terminal cilia fuscous. Hindwing densely irrorate fuscous on whitish ground colour; wavy fuscous subterminal line; 5–6 interconnected black terminal eyespots; with small metallic spots in between them; terminal cilia inwardly fuscous, outwardly paler.

Male genitalia (Fig. 102): Uncus slender, pointed; gnathos straight and narrow, 0.6 x length of uncus; valvae simple, length almost 3x mean width, apex pointed, a number of setae in apical area; aedeagus cylindrical, some sclerotisation near apex, but no cornuti.

Female genitalia (Fig. 154): Ovipositor long, ostial chamber large; corpus bursae membranous, without signum; bursa about half length of ovipositor & apophyses.

Tympanal organs: Venulae outwardly concave, making a right angle where they join the processus tympani.

Diagnosis: Distinguished from other Nymphicula spp. by the presence of only one pre-apical costal strigula on the forewing.

Biology: Unknown

Distribution: Only recorded from Malawi, Tanzania and Congo.

Material examined: Holotype ♀, 3 paratypes ♂, MALAWI: Mt. Mlanje ( BMNH), Mt Mlanje 1♂ 2♀ ( BMNH).

CONGO: 3♂ 4♀ Brazzaville ( TMMA) ; MALAWI: 1♂ 3♀ Dzalanyama; TANZANIA : 1♀ Morogoro ( AJK) .