Thubdora brachysema ( Meyrick, 1938 ) Park & Mey & Koo & Prins & Akite & Cho, 2020

Park, Kyu-Tek, Mey, Wolfram, Koo, Jun-Mo, Prins, Jurate De, Akite, Perpetra & Cho, Soowon, 2020, Fourteen new species of the genus Thubdora Park, 2018 (Lepidoptera Gelechioidea: Lecithoceridae) from Uganda, and three new combinations in Ptilothyris Walsingham, 1897 from DR Congo, Zootaxa 4759 (4), pp. 451-487 : 479

1. Thubdora brachysema ( Meyrick, 1938) , comb. nov.

( Figs. 20 A–F)

Ptilothyris brachysema Meyrick, 1938: 18 . TL: DR Congo. [RMCA].

Material examined. 1♂ (lectotype hereby designated), DR Congo, Kamatembe , 2100 m, iv 1934, leg. F. De White, gen. slide no. CIS-7218, deposited in RMCA .

Male genitalia ( Figs. 20 C–F). Uncus broad, as wide as the basal plate of gnathos, with widely curved caudal margin. Juxta with quadrate caudal plate medially and with triangular caudal processes. Aedeagus slender, shorter than valva. Abdominal sternite VIII slightly concave on caudal margin; tergite VIII crescent.

Distribtion. DR Congo (Kamatembe) ( Meyrick 1938).

Remarks. Ptilothyris brachysema Meyrick, 1938 was described as a variety of P. crocophracta Meyrick , and it has been treated as a valid species at the Afromoths site ( De Prins & De Prins 2019). In P. brachysema the wide median blotch on the forewing extends from the middle to inner margin, whereas in P. crocophracta a wide band (not a blotch) extends from the costa to inner margin. The forewing color pattern is more or less similar to those of Ptilothyris species, but the forewing is not so much elongated, with a more or less rounded termen, and the antenna is serrate, not bipectinate. The male genitalia are also differentiated from those of the latter by the basal pate of gnathos not trifurcated caudally and the juxta with a short, triangular caudal processes. Due to the male genital characters of brachysema Meyrick , the species is transferred to Thubdora , resulting in a new combination.

Figures

FIGURE 20. Thubdora brachysema (Ghesquiere): A, adult, lectotype; B, lectotype label; C, male genitalia, lectotype, gen. slide no. CIS-7218, D, aedeagus, lectotype; E, lateral view, lectotype; F, abdominal segment V–VIII, lectotype. Scale bar for genitalia and aedeagus: 1.0 mm.