Saccharodite sanguinea Kirkaldy, 1907

Zelazny, B. & Webb, M. D., 2011, 3071, Zootaxa 3071, pp. 1-307 : 122

Saccharodite sanguinea Kirkaldy, 1907

Saccharodite sanguinea Kirkaldy, 1907a: 127

Description. Kirkaldy describes the species as follows (original description in French): Bright blood-red; legs yellowish brown, tinted with red; forewings hyaline, very faintly infuscated here and there, veins colourless, except for a subapical line and the adjacent sections of the longitudinal veins, which are blood red. Length to tip of abdomen 2 1/ 8 mm; expanded forewings 5 mm. Habitat: Java (van Deventer).

Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective (sanguineus, -a, -um = blood red).

Type material. Syntypes, sex/quantity unknown, Java, van Deventer (depository unknown) .

Distribution. Java, Indonesia.

Discussion. No labelled specimens were found in the Kirkaldy collection of BPBM. No insect collection of van Deventer is known in the Netherlands (P.H. van Doesberg, pers. commun.), and inquiries at the natural history museums in Leiden, Amsterdam, Wageningen and Brussels about specimens labelled Saccharodite sanguinea produced negative results. Kirkaldy's description is insufficient to identify this species, but shows remarkable similarities with Matsumura's description of Rhotana coccinea [= Saccharodite coccinea ] and both might refer to the same species. Saccharodite coccinea (Matsumura) is widely distributed in South-East Asia, occurring from Japan to Indonesia to Papua New Guinea. It has been recorded from Sumatra and is likely to be also found in Java. However, the following parts of Kirkaldy's description disagree with Sa. coccinea: The forewings are described as hyaline. They are actually powdered, but the powder is easily lost in older specimens. Under the description of the genus Kirkaldy states that the forewings are less elongated than in Levu . Actually, the forewings of Sa. coccinea are slightly more elongated than those of Levu vitiensis Kirkaldy. The blood-red apical crossveins of Sa. coccinea agree well with Kirkaldy's description, but the equally conspicuous red veins around the tip of the basal median cell and the base of Ms2 are not mentioned. The length of the expanded forewings is about 7 mm in Sa. coccinea as compared to the 5mm given by Kirkaldy. It is concluded that only a comprehensive collection of Javanese Rhotanini , or the rediscovery of the type specimen(s), can elucidate the identity of Sa. sanguinea and its relationship with Sa. coccinea .