Eridachtha campanella Park, 2024

Park, Kyu-Tek, Minet, Joël, Koo, Jun-Mo & Yu, Tae-Uk, 2024, Review of the Afrotropical members of the genus Eridachtha Meyrick, 1910 (Lepidoptera: Lecithoceridae: Lecithocerinae), with descriptions of 12 new species, Zootaxa 5468 (2), pp. 275-307 : 282-284

1. Eridachtha campanella Park , sp. nov.

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:57AE0A07-4DA6-47E4-A585-CCAF008D0437

( Fig. 5 )

Type specimens. Holotype male: Kenya, Central , Aberdares C. Club 6,000 ft, 30 v 2000, leg. D.J.L. Agassiz, gen. slide no. CIS-7606, in NHMUK . Paratypes: 1♀, same data as holotype, gen. slide no. CIS-7607, in NHMUK ; 1♀, Central , Naro Moru, 6,500 ft, 27 xii 1999, leg. D.J.L. Agassiz, gen. slide no. CIS-7617, in NHMUK ; 1♀, Rift Valley Province , Gilgil, 2,110 m, 37MBV 0668 4636, 23–24 xi 2008, leg. L. Aarvik, D. Agassiz & A. Kingston, gen. slide no. CIS-7603, in NHMO ; 1♀, Rift Valley , Gilgil, 2,100 m, 0˚29'S 36˚22'E, 2 ix 2006, leg. D.J.L. Agassiz, in NHMUK ; 1♀, Rift Valley , Gilgil, 2,100 m, 0˚32'S 36˚22'E, 26 xi 2005, leg. D.J.L. Agassiz, in NHMUK ; 1♀, Rift Valley , Rumuruti, 1,800 m, 0˚20'N 36˚35'E, 29 iv 2003, leg. D.J.L. Agassiz, in NHMUK .

Diagnosis. The new species is superficially similar to E. nairobiensis Park , sp. nov., but it is larger than the latter; forewing with distinct blackish discal stigmata, termen less oblique and remarkably concave. The male genitalia can be distinguished by the more elongated cucullus; juxta smaller, with digitate median lobe on anterior margin, and aedeagus with a small, sclerotized, wedge-shaped cornutus.

Description. Male and female ( Figs 5A, B ). Wingspan 14.0–15.0 mm.

Head: vertex yellow white, furrowed centrally, with concolourous erect scales laterally. Antenna about 1.2 times longer than forewing; scape elongated, slightly dilated, yellowish-white throughout, without annulation. Second segment of labial palpus thickened, with more rough scales ventrally; yellowish-brown in basal half and yellowish-white beyond on outer surface; 3 rd segment strongly upturned, slightly longer than 2 nd segment, dark brown ventrally. Thorax: tegula yellowish-white dorsally, dark brown along anterior margin; thorax yellowish-white dorsally. Forewing ground colour yellowish-white, densely covered with bronze yellowish-brown scales; costa slightly arched beyond middle; apex produced; termen oblique, slightly concave; fringe yellowish-brown with narrow basal line; venation with R 1 arising from near middle; distance between R 2 and R 3 about 3 times that separating R 3 and R 4+5 at base; R 3 free; R 4 and R 5 stalked beyond basal 3/5; R 5 to termen; M 1 remote from R 4+5; M 3 arising from middle between M 2 and CuA 1 at base; CuA 2 from near lower corner of discal cell. Hindwing greyishwhite; apex produced; termen oblique, slightly concave.

Abdomen: no spinous zones on dorsal surface.

Male genitalia ( Figs 5C,D ):uncus basal lobes semi-ovate.Gnathos basal plate more or less elongated, triangularly produced on caudal margin. Coastal bar narrow, nearly not angulate medially. Valva broad basally, slightly angulate on ventral margin medially; cucullus elongated, narrowed in basal part; costa convex beyond half, densely setose along ventral margin; apex rounded; sacculus broadly developed, heavily sclerotized. Juxta shield-shaped, rather small, with narrow, membranous latero-caudal processes; slightly emarginated on caudal margin; anterior margin with digitate median lobe. Vinculum broadened apically, with a nearly flattened saccal zone. Aedeagus as long as valva, narrowly produced apically, with a pair of denticles before apex dorsally and a small, sclerotized, wedge-shaped cornutus.

Female genitalia ( Figs 5E, F ): apophyses anteriores somewhat thick, about 2/3 the length of apophyses posteriores. Ostium bursae widened, irregularly margined. Antrum cup-shaped, slightly broadened posteriorly, about 1.5 times wider than long. Ductus bursae membranous, narrow in posterior 2/5 (about twice the length of the antrum), anterior 3/5 broadened, as wide as corpus bursae, not well demarcated from corpus bursae; ductus seminalis arising from the broadened part. Corpus bursae large, ovate; signum broad, airflight-shaped, with weakly sclerotized quadrate upper plate and smaller lower plate.

Distribution. Kenya (Central, Rift Valley).

Etymology. The species name is derived from the Latin, - campana (= bell), referring to the bell-shaped antrum of the female genitalia.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Eridachtha campanella Park, sp. nov.: A, female, paratype (corresponding slide: no. CIS-7607); B, head with labial palpus; C, male genitalia, holotype (gen. slide no. CIS-7606); D, aedeagus; E, female genitalia (gen. slide no. CIS-7607); F, 8th segment + antrum (slide no. CIS-7617). Scale bars: 0.5 mm (same magnification for C and D).