Eridachtha nairobiensis 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 : 289-291

4. Eridachtha nairobiensis Park , sp. nov.

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0D173E41-E0B5-4DBA-B8F7-797DC0B359D8 ( Figs 9 , 10 )

Type specimens. Holotype male: Kenya, Nairobi , Oluloa Forest NMK-IPR Compound 01˚21'49''S 36˚42'47''E, 1,822 m, MV Light, 15 viii 1999, leg. D.J.L. Agassiz, gen. slide no. CIS-7593, in NHMUK . Paratypes: 1♀, same data as holotype, gen. slide no. CIS-7623 .

Diagnosis. This new species is the smallest species of the genus. The male genitalia are somewhat similar to those of E. kilimanjaroensis Park , sp. nov., but can be distinguished by the gnathos basal plate triangularly produced apically ( Fig. 10 A-①) (rounded in E. kilimanjaroensis ) and the cucullus slightly narrower toward apex, with a sharply angulate process at lower corner.

Description. Male and female ( Figs 9A–D ). Wingspan 11.0– 11.5 mm.

Head: vertex with appressed orange-white scales, with concolourous erect scales laterally. Antenna about 1.2 times longer than forewing; scape elongated, nearly parallel-sided, orange-white throughout, without annulation. Second segment of labial palpus thickened, with rough scales, more ventrally; yellowish-white speckled with brownish scales on outer surface; 3 rd segment slightly longer than 2 nd segment.

Thorax: tegula and thorax orange-white. Hind tibia with strong setae-like scales above and below. Forewing densely covered with yellowish-brown scales evenly, with weakly developed blackish discal spots at middle and at end of discal cell; costa gently arched before middle; apex sharply produced; termen remarkably oblique, slightly concave medially; fringe with white basal line and broad dark-brown median band, concolourous with ground colour. Hindwing ground colour greyish; apex sharply produced; fringe with white basal line.

Abdomen: no spinous zones on dorsal surface.

Male genitalia ( Figs 10A, B ): uncus basal lobes ovate laterally. Gnathos basal plate quadrate triangularly produced apically; median process strongly bent pre-apically. Costal bar narrow and slightly angulate medially.Valva broad basally; cucullus elongated; costa slightly convex beyond half, with dense setae along ventral margin, slightly narrowed apically; sacculus broadly developed, heavily sclerotized. Juxta shield-shaped, with narrow, membranous latero-caudal processes; emarginated medially; anterior margin more or less triangularly produced. Vinculum broad, U-shaped, sclerotized along lateral margin, broadened apically, with rounded saccal zone. Aedeagus as long as valva, narrowly produced apically, with a pair of small triangular processes on dorsal margin; cornutus forming a sac.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 10D ): apophyses anteriores about 2/3 the length of apophyses posteriores. Antrum cup-shaped, weakly sclerotized, about twice wider than long. Ductus bursae narrowed in distal 1/4, then widely broadened in anterior 3/4 (with several irregular sclerotized plates medially), not well defined with corpus bursae. Corpus bursae ovate; signum plate with strongly sclerotized, vertical ridge centrally, about 1/2 the length of corpus bursae.

Distribution. Kenya (Nairobi).

Etymology. The species name is derived from the type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Eridachtha nairobiensis Park, sp. nov.: A, male, holotype (corresponding slide: no. CIS-7593); B, head in lateral view; C, head in dorsal view; D, hind legs (dorsal view).

FIGURE 10. Eridachtha nairobiensis Park, sp. nov.:A, male genitalia, holotype (slide no. CIS-7593); B, aedeagus; C, pregenital segments; D, female genitalia (slide no. CIS-7623). Scale bar for genitalia: 0.5 mm.