Thubdora pileata Karisch & Park, 2025

Karisch, Timm, Dutton, Amy-Jayne, Yu, Tae-Uk & Park, Kyu-Tek, 2025, Lecithoceridae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea) from Nimba Mts. bordering Liberia and Guinea, Part I: The subfamily Torodorinae, with descriptions of 15 new species, Zootaxa 5728 (2), pp. 247-286 : 272-274

4. Thubdora pileata Karisch & Park , sp. nov.

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

( Fig. 15 )

Type specimen. Holotype: Female, Liberia, Nimba Mountains, alt. 1320 m, 7.9 km SSE Yekepa, 1 km SW Celcom tower, edge of Parinari-forest on SSE slope, 7°30’55.5’’N 8°31’24.6’’W, 30 viii 2022 LF (125 W HQL), leg. T. Karisch & A.-J. Dutton, gen. slide no. 4158/ Karisch, barcoding CBNU687 , in SDEI.

Diagnosis. This species resembles T. ivoryensis in its forewing colour pattern but can be distinguished by its larger size (wingspan 20.0 mm vs. 13.5 mm in T. ivoryensis ) and a much smaller forewing costal patch. The female genitalia are distinguished by a deeply concave ostium bursae ( Fig. 15C ) and a differently shaped signum.

Description. Female ( Figs 15A, B ). Wingspan 20.0 mm.

Head: Greyish brown; vertex and area between eyes with yellowish scales at edges. Antenna filiform, slightly serrate, ciliate; basal segment slightly broadened, pale yellowish-brown, tinged with grey; flagellum pale yellowish-brown, with grey tinges. Labial palpus strongly arched upwards, very long; second palpomere broadened, pale yellowish, suffused with dark greyish scales; third palpomere slender, almost equal in length to second, pale yellowish white, sparsely mixed with fuscous scales.

Thorax: Dark greyish-brown. Hind tibia pale yellowish on inner surface, dark grey on outer surface; median spurs pale yellowish, tinged with grey, inner spur about half the length of outer; apical spurs pale yellowish, tinged with grey, inner about twice as long as outer. Forewing greyish-brown; costa in basal third concave, then straight, before apex, with a small yellowish white costal patch; apex rather acute; termen slightly concave; fringes dark greyish, with a pale yellowish white basal line. Hindwing greyish brown, paler than forewing; fringes greyish brown, with a yellowish white basal line followed by a fuscous line.

Abdomen ( Fig. 15D ): Dark greyish brown, with yellowish tip; dorsal spinous zones densely spined.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 15C ): Abdominal sternite VIII deeply emarginated medially into V-shape. Ostium bursae deeply concave, sharply pointed latero-caudally.Antrum large, concave lateral margins before half its length. Ductus bursae as wide as antrum, approximately twice the length of corpus bursae. Corpus bursae ovate; signum with quadrate upper plate and smaller lower plate, divided by a large ovate groove medially.

Male unknown.

Distribution. Liberia ( Nimba Mts.).

Etymology. From the Greek, pileus (= cap, hat), referring to the hat-shaped signum in the female genitalia. An adjective in the nominative singular.

Figures

FIGURE 15. A, Thubdora pileata Karisch & Park, sp. nov.: A, female (holotype); B, female genitalia (gen. slide no. 4158/ Karisch); D, abdomen.