Mesolia meyi Bassi, 2013

Bassi, Graziano, 2013, Notes on some Old World Prionapterygini Landry, 1995 (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea, Crambidae, Crambinae), with descriptions of new species, Revue suisse de Zoologie 120 (1), pp. 131-160 : 136-140

Mesolia meyi Bassi sp. n. Figs 3, 4, 15, 22, 37

HOLOTYPE :: 1- ‘3’; 2- NAMIBIA | Popa Falls [18°07’S 21°35’E] | Okawango river | 23-24.XI.1993 | Mey & Ebert legit’; 3- ‘GS-3964-GB’; 4- ‘ HOLOTYPE | Mesolia | meyi Bassi’. Deposited in MFNB.

FIGS 5-8

Adults of Prionapteryx spp. (5) P. albimaculalis (Hampson) , female, RSA. wingspan 25 mm. (6) P. plumbealis (Hampson) , male, Namibia, wingspan 23.5 mm. (7) P. amathusia Bassi & Mey , male paratype, Namibia, wingspan 23 mm. (8) P. eberti sp. n., female paratype, Namibia, wingspan 26 mm.

PARATYPES: BOTSWANA. – CB; 13; Maun , 19°56’S 23°30’E, 957 m, 1-2. XII.2010, lux, G. Bassi legit; GS 5321 GB, CB. – NAMIBIA . – MFNB, MHNG and CB; 833, 8♀♀; same data as holotype , GS 5324 GB.

ETYMOLOGY: The new species is named in honour of Wolfram Mey of the MFNB, whose field expeditions in Southern Africa greatly helped to improve our knowledge of African Lepidoptera .

DIAGNOSIS: Mesolia meyi flies along with M. uniformella Janse, 1922. The two share a similar wingspan, but the ground color of M. meyi is whitish black in males and dark brown in females (Figs 3, 4), compared to the uniformly brown spotted with greyish and dark brown of M. uniformella (Fig. 2). Male genitalia of M. meyi (Fig. 22) can be distinghuished from those of M. uniformella (Fig. 23) by the longer coremata and valvae, more crested tip of the uncus and more slender cornutus. In the female genitalia M. uniformella (Fig. 38) can be distinguished by the asymmetrical bilobed corpus bursae.

DESCRIPTION (Figs 3-4): Wingspan: holotype 18 mm; males 17-21 mm; females 18-23 mm. Labial palpi 3 x longer than widest diameter of compound eye, white basally, blackish brown in proximal half, then with white patch and blackish tip; long scales brown. Maxillary palpi brown irrorated white and tipped with black. Frons conical, clearly produced, concave tip with irregular margin with two small teeth; white basally and brown distally in males, whitish with brown and blackish irroration in females. Male antennae serrate, ochreous brown in basal half and brown distally, with costa white. Female antennae simple, ochreous brown with costa concolorous and lightly annulated with black. Ocelli fully developed. Chaetosemata moderate. Head, patagium, tegulae, and thorax tricolored white brown and black, clearly lighter in males. Abdomen greyish white suffused brown, with first four tergites orange yellow. Legs white with tarsomeres white annulated brown; tibial spurs white, delicate. Forewings with well-defined hook; males with ground color white with dark brown and brown irroration; apex with s-shaped ochreous brown speckling and dark brown apical dot; median fascia ill-defined, black and brown; dorsally with black brown patch at 0.3; terminal line partial, brown; fringes with both short and long scales white tipped with black from apex to hook, from hook to tornus short scales white suffused pale yellow and long scales white except immediately below hook, white with black tip. Male hindwings white, distally suffused black, with terminal line near tornus black, thick; fringes with short scales pale yellow and long scales white. Female wings decidedly darker; forewings ground color brown to dark brown, with irregular whitish irrorations except for whitish costal patch at 0.7 and, below hook, whitish suffused dark brown subterminal area, with two terminal dots; dark brown apical dot always visible, as in males; fringes white and black above hook, black and golden brown at hook and golden brown and whitish below hook. Female hindwings dark brown suffused golden brown, paler basally; fringes whitish, with short scales tipped with blackish. Sclerotizations of male abdominal segment VIII as shown in figure 22. Coremata (Fig. 15) double, 0.7 length of valva, flat, with upper structure large and arched and ventral structure larger and L-shaped.

FIGS 9-12

Adults of Prionapteryx spp. (9) P. triplecta (Meyrick) , male, Democratic Republic of the Congo, wingspan 24 mm. (10) P. diaplecta (Meyrick) , male, Kenya, wingspan 20 mm. (11) P. banaadirensis sp. n., holotype, wingspan 21 mm. (12) P. somala sp. n., holotype, wingspan 16 mm.

MALE GENITALIA (Fig. 22): Uncus subcylindrical, curved; crest-like apical process broad, with few thickened setae. Gnathos 0.6 length of uncus, with pointed upturned tip. Tegumen subtriangular. Juxta cup-shaped. Pseudosaccus moderate. Valva elongated; cucullus rounded; costa more thickly sclerotized, without projections; sacculus moderately sclerotized. Phallus short, thickened; vesica with elongated cornutus at about half length of phallus.

FEMALE GENITALIA (Fig. 37): Papillae anales thin, dorsally larger. Apophyses posteriores long and sclerotized. Abdominal segment VIII with subtriangular sclerotization and membranous sternite. Apophyses anteriores 1.4 longer than apophyses posteriores, with tiny attachment to abdominal segment, subtriangular enlargement at 0.1 from base, then narrow. Ostium bursae bulged, lightly sclerotized. Ductus bursae 0.44 length of corpus bursae, moderately sclerotized. Corpus bursae bilobed; proximal sac wrinkled, with long, narrow, longitudinally oriented striae, lightly slerotized and spiculated; distal sac delicately wrinkled, with ductus seminalis emerging at its tip.

DISTRIBUTION: Botswana, Namibia.

REMARKS: In the original description of M. uniformella ( Janse 1922:7) the paratypes from Umvuma are all females. However, I studied a male “cotype” (1591 TMSA) with the label “Umvuma, Rhod[esia], 20. XII.[19]17, A.J. T. Janse”. Thus, it seems that one of the two paratypes cited as females was in fact a male. M. uniformella is distributed in Botswana, Namibia, RSA , and Zimbabwe.