Camellocossus poltavskyi, Yakovlev & Traore & Revay & Prozorov & Petrányi & Müller, 2024

Yakovlev, Roman V., Traore, Mohamed M., Revay, Edita E., Prozorov, Alexey M., Petrányi, Gergely & Müller, Günter C., 2024, A new Malian species of Camellocossus Yakovlev, 2011 and first description of the female for the genus (Lepidoptera, Cossidae, Cossinae), Ecologica Montenegrina 78, pp. 228-234 : 229-234

Camellocossus poltavskyi , sp. n.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:54E9988D-C32A-498C-8B58-05049A5044DD

Figs 3–8 , 11–14

Material examined. Holotype, male, Mali, Monts Mandingue, SW Sandama, 550–560 m, mosaic of savannah and mature deciduous forest, Mid Jan. – Mid Feb. 2009 (GMF; slide 2023 0671) . Paratypes: 19 males, same locality (GMF, slide 2023 0672) ; 24 males, 8 females, Mali, 80 km SW Bamako, Ouronina , 12.1031 N, 8.4114 W, 394 m, Nov. 2012, Nov. 2014 (GMF, RYB; slides 2023 0592, 2023 0593, 2024 0889, 2024 0890) .

Description. Adult male ( Figs 3–6 ). Length of fore wing 16–17 mm. Antenna three times shorter than fore wing, bipectinate (rami twice longer than flagellum). Thorax densely covered with dark-brown scales, abdomen – with brown ones. Wing pattern typical for Camellocossus species, fore wing dark-brown, with pattern consisting of transverse thin wavy black lines from discal towards marginal area, and small black strokes, more frequent of the wing periphery, outer margin light-brown, thin, fringe brown, unicolorous. Hind wing light-grey, with poorly expressed pattern of dark-grey strokes from discal area towards outer margin, pattern not expressed in anal area, outer margin light-brown, fringe grey unicolorous.

Male genitalia ( Figs 11–12 ). Uncus basally wide, gradually narrowing towards apex, apically rounded; gnathos arms thick, relatively short; gnathos large, densely covered with short setae; valva very wide, cup-like, small semicircular bump on costal edge in medium third, robust crest with transverse oblique ribs in distal third of costal edge; outer margin of valva semicircular; robust sacculus on abdominal margin of valve, oblique folded harpe in distal third of valva at abdominal edge; transtilla process robust, tusk-like, long, curved, apically acute, inner edge slightly serrated; juxta robust, highly sclerotized, forked, with pair of highly sclerotized lateral processes; saccus very big, semicircular; phallus thick, equal to valve in length, almost straight, vesica aperture in dorso-apical position, and takes about one third of phallus in length, vesica without cornuti.

Adult female ( Figs 7–8 ). Similar to male in coloration and pattern, but antenna with shorter rami, forewings wider with rounded outer margin; overall, a little larger and lighter colored than male. Length of fore wing 18–18.5 mm.

Female genitalia ( Figs 13–14 ). Papillae anales oval, long. Posterior apophyses one third longer than anterior ones. Antevaginal plate consist of two ovoid plates sitting on semi-tubular stem forming narrow antrum; postvasginal plate reduced to narrow sclerotization. Ductus bursae very short, about one tenth of corpus bursae length. Corpus bursae very long, c-shaped.

Diagnosis. Externally, the new species is similar to two east-African species, Camellocossus ifrit Yakovlev & Witt, 2017 ( Fig. 1 ; type locality: Sudan, env. SE Bahr al Azraq, Wad Madini) and Camellocossus lalibela Yakovlev & Witt, 2017 ( Fig. 2 ; type locality: Ethiopia, Arba Minch) from which it reliably differs in clasping apparatus:

• C. ifrit has apically acute uncus and significantly shorter transtilla ( Fig. 9 );

• C. lalibela has significantly thinner transtilla and thinner acute abdominal process of the juxta

( Fig. 10 ).

The important difference from other species of the genus is the serrated inner surface of the transtilla.

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of Dr. Alexander N. Poltavsky (1954–2020) well-known Russian entomologist, who studied Pyraloidea and Noctuidae ( Lepidoptera ) of Caucasus and Western Africa (e.g. Poltavsky et al. 2019; Kravchenko et al. 2021).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the late Prof. Dr. Vasiliy D. Kravchenko (Tel Aviv University, Israel / USTTB, Bamako, Mali) for his dedicated entomological work in Mali: operating trapping systems, training local entomologists, and taking care of the collected material in harsh conditions. We are thankful to the USTTB which allowed us to use their field station near Ouronina, numerous village councils that approved our activities, and citizens of the surrounding villages that kindly tolerated our activities in their land.

The authors are grateful to Anna Ustjuzhanina (Tomsk, Russia) for language improvements.

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Figures

Figures 1–8. Adults of Camellocossus spp. 1. C. ifrit, ♂, Sudan, SE Bahr al Azraq, GS 25.273 (MWM/ZSM). 2. C. lalibela, ♂, Ethiopia, Arba Minch, GS Coss-MSW/2015/13 (CMSW). 3–8. C. poltavskyi, Mali (CGM/USTTB). 3. ♂, SW Sandama, GS 2023 0671. 4–5. ♂, SW Sandama. 6. ♂, Near Ouronina, GS 2023 0592. 7. ♀, Near Ouronina, GS 2024 0890. 8. ♀, Near Ouronina, GS 2024 0889. Scale bar – 1 cm.

Figures 9–14. Genitalia of Camellocossus spp. 9. C. ifrit, Sudan, SE Bahr al Azraq, GS 25.273 (MWM/ZSM). 10. C. lalibela, Ethiopia, Arba Minch, GS Coss-MSW/2015/13 (CMSW). 11–14. C. poltavskyi, Mali. 11. SW Sandama, GS 2023 0671. 12. Near Ouronina, GS 2023 0592. 13. Near Ouronina, GS 2023 0889. 14. Near Ouronina, GS 2024 0889. Scale bar – 1 mm.