Eoophyla nigerialis ( Hampson, 1906 ) Published, 2012

Agassiz, David J. L., 2012, The Acentropinae (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae) of Africa, Zootaxa 3494, pp. 1-73 : 39

Eoophyla nigerialis ( Hampson, 1906) comb. n.

Argyractis nigerialis Hampson, 1906: 388 .

Argyractis dualalis Gaede, 1916: 130 . syn.n.

Type locality: Nigeria, Warri.

Imago (Fig. 71): Wingspan 12–13mm. Head fuscous; labial palpus long and slender, fuscous, segment 3 just shorter than segment 2; maxillary palpus also slender; antenna ¾ length of forewing, fuscous. Thorax and tegulae fuscous. Forewing irrorate fuscous; an indistinct pale subbasal fascia; suffused discal spot; two white costal strigulae towards apex, separated by orange, outwardly edged fuscous; terminal area orange; a blackish apical spot and a row of blackish dots along termen; cilia dark fuscous. Hindwing base whitish; a subbasal fascia of orange, suffused fuscous; whitish with brown scales before double suberminal line; four blackish eyespots, each an oblique shape and containing a metallic blue spot, separated by narrow orange wedges; terminal cilia fuscous, darker against eyespots. In some specimens the eyespots are greatly reduced.

Male genitalia: Uncus drawn out to a slender point; gnathos 4/5 uncus apex slightly bent ventally with spines on dorsal edge; valva with three or four specialised setae arising from near apex, all bent through 90º close to base, the inner one becoming broad and flattened, the others slender; juxta heavily adorned with spines on the sides; aedeagus slender, two or three very small cornuti. A weakly sclerotised plate on seventh segment, indented anteriorly. On the posterior edge of the metathorax (beneath the tympanal organs) lies a pair of black hair pencils.

Female genitalia (Fig. 172): Ostium wide, antrum quickly contracted by two sclerotised columns appearing coiled; ductus steadily narrowing; corpus bursae ovate, signum comprising a single sclerotised ridge.

Tympanal organs: Venulae short and fairly strainght, widely divergent posteriorly; tympani narrow, projecting forwards.

Diagnosis: A small species; differs from others in the genus in the predominantly fuscous colour of median area of forewing and hindwing, and in the shape of the eyespots (when present) which are almost parallelograms.

Biology: Unknown.

Distribution: Nigeria and Cameroon.

Material examined: Holotype ♂: Nigeria: Warri ( BMNH) ; Holotype ♂ of Argyractis dualalis Gaede ( MNHB) . CAMEROON: Duala 1♀ dissected, slide DJLA No. 3025, two further specimens without abdomens. 1♀ — Staudinger coll.( MNHB) ; NIGERIA: 1♂ Old Calabar, slide No. DJLA 3049 (Carnegie Museum, Philadelphia) .