Levu rufulus Muir, 1927

Zelazny, B. & Webb, M. D., 2011, 3071, Zootaxa 3071, pp. 1-307 : 40

Levu rufulus Muir, 1927

Levu rufulus Muir, 1927: 21

( Figs. 19, 157)

Redescription. Forewings 1.9 times longer than wide, length: male about 3.3 mm, female 3.4–4.6 mm (mean = 4.1, n= 3). Colour stramineous, vertex, pro- and mesonotum, and abdomen light orange-brown; genitalia stramineous; female from Guam with abdominal tergites bright red. Forewings uniformly infuscated; veins brown, red near costal and apical margins; short sections of R, Rs1, M, and Ms4 near apical margin dark brown. Hindwings lightly infuscated, veins brown. Subantennal processes connected to margins of facial carinae. Forewings with Sc+R fork before middle of wing; Ms1 branched just after apex of basal median cell, both branches meeting near middle; a small triangle at base of Ms1. Male genital styles oval, dorsal processes well separated. Apical portion of aedeagus extended and curved ventrad on the left side.

Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective ( rufulus , -a, -um = reddish).

Type material. Holotype ♀ (forewing 4.6 mm), SAMOA; labels: 1) 3 June.24/ Upolu Island / Samoa Is. / Buxton & Hopkins 2) Brit. Mus./1928-136 3) Levu rufulus / ♀ Muir / Holotype ( BMNH) .

Other material examined. SAMOA ISL.: 2 ♀ (paratypes of L. rufulus, BMNH ); Upolu Isl. , Sinaele, 1400', Balaka, 27. VII .1940, 1 ♂, O.H. Swezey . GUAM: Ritidian Pt., X.1952, 1 ♀, N.L.H. Krauss ( BPBM) .

Distribution. Samoan Islands, Guam.

Diagnosis. Levu rufulus resembles in venation and structure of the male genitalia L. samoensis Muir , also found in Samoa, L. lactineus (Fennah) from Palau and L. haedulus (Fennah) from Truk. It can be easily separated from these species by the heavily infuscated wings.