Prasinocyma lutulenta, Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016

Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016, The Geometrinae of Ethiopia II: Tribus Hemistolini, genus Prasinocyma (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4065 (1), pp. 1-63 : 27

Prasinocyma lutulenta sp. n.

( Figs 27 , 95 )

Holotype. 1♀, S. Ethiopa [Southern Nations], Gemu Gofa, Omo, Arba Minch, 1335m, 6.0161°N, 37.5590°E, 24.XII.2013, leg. D. Wiersbowsky, coll. ZSM; BC ZSM Lep 81481 (failure), 85809; gen.prp. 16040.

Description. Adult ( Fig. 27 ). Wingspan. Female 32 mm. Ground colour pale bluish green, irrorated with white strigulae. Forewing without spot at the inner termen. Fore- and hindwings with an inconspicuous black discal dot, terminal dots absent. Hindwing termen slightly angled at M3. Length of female palpi 2.0 times diameter of eye, tip and upperside reddish, underside white. Frons green, reddish towards vertex. Antennae filiform in female.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 95 ). Apophyses comparatively long. Sterigma semi-membranous with granulose surface, posteriorly with alate projections, anteriorly shallowly bilobous, bent upwards (ventrad). Ductus bursae long. Corpus bursae oval. Signum developed as a transverse sclerite, anteriorly with two spinules.

Differential diagnosis. Several species are similar in habitus, e.g. P. aquamarina sp. n., P. monikae sp. n. and P. beryllaria sp. n., the last two being available only in the opposite sex but clearly distinct in their COI barcode. P. aquamarina sp. n. differs also in female genitalia in its shorter ductus bursae and the stronger slerotization of the furrowed sterigma. The 'closest' genetic ally P. amharensis differs from P. lutulenta sp.n. in the completely lacking discal dots, in female genitalia in the strikingly different shape of the sterigma.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:ACL9893. Nearest neighbour in Ethiopia: P. amharensis sp. n. (9.4%), distance from an undescribed Prasinocyma species ( Tanzania, province Iringa) 6.8%. Genetically strongly diverging from all other species (>150 species) so far barcoded from the African continent, thus a description based on a single female seems justified.

Etymology. The name refers to the red and green frons and palpi, lat. lutulentus = multicolorous.

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 30. Adults of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar— 1 cm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides, and / or DNA barcoding, and / or nomenclatural status of the illustrated specimen are given. 25. Prasinocyma aquamarina sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 26135; Holotype); 26. Prasinocyma beryllaria sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 81817; Holotype); 27. Prasinocyma lutulenta sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 85809 - 81481; Holotype); 28. Prasinocyma septentrionalis sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 13197; Holotype); 29. Prasinocyma neglecta Prout, 1921 (BC ZSM Lep 83223); 30. Prasinocyma gajdacsi Prout, 1930.

FIGURES 92 – 97. Female genitalia of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar (s) — 1 mm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides are given. 92. Prasinocyma fusca sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 16218); 93. Prasinocyma germinaria (Guenée, 1858) (ex NHM); 94. Prasinocyma aquamarina sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 19455); 95. Prasinocyma lutulenta sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 16040); 96. Prasinocyma septentrionalis sp. n. (gen. prp. ZSM G 19408); 97. Prasinocyma neglecta Prout, 1921 (gen. prp. ZSM G 16057).