Thubdora gladiator Park & De Prins, 2019

Park, Kyu-Tek & Prins, Willy De, 2019, Re-examination of the type specimens of Lecithoceridae (Lepidoptera), deposited in the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Belgium, with descriptions of ten new species from DR Congo belonging to Thubdora Park and Torodora Meyrick, Zootaxa 4571 (4), pp. 451-476 : 457-459

Thubdora gladiator Park & De Prins , sp. nov.

( Figs. 5 A–F)

Types. Holotype: male, Coll. Mus. Congo, [Katanga], Elisabethville [Lubumbashi], iv.1952, Ch. Seydel, gen. slide no. CIS-7158/ Park, in RMCA . Paratypes: 1♂, Coll. Mus. Congo, [Katanga], Elisabethville [Lubumbashi], 10.ix.1949, Ch. Seydel, gen. slide no. CIS-7246/ Park ; 1♀, same locality as holotype, 9.xi.1937, Ch. Seydel, gen. slide no. CIS-7245/ Park, in RMCA .

Diagnosis. The new species is also superficially similar to all the preceding congeneric species, but it can be easily distinguished from the latter by some distinctly differentiated morphological characteristics like having a bifurcated uncus with sharply produced caudal lobes, the basal plate of gnathos trifurcate caudally; valva with a well-developed spine medially on costal margin; juxta with a long, sword-shaped caudal lobe; aedeagus very slender, longer than valva; abdomen lacking hair-pencils between segments VII and VIII and modified sclerites on segment VIII.

Description. Male ( Figs. 5A, B ). Wingspan 15–17 mm.

Head: Vertex dark brown, with well-developed, light orange erect scales laterally. Antenna shorter than forewing; basal segment elongated, pale orange, slightly dilated apically; flagellum serrate, pale orange, finely ciliate ventrally. Labial palpi of the holotype brocken, herein described with those of a paratype: 2 nd segment thickened, pale orange all around, except basal 1/3 on dorsal surface with dark-brown scales; 3 rd segment as long as 2 nd segment, pale orange, but dark fuscous ventrally, sharply pointed apically.

Thorax: Tegula and thorax dark brown. Hind tibia orange white, shiny all around; tarsi orange white, excepting last segment with fuscous scales dorsally. Forewing slightly dilated distally; ground color dark brown evenly; costal patch elongate-ovate, orange-white; costa slightly arched from near base to costal patch; apex rounded; termen oblique, nearly straight; fringe concolorous, lacking distinct basal line. Hindwing broader than forewing, pale grayish brown; fringe concolorous, lacking basal line.

Abdomen lacking a pair of hair-like pencils between segments VII and VIII, and lacking modified sclerites on segment VIII ( Fig. 5E ).

Male genitalia ( Figs. 5C, D ). Uncus bifurcate with heavily sclerotized, triangularly produced caudal lobes, directed outward. Basal plate of gnathos broadly developed, trifurcate caudally with semi-rounded median lobe; median process very slender, elongated, slightly bent downward apically. Valva broad at base, narrowed toward apex, with a short spine on costal margin medially; apex with a small conic spine. Juxta narrow, elongated, with long, sword-shaped lobe caudally, total length longer than tegumen plus uncus. Aedeagus slender, as wide as basal part of juxta, longer than valva.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 5F ). Sternite VIII deeply concave on caudal margin. Ostium bursae deeply emarginate on caudal margin. Antrum cup-shaped, sclerotized, connecting with membranous modified, jar-shaped distal part of ductus bursae. Ductus bursae very narrow, about twice the length of corpus bursae, with jar-shaped distal part. Corpus bursae elongated, narrow, membraneous, lacking signum.

Remarks. The male genitalia of this new species look somewhat different from all the preceding species by having specialized characters, e.g., the basal plate of gnathos looks like that of Ptilothyris Walsingham , typical spine on costal margin of valva, and lacking modified sclerites on abdominal segment VIII, but this species is tentatively placed in the genus Thubdora Park by the combination of the other characters of the species.

Distribution. DR Congo (Katanga).

Etymology. The species name is derived from the Latin, gladius (= sword), referring to the sword-shaped caudal process of the juxta in the male genitalia.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Thubdora gladiator sp. nov.: A, adult, holotype; B, close-up of the head and antenna, dorsal view; C. male genitalia, paratype, gen. slide no. CIS-7246/Park; D, ditto, aedeagus; E, abdomen; F, female genitalia.