Thubdora barbata (Meyrick, 1933), 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 : 453-455

Thubdora barbata (Meyrick, 1933) , comb. nov.

( Figs. 2 A–F)

Lecithocera barbata Meyrick, 1933 . Exotic Microlepidoptera 4: 356.

Type. Holotype: male, Musée du Congo, Haut-Uele, Moku Moto, 23.v.1926, L. Burgeon; R. DÉT. J 2247 ; M333, gen. slide no. CIS-7136/ Park, in RMCA.

Diagnosis. The species is superficially similar to Thubdora acutalis Park, 2018 , but it can be distinguished from the latter by having a larger, orange-white costal patch on the forewing, 2 nd segment of the labial palpus with a triangular scale-tuft apically, and the uncus of the male genitalia dilated distally, not bifurcate caudally as in T. acutalis .

Redescription. Male ( Figs. 2A, B ). Wingspan 13.5 mm.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 2D, E ). Uncus broadly expanded distally. Basal plate of gnathos large, fan-shaped; median process broad basally and strongly bent downward from beyond the middle. Valva elongated, nearly parallel-sided, with round apex. Juxta large, with rounded caudal margin. Aedeagus stout, shorter than valve; cornuti consisting of two rows of spines: the first with strong conic spines along dorsal margin and the other shorter one with weaker spines inner side. Abdomen with zones of spines on tergites; a pair of long hair-like pencils between segments VII and VIII ( Fig. 2F ).

Remarks. The species was described based on a male from DR Congo. According to the genitalia, it does definitely not belong to Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer , and is transferred here to the genus Thubdora Park, 2018 as T. barbata (Meyrick, 1933) , comb. nov. The male genitalia of Thubdora can be distinguished from those of Torodora by having an expanded uncus caudally and a well-developed, semi-ovate, broad basal plate of the gnathos ( Park 2018b). The following five new species, excluding T. ghesquierei sp. nov., are superficially very similar to T. barbata (Meyrick) by having a similar forewing color pattern with an orange-white costal patch beyond 2/3 on costa and they can be distinguished only by the male genitalia. Two dissected females are not assigned to any of the new species and thus, they are not included in this paper.

Distribution. DR Congo (Orientale).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Thubdora barbata (Meyrick): A, adult, holotype; B, ditto, lateral view; C, labels; D, male genitalia, holotype, gen. slide no. CIS-7136/Park; E, ditto, aedeagus; F, abdomen, with a pair of long hair-like pencils. Scale bar for the genitalia and aedeagus: 1.0 mm (same in the following figures).