Coleophora swaziella Baldizzone & van der Wolf, 2020

Baldizzone, Giorgio & Van Der Wolf, Hugo W., 2020, On the taxonomy of Afrotropical Coleophoridae (IV). New or little known species from South Africa (Lepidoptera, Coleophoridae), Zootaxa 4816 (2), pp. 151-170 : 157-159

Coleophora swaziella Baldizzone & van der Wolf , sp. nov.

( Fig. 3 )

Holotype ♂ ( GP Wf 4518) “ SWAZILAND | Simunye Country Club | 3.VI.1991 | J.A. V. Lucas”, ex coll. Wf, coll. Baldizzone.

Diagnosis. Species of overall dark brown appearance with reddish-ochre shades. The male genitalia are unique in the long, horn-shaped, downcurved, very sclerotized cucullus and the shape of the cornuti. A similarly sclerotized cucullus occurs in the Palearctic C. gryphipennella (Hübner, 1796) .

Description. Wingspan 12 mm. Head ivory, ochre-suffused dorsally. Antenna ringed with ivory and ochre; scape ivory without erected scales. Labial palpus ivory on inner side, brown on external side; second segment about as long as third. Haustellum well developed. Thorax and tegula ivory suffused with ochre. Forewing dark brown, lighter on basal and dorsal part; costal line ivory, reddish-ochre edged on inner edge; costal cilia reddish ochre, dorsal cilia brown. Hindwing and cilia brown. Abdomen brown.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 22, 24, 25 ): Gnathos knob globular. Tegumen stout, medially constricted, pedunculus well dilated. Transtilla linear, joined in middle. Valvula sclerotized, prolonged on the outside into long, curved, hornshaped sclerotized cucullus. Sacculus small and narrow, with triangular protuberance on ventral angle. Phallotheca short, sclerotized only on ventral side, apex acute. Cornuti of various sizes, clustered in two distinct groups, larger distal cluster with 7 cornuti and smaller proximal one with 4 cornuti.

Female genitalia: Unknown.

Abdominal structures ( Fig. 23 ): No posterior lateral struts, transverse strut with proximal edge linear and narrow, slightly curved distal edge. Tergal disk (3 rd tergite) about three times longer than wide, covered with about 25 conical spines.

Bionomy. The early stages and the foodplant are unknown.

Distribution. Swaziland.

Etymology. The species name is from the word “swazi”, and refers to the people from whom Swaziland is named.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Adults of Coleophora spp. 1, C. halmodes Meyrick - ♂ “Umtali | Rhodesia | 7.I.[19]18” (photo: Alessandro Giusti, © NHMUK). 2, C. stenoptera Baldizzone & van der Wolf, sp. nov., holotype ♂. 3, C. swaziella Baldizzone & van der Wolf, sp. nov., holotype ♂. 4, C. armata Baldizzone & van der Wolf, sp. nov., holotype ♂. 5, C. suavis Baldizzone & van der Wolf, sp. nov., holotype ♂. 6, C. venusta Baldizzone & van der Wolf, sp. nov., holotype ♂.

FIGURES 22–25. Male genitalia of C. swaziella Baldizzone & van der Wolf, sp. nov. 22, GP Wf 4518, holotype. 23, abdominal segments 1–5. 24, enlarged detail of valva and phallotheca. 25. Enlarged detail of cornuti.