Hypotrabala magnimacula, Takano & László, 2024

Takano, Hitoshi & László, Gyula M., 2024, Descriptions of new Hypotrabala Holland, 1893 (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae: Lasiocampinae: Selenepherini) in the collections of the African Natural History Research Trust, with notes on allied genera and the description of a new genus, Ecologica Montenegrina 72, pp. 19-63 : 27-28

Hypotrabala magnimacula sp. n.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6FA3BC27-1203-419D-8E8F-FFE3469BB709

( Figs 7–8 , 61 )

Holotype ♂ ( ANHRT):

“ REPUBLIC OF CONGO 352m / Noubale- Ndoki National Park , / Mombongo camp / 02°10’30.7”N, 16°8’37.7”E / 02–07.ii.2023, MV light trap / Bakala, N., M., Dérozier, V., / Kirk- Spriggs, A., László, G. leg. / ANHRT:2023.3 // ANHRTUK / 00366216 // Gen. slide No. / LG 6299 ♂ / prep. by Gy. M. Laszlo [black border; partially handwritten]”

Paratype ♂:

REPUBLIC OF CONGO: same data as holotype (1♂ ANHRT) .

Description.

Forewing length: holotype: 31 mm; paratype: 30 mm.

Upperside. Ground colour of head and thorax orange, irrorated with brown scales; abdomen salmon. Antenna bipectinate, brown. Forewing angled at apex, outer margin gently arcuate, anal margin convex. Ground colour orange, anal margin edged with dark grey scaling. Antemedial fascia dark brown, bilineate, crenulate, arising perpendicularly from costa, and angled to terminate perpendicularly along anal margin. Discal spot rounded, large, silvery-white and ringed in black, slightly emarginate distally, a little wider than the widest part of the cell. Postmedial fascia dark brown, bilineate, crenulate, the inner of the two more pronounced; arising perpendicularly from the costa, the two lines converge but do not meet and angle strongly at vein R5 terminating along anal margin. Area beyond postmedial fascia irrorated with whitish scales becoming greyer and forming a poorly-defined band running from discal spot to tornus. Subterminal fascia dark grey, roughly parallel with outer margin, strongly indented proximally in spaces M2 and CuA2. Terminal fascia dark grey edged distally with orange, broadest near apex and becoming weakly defined towards tornus, strongly bisected by orange scales along veins. Fringe dark grey. Hindwing outer margin arcuate, almost angled at vein CuA2; ground colour salmon becoming darker towards anal fold. Costa with dark grey scaling. Fringe pale salmon. Underside. Ground colour pale ochraceous-salmon, slightly paler towards the anal margins of both wings. Forewing discal spot narrow reniform, white. Terminal fascia as on upperside. Hindwing costal margin with dark grey scaling from base to Sc+R1 vein.

Male genitalia. Socius very long, ca. two-thirds the length of valve, arms gradually tapered to pointed apex, moderately diverging, forming a V-shape with concave medial notch. Tegumen short, moderately broad, inner margin evenly arcuate. Valve relatively long with a longitudinal sclerotised crest medially running from base to tip, narrow basally, slightly tapered in anterior third, gently arched medially, apex truncate-serrate. Juxta with short, rounded posteromedial process. Vinculum narrow ribbon-like medially, with large, elongate-triangular, apically pointed lateral plates with slightly arcuate margins. Phallus short, coecum penis large, as long as sclerotised part of phallus, membranous sack-like, tightly attached to juxta; sclerotised section of phallus tapered distad, medially curved dorsad, apically pointed. Vesica basally inflated, relatively small, finely scobinate with two moderately long, strongly serrate anterior plates forming a V-shape with slightly arched arms; posterior sclerotisation absent. Eighth sternite with long and narrow curly bracket-shaped anterior apodemes medially produced into a trapezoidal plate continued in two long, narrow, medially slightly dilated, apically pointed, almost parallel, heavily sclerotised posterior processes.

Diagnosis. Hypotrabala magnimacula and the subsequent species H. aurantiaca are virtually indistinguishable phenotypically from H. guttata but they can be easily identified based on the male genitalia. In H. guttata , the socii are shorter and broader, the valves are postmedially angled and apically pointed, the serrated longitudinal plates of the vesica are asymmetrical whereby the left plate is ca. 1.5 times longer than the right one, and the posterior processes of the eighth sternite are longer and the basal apodemes broader. Hypotrabala magnimacula is most similar to H. aurantiaca but in the latter, the socii are considerably shorter and somewhat narrower, the valves are slightly narrower and apically roundeddentate and the lateral lobes of the vinculum are noticeably shorter, whilst the eighth sternite has markedly shorter posterior processes, a somewhat broader central plate, and narrower and ca. 50% shorter basal apodemes.

DNA divergences. Unavailable.

Derivatio nominis. The new species derives its name from the particularly large forewing discal spot of the holotype.

Figures

Figures 5–13. Hypotrabala species: 5. H. guttata (Aurivillius, 1915), ♂, Ivory Coast, Tai NP [ANHRTUK 00024479]. 6. Id., holotype ♂ of Pachymeta guttata Aurivillius, 1915 [NHMUK 010292296]. 7. H. magnimacula sp. n., holotype ♂. 8. Id., paratype ♂. 9. H. aurantiaca sp. n., holotype ♂. 10. Id., paratype ♂. 11. H. retorta sp. n., holotype ♂. 12. Id., paratype ♂. 13. Id., paratype ♀.

Figures 60–65. Male genitalia of Hypotrabala species, a: clasping apparatus, b: lateral view of phallus, c: eighth sternite, d: dorsal view of phallus (a, b, c to scale, d magnified). 60. H. guttata (Aurivillius, 1915), Liberia [LG 6298]. 61. H. magnimacula sp. n., holotype [LG 6299]. 62. H. aurantiaca sp. n., holotype [LG 6301]. 63. H. retorta sp. n., holotype [LG 6303]. 64. H. castanea, Republic of Congo [LG 6317]. 65. H. smithi sp. n., holotype [LG 6315].