Proaegeria murzini, Gorbunov, 2023

Gorbunov, Oleg G., 2023, On the systematic position of the genus Proaegeria Le Cerf 1916 (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) with description of a new species, Ecologica Montenegrina 63, pp. 39-45 : 40-44

Proaegeria murzini sp. n. ( Figs 1–14 )

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:053A3050-7744-44C2-A3DA-D9F30B590ADC

Holotype ( Figs 1–2 ): male, “ Guinea, Kindia , / env. of Kindia, Pastoria, / 10.091890°N, 12.841998°W, / 390 m, 14–16.V.1982, / S. V. Murzin leg.”; “ SESIIDAE / Pictures №№ / 0023-0024–2023 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ”; “ HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Proaegeria murzini / O. Gorbunov, 2023 / O. Gorbunov des., 2023”.

Paratypes: 1 male, same locality, 27.IV.1982, S. V. Murzin leg. ; 1 male, 1 female, same locality, 14–16. V .1982, S. V. Murzin leg. (male with pictures №№ 0021-0022–2023, female with pictures №№ 0019- 0029–2023 and genitalia preparation № OG–0011-2023; 1 male, same locality, 19.IV.1983, S. V. Murzin leg.; 1 male, same locality, 13. V.1983, S. V. Murzin leg.; 1 male. Same locality, 18. V.1983, S. V. Murzin leg. (pictures №№ 0025-0026–2023, genitalia preparation № OG–010-2023); 2 males, same locality, 30. V.1983, S. V. Murzin leg.

Description. Male (holotype) ( Figs 1–2 ). Wing span 26.4 mm; body length 13.5 mm; forewing length 11.6 mm; length of antenna 6.0 mm.

Head: antenna black with dark violet shine, scapus silvery-white; frons grey-brown with violet shine and narrow white stripe laterally; basal joint and basal part of mid one ventrally with elongated scales, remaining part of mid joint and apical joint smooth scaled; labial palpus brown with violet shine and admixture of white scales ventrally; proboscis yellow, long, functional; vertex brown with few yellow scales; occipital fringe yellow with admixture of brown and few white hair-like scales; neck plate whitish.

Thorax: patagia brown to dark brown with greenish-violet shine and small white spot laterally; tegula brown to dark brown with bronze shine and small grey-brown spot at base of forewing; mesonotum brown to dark brown with dark violet shine and few dark grey-brown scales distally; metanotum dark brown with bronze shine; thorax laterally dark grey-brown with bright violet shine and small white spot both on meso- and metapleura distally; both metepimeron and metameron posteriorly white covered with long pale yellow and black hair-like scales.

Legs: fore coxa black with violet shine, brown scales at external margin and white scales distally; fore femur brown with bronze-violet shine; fore tibia brown with bronze-violet shine dorsally and yellow ventrally; fore tarsus brown with bronze-violet shine, basal three tarsomeres yellow ventrally; mid coxa brown with violet shine anteriorly and white posteriorly; mid femur brown with bronze-violet shine; mid tibia brown with bronze-violet shine and few orange scales dorso-distally; spurs whitish; mid tarsus ventrally yellow, dorsally two basal tarsomeres dark brown with bronze-violet shine, remaining tarsomeres brown with bronze shine and admixture of yellow scales; hind coxa brown with violet shine anteriorly and white posteriorly; hind femur brown with bronze-violet shine; hind tibia brown to dark brown with bronze-violet shine in basal half and greenish-gold shine in distal half, few yellow scales interior-distally and few orange scales dorso-distally; spurs whitish; hind basal tarsomere dark brown with greenish-gold shite and few yellow scales both dorso-distally and ventrally, tarsomeres 2 and 3 yellow with admixture brown scales ventrally, remaining tarsomeres brown with bronze shine and few yellow scales ventrally.

Forewing dorsally dark brown to black with dark violet shine costally and dark greenish-gold shine on remaining surface; ventrally dark brown to black with violet shine and few yellow scales at base costally; anterior and external transparent areas undeveloped, posterior transparent area narrow and short, not reaching to level of discal spot of hindwing; cilia dark brown with bronze shine.

Hindwing transparent; veins, discal spot and outer margin dark brown to black with dark bronze-violet shine; discal spot cuneiform, reaching base of common stem M 3 –CuA 1; outer margin narrow, about 0.2 times as broad as cilia; cilia dark brown with bronze shine.

Abdomen: dorsally tergites 1 and 2 each black with dark blue shine; tergite 3 dark brown with bronze shine and admixture of yellow scales; remaining tergites yellow with strong golden shine; ventrally yellow with golden shine and few brown scales with bronze shine basally on sternite 1+2; anal tuft extremely small, yellow with golden shine and few black scales medially.

Male genitalia (paratype, genitalia preparation № 010–2023) ( Figs 9–13 ). Tegumen short, but relatively broad; uncus long, straight dorsally and semi-oval ventrally, densely covered with multifurcate scales ventro-distally; gnathos narrow, long, finger-shaped with straight apex ( Fig. 9 ); valva ( Fig. 10 ) triangular, rounded, with long multifurcate setae on dorsal third; saccus ( Fig. 11 ) narrow and long, about as long as vinculum; juxta ( Fig. 12 ) with group of strong teeth ventrally; phallus ( Fig. 13 ) relatively narrow and long, about 1.6 times as long as length of valva; vesica with group of long, strong, pointed cornuti.

Female (paratype) ( Figs 7–8 ). Wing span 34.0 mm; body length 16.5 mm; forewing length 15.7 mm; length of antenna 8.0 mm.

Visibly more robust and larger than male. Vertex brown with few yellow scales posteriorly; occipital fringe white; neck plate grey-brown with few white scales; tergites 1–3 of abdomen each dark brown with dark bronze-violet shine; sternites 1+2 and 3 each dark brown with dark bronze-violet shine with admixture of yellow scales medially; anal tuft very small, yellow mixed with brown scales. Colour patterns otherwise as in male.

Female genitalia (paratype) (genital preparation № 011–2023) ( Fig. 14 ). Papillae anales relatively broad, well-sclerotized, covered with short and long setae; tergite 8 broad and long with short and long setae ventrally and distally; lamella postvaginalis long and broad with long setae distally; posterior apophysis long, about 1.4 times as long as anterior apophysis; ostium bursae broad membranous, straight, situated medioventral to tergite 8; antrum broad, long, about 0.75 times as long as anterior apophysis, well-sclerotized and slightly wrinkled medially; ductus bursae broad, short, membranous with numerous wrinkles medially; corpus bursae ovoid, without signum.

Individual variability. Unknown for females. Males slightly vary in the number of white scales on the labial palpus, yellow and brown scales on the occipital fringe, and yellow scales on the legs and tergite 3 and sternites 1+2 and 3 of the abdomen. There are two males that have all coxae posteriorly with yellow or pale yellow scales instead of white. Individual size is variable as follows: wing span 23.9–27.3 mm; body length 12.5–13.4 mm; forewing length 10.5–12.5 mm; length of antenna 5.1–6.2 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Superficially, the species of the genus are very similar to each other, but they can be distinguished in the colouration of the frons (black with bronze shine and white stripe laterally in P. vouauxi ., vs. grey-brown with violet shine and narrow white stripe laterally in P. murzini sp. n.), neck plate (black with few pale yellow scales apically in P. vouauxi ., vs. whitish in the new species), patagia (black with violet shine in P. vouauxi , vs. brown to dark brown with greenish-violet shine and small white spot laterally in P. murzini sp. n.), mesonotum (black with blue-violet shine and few brown-red scales laterocaudally in the species compared, vs. brown to dark brown with dark violet shine and few dark grey-brown scales distally in P. murzini sp. n.), spurs (external spurs white and internal ones black in P. vouauxi ., vs. all spurs whitish in P. murzini sp. n.), and abdomen (dorsally tergites 1 and 2 each black with bronze shine, tergites 3 and 4 black with bronze shine and admixture of yellow scales with golden shine (more densely on fourth tergite), remaining tergites yellow gradually turned to orange with bright golden shine; ventrally sternites 1+2–6 black with bronze shine basally and yellow with golden shine distally, sternite 7 yellow with golden shine in P. vouauxi , vs. dorsally tergites 1 and 2 each black with dark blue shine, tergite 3 dark brown with bronze shine and admixture of yellow scales, remaining tergites yellow with strong golden shine; ventrally yellow with golden shine and few brown scales with bronze shine basally on sternite 1+ 2 in P. murzini sp. n.). In addition, these two species clearly differ from each other in the conformation of the hindwing (surface between veins M 1 and M 2 densely covered with brownish translucent scales; surface between veins M 2 and M 3 with long, cuneiform, brownish, translucent projection of outer margin; surface between veins M 3 and CuA 1 with short, cuneiform, brownish, translucent projection of outer margin in the species compared, vs. completely transparent and without brownish translucent scales in the new species; compare Figs 1, 3, 5 in this article with pl. CCCLXXXI, fig. 3195 in Le Cerf, 1916, fig. 364 in Arita et al., 2021, and the corresponding fig. in De Prins & De Prins, 2023).

By the opaque forewing and by the coloration of the abdomen, P. murzini sp. n. looks like Afrotropical Similipepsis aureus Gaede, 1929 (type locality: “ Cameroon.”) and Isocylindra melitosoma Meyrick, 1930 (type locality: “ Uganda; Kampala, …”). From the first species compared, this new species differs in features of the subfamily level, namely, the presence of an apical tuft of hair-like scales on the antenna, wing venation, and the structure of the male genitalia. From I. melitosoma , P. murzini sp. n. is distinguishable by the structure of the hindwing (compare Figs 1, 3, 5 in this article with the correcponding fig. in De Prins & De Prins, 2023). Moreover, by the colouration of the abdomen, this new species is somewhat similar to Afrotropical Synanthedon xanthopyga (Aurivillius 1905) (type locality: “ Adamaua: Petenye.” [= Nigeria / Cameroon: Adamawa Plateau]), but they can also be distinguished from each other by the conformation of the forewing (transparent in S. xanthopyga , vs. opaque in P. murzini sp. n.; compare Figs 1, 3, 5 in this article with the corresponding fig. in De Prins & De Prins, 2023).

Bionomics. The larval host plant is unknown. The specimens of the type series were collected with an entomological net sitting on the leaves of indeterminate shrubs from the end of April to the end of May.

Habitat. Secondary degrading tropical forest.

Distribution. This new species is known only from the type locality in the vicinity of the Institute de recherche en biologie appliquée de Guinée (Pastoria) in Kindia (10.091890°N, 12.841998°W), Guinea, at an altitude of about 390 m above sea level.

Etymology. This new species is named in honor of my friend, the famous coleopterist Sergei V. Murzin (Moscow), whose collection of clearwing moths significantly enriched my knowledge of this most interesting lepidopterous family.

Figures

Figures 1–8. Moths. Proaegeria murzini sp. n.: 1–2. Holotype, male, Sesiidae pictures №№ 0023-0024–2023; 3–4. Paratype, male. Sesiidae pictures №№ 0021-0022–2023; 5–6. Paratype, male. Sesiidae pictures №№ 0025-0026–2023; 7–8. Paratype, female. Sesiidae pictures №№ 0019-0020–2023. Dorsal view (1, 3, 5, 7) and ventral view (2, 4, 6, 8).

Figures 9–14. Genitalia. Proaegeria murzini sp. n.: 9–14. Paratype, male, genitalia preparation № 010–2023. 9. Tegumen-uncus complex; 10. Valva; 11. Saccus; 12. Juxta, ventral view; 13. Phallus. 14. Paratype, female, genitalia preparation № 011–2023. Scale bar 1.0 mm.