Rhotana ramentosa Distant, 1907

Zelazny, B. & Webb, M. D., 2011, 3071, Zootaxa 3071, pp. 1-307 : 96-97

Rhotana ramentosa Distant, 1907

Rhotana ramentosa Distant, 1907: 409

( Figs. 61–63, 239)

Redescription. Forewings 1.8 times longer than wide, length: male 4.0– 5.2 mm (mean = 4.9, n= 9), female 5.1–5.4 mm. Colour stramineous; vertex, mesonotum and abdomen light brown. Forewings glassy, not powdered; yellowish-brown around 1st, 2nd and fourth subcostal sectors, as well as along most parts of Cu, Cu1 and Ms1b; fainter colouration along apical cross-veins; two very small brown marks on Ms4 and the end of Ms3. Hindwings colourless. Carinae of vertex and face separated; rostrum reaching hind coxae; subantennal processes well developed; lateral carinae of pronotum little developed. Forewings with costal margin and apical part of Sc nearly straight; Sc+R fork slightly before middle of wing; Ms1 branches just distad of apex of basal median cell, Ms1b connected to apical part of Cu1 by a short cross-vein, a triangle at base of Ms1. Male genitalia with pygofer narrow; genital styles oval, proximal dorsal process short, about as long as wide at the base, distal dorsal process more elongated, both processes well separated. Aedeagus with apical part wide at its base, tapering towards the tip which bears two slen- der, pointed processes, the left one straight, the right one slightly curved upwards and to the left.

Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective (ramentosus, -a, -um = with many pieces).

Type material. Lectotype ♂ (here designated) (forewing 5.1 mm), AUSTRALIA; labels: 1) Type 2) Rhotana / ramentosa/ type Dist. 3) Queensland./ F.P. Dodd. /1902-319 ( BMNH).

Note. Distant described this species from an unspecified number of specimens from " Queensland (F.P. Dodd, Brit. Mus.)". There are 10 specimens in BMNH which were apparently part of the type series. The specimen bearing a type label is here designated as lectotype .

Other material examined. AUSTRALIA: 8 ♂ 1 ♀ (paralectotypes of R. ramentosa, BMNH ); Lockerbie Scrub, Cape York, 12.IV.1975 , 1 ♂, M.S. Moulds Hutchinson Creek , nr. Daintree Riv., 8.I.1967 , 1 ♀, MV lamp, D.K. McAlpine + G. Holloway ( AMS) .

Distribution. Australia (Queensland).

Diagnosis. Rhotana ramentosa is similar to R. quadrimaculata Distant , also from Australia. It can be separated by the forewings lacking a red mark around the last subcostal sector, the absence of marks at the apices of Ms1a and Ms2, by the light infuscation around the first two subcostal sectors, and by the aedeagus ending in two pointed processes.