Melanastera mazzardoae, Serbina & Malenovský & Queiroz & Burckhardt, 2025

9 Melanastera mazzardoae sp. nov.

( Figs 8I View FIGURE 8 , 14I, J View FIGURE 14 , 23A–D View FIGURE 23 )

Type material. Holotype ♂: Brazil: MATO GROSSO: Sorriso, Fazenda Mazzardo II, S12.4217, W55.8432, 370 m, 15.viii.2013 (T. Mazzardo) ( UFPR; slide; [LSMelmazz-23]). GoogleMaps

Paratype. Brazil: MATO GROSSO: 1 ♀, same as holotype but ( NHMB; slide; NMB-PSYLL0007929 [LSMelmazz-23]) GoogleMaps ; 1 ♂, same but S12.4536, W55.8071, 370 m, 25.vii.2014 (T. Mazzardo) # P008 ( NHMB; dry; NMB-PSYLL00003023) GoogleMaps .

Description. Adult. Coloration. Body orange. Antenna pale yellow, segments 6 and 8 with brown apices, segments 9–10 entirely brown. Forewing ( Fig. 14I, J View FIGURE 14 ) yellow, in male with colourless areas: a patch at base, a band at nodal line, and a circular area subapically at costal margin. Legs pale yellow to orange, meracanthus of metacoxa pale yellow.

Structure. Forewing ( Fig. 14I, J View FIGURE 14 ) oval, widest in the middle, broadly, evenly rounded apically; C+Sc almost straight in basal two thirds, weakly curved in apical third; pterostigma slightly narrower than r 1 cell in the middle; Rs moderately convex; M much longer than M 1+2 and M 3+4; Cu 1a unevenly curved, ending slightly proximad of M fork; cell cu 1 short and wide; surface spinules present in all cells, leaving very narrow spinule-free stripes along veins, forming hexagons of a single row of spinules, spinules absent from basal half of cell c+sc. Hindwing with 5–7 ungrouped costal setae. Metatibia bearing 7 apical spurs, arranged as 3 + 4, anteriorly separated by 2 or more bristles.

Terminalia ( Fig. 23A–D View FIGURE 23 ). Male. Proctiger strongly produced in basal half; densely covered with long setae in apical two thirds. Subgenital plate irregularly ovoid; dorsal margin hardly curved, posterior margin evenly convex; with sparse, moderately long setae. Paramere, in lateral view, sickle-shaped: broadest basally, gradually narrowing to apex; paramere apex, in lateral view, narrow, directed anteriad, with a small tooth; outer face with short setae in apical two thirds; inner face with moderately long setae; posterior margin with long setae. Proximal segment of aedeagus with apical part strongly subdivided. Distal segment of aedeagus with strongly sinuate dorsal margin; ventral process situated slightly distad of the middle of the segment, in lateral view, narrow, simple, tongue-shaped, lacking lateral lobes; apical dilation elongate, narrow, with weakly convex ventral margin and narrowly, unevenly rounded apex; sclerotised end tube short and almost straight.—Female terminalia cuneate; covered with setae. Dorsal margin of proctiger, in lateral view, slightly convex posterior to circumanal ring, almost straight in apical third, apex subacute, in dorsal view, apex blunt; circumanal ring, in dorsal view, distinctly cruciform. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, unevenly narrowing to apex, apex pointed, slightly upturned; in ventral view, apex broadly blunt.

Fifth instar immature. Unknown.

Host plant. Unknown.

Distribution. Brazil (MT).

Derivation of name. Dedicated to Tatiana Mazzardo, the collector of the species.

Comments. Melanastera mazzardoae sp. nov. resembles M. acuminata sp. nov., M. duckei sp. nov. and M. variegata sp. nov. in the forewing shape and venation; the more or less sickle-shaped paramere and the distal segment of the aedeagus with a narrow, simple, tongue-shaped ventral process lacking lateral lobes. It differs from M. acuminata sp. nov. and M. duckei sp. nov. in the sexually dimorphic forewing, lacking brown dots (versus not dimorphic, bearing brown dots), with broader pterostigma (PtL/PtW <4.0 versus> 4.4) and broader cell cu 1 (Cu 1a L/ cu 1 W <2.7 versus> 3.2). It differs from M. variegata as indicated in the key and in DNA barcoding sequences: the uncorrected p-distance between M. mazzardoae and M. variegata is 17.9% for COI and 24.7% for cytb.