Macrodicella Krüger, 2015

Genus Macrodicella Krüger, 2015 View in CoL

Macrodicella Krüger, 2015 View in CoL , Transvaal Museum Memoir, 15: 28 (Type species: Phryganopsis ampla Debauche, 1942 View in CoL , by original designation).

Remarks. (1) In the original description of Phryganopsis derelicta, Debauche (1942) illustrated the lateral view of the genital capsule ( Debauche (1942): pl. 3, fig. 6), the separated valva (pl. 4: fig. 1) and the phallus (pl. 4: fig. 2). Krüger (2015) placed derelicta in his subgenus Eurythosia of Archithosia (synonymised with Architesma in the present paper) but in the original illustration of the genital capsule of the species (see Debauche (1942): pl. 3, fig. 6), the basal saccular processes are well-recognisable and extremely long (exceeding the tegumen-vinculum complex and the valva in their length), which is the feature characteristic of Macrodicella . For this reason, derelicta is herein transferred to Macrodicella from Archithosia . (2) Unfortunately, the original photographs of the male genitalia of both Macrodicella species illustrated by Debauche (1942) are of low quality while the drawings of the genitalia of both sexes of the type species of the genus provided by Krüger (2015: figs 219 and 321) are schematic and therefore also uninformative. For this reason, the preparation of a correct and comprehensive diagnosis of the genus requires further detailed examination of the genital structures of both sexes thus the current treatment of the morphology of the genus is limited and follows Debauche (1942) and Krüger (2015). (3) In their Table 1, Durante et al. (2024: 361) illustrated the scan of the original figure of the phallus of Teracotona wittei ( Debauche, 1942) (Arctiini) (after Debauche (1942): pl. 4, fig. 4) as ‘ Archithosia derelicta ’.

Diagnosis. Two known species of the genus are externally reminiscent of broad-winged members of the genus Asbolopsyche and certain species of Architesma (e.g., A. turlini sp. n. and A. smithi sp. n.) but the male genitalia are distinct, the strongly elongate basal saccular process, which can be nearly as long as the valva. In the female genitalia, Macrodicella differs from Architesma in the lack of the sclerotised postvaginal formation of the sterigma and the presence of the well-developed and stout ductus bursae.

Distribution. Species of the genus are known from eastern DRC (Kivu), western Uganda

( Ruwenzori Massif ) and northern Rwanda ( Debauche 1942; Krüger 2015).