Coccothera yangambiana, Zilli & László & Kingston & Larsen, 2024

Coccothera yangambiana sp. nov.

( Figs 3-7 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 View Figure 5 View Figure 6 View Figure 7 ).

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:CA453E2F-D7B9-427E-9405-AA3CA3D80B4A

Material examined

Holotype: ♂, DRC. Democratic Republic of Congo. Province : Tshopo. Yangambi reserve, 100 km. WNW Kisangani, 0º45'49"N, 24º30'17"E, 450 m ASL. 14.- 23.v.2012, leg. et coll. KL, later ZMUC. Gen. prep. 4952 ♂ KL. GoogleMaps

Paratypes: 4♀ same data as the holotype. Gen. prep. 4946 ♀ KL, 4947 ♀ KL and 4951 ♀ KL.

Description

Imago: ( Fig. 3-4 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 ). Wingspan ♂ 8 mm, ♀ 8-11 mm. Head and thorax very dark grey, scales yellow tipped. Segments of abdomen grey and black ringed last segment pure black; underside more light grey and shining. Antenna about half the length of the forewing, dark grey and yellow ringed. Labial palps short and grey with yellow tipped scales. Legs light grey and shining, black ringed with rather long white spurs.

Forewings: Triangular, with a slightly indented termen. Ground colour is dark brown to black. Basal blotch with numerous yellow dots more or less arranged in stripes. Antemedian fascia bend, bluish violet and shiny, ending at costa in two whitish strigula. Median fascia is broad with parallel sides before the angle towards the costa. Dark brown to black with an area with yellow dots placed in longitudinal stripes. At the costa and towards the postmedian fascia there are no stripes. Postmedian fascia half circular in shape two thirds of the wing from dorsum. Shiny bluish-violet and more strongly shining in the female. After two thirds bends sharply outwards and edged by orange line forming a costal strigula, which is more pronounced in the female. Three orange and white strigulae are present towards the apex. Termen with a fine black dividing line, cilia light brown to grey. Underside of forewings dark brown with strong bluish-violet sheen when held at right angle. Costa with 5 to 7 clear white strigula and more sharply marked in the female.

Hindwings: Male hindwings have a short anal extension, while the female hindwings are normally rounded. The hindwings of the male are dark brown at the dorsal half, while the rest is orange brown and lighter towards the anal margin. The extended anal area is dark brown. The female´s hindwing slightly darker brown, lighter towards basal part. Underside of hindwings grayish brown.

Male genitalia: ( Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ). Valva elongate with large cucullus, hairy in central part and with very small sclerotized thorn close to the ventral side, costa strongly curved and slightly asymmetrical. Pedunculus and uncus weak and simple, phallus bottle shaped, slightly enlarged towards apex.

Female genitalia: ( Figs 6-7 View Figure 6 View Figure 7 ). Papilla analis rather large. Apophyses posterior slender, apophyses anterior stronger and longer. Sterigma weak, cup shaped broad, lamella postvaginalis with scale sockets. Subgenital plate cone shaped, deeply indented dorsally and rather broad. Very strong sclerotized folds along lateral edges of tergum seven. Ostium very weak. Ductus bursae elongate, thin and fragile especially at colliculum, longitudinal folds in the medium part, widening before bursae. Colliculum very weak, slightly curved. Bursae large with two straight thornlike signa. Eighth segment dorsally densely setose.

Results of DNA analysis: One specimen was analysed. Coccothera sample ID: TLMF Lep 26296 . Barcode index number registry for BOLD: ADN1996 shows distance to nearest neighbor at 6.57%. Distance model: Pairwise distance; marker: COI- 5P. Pairwise deletion. (BOLD: Guelph, Canada accessed 31.x.2024).

Diagnosis

Coccothera yangambiana sp. nov. is close to C. cipollana ( Larsen, 2023 b) but differs by the direction of the stripes in the basal blotch and the median fascia. The postmedian fascia is sharper angled and the blackish blotch at the costa of the median fascia is larger along with the blackish areas in the termen. The shape of the hindwings of the male is characteristic. The valva is broad, curved at the costa and with a very tiny thorn in the cucullus; the female has a deep indented subgenital plate, lateral edges of tergum seven are very strongly sclerotized, eighth segment is densely setose dorsally.

Biology

The species is only known from the five type specimens all collected in May by light at Yangambi. Vegetation is dense impenetrable tropical forest on slopes leading down to the Congo River. Host plant is not known. The type locality at Yangambi is illustrated in Fig. 2 View Figure 2 .

Distribution

DRC. Democratic Republic of Congo: Province: Tshopo.

Etymology

The species is named after the type locality.