Melanastera vetus BURCKHARDT & DROHOJOWSKA, 2024

Melanastera vetus BURCKHARDT & DROHOJOWSKA sp. nov.

Fig. 1F View Fig , 5 View Fig

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:257D080B-093B-4E2D-B6AD-90467B4AB421

Etymology: From the Latin adjective vetus (3 rd declension) = old, aged, ancient, referring to the age of the fossils.

Holotype: Female specimen, sample #35 ( GPAC) .

Type locality: Dominican Republic, Cordillera Septentrional .

Description: Adult: Colouration. Dark brown. Antenna entirely dark brown. Forewing veins and pterostigma dark brown; membrane colourless, transparent with brown patches at the apex of veins along wing margin.

Structure. Head, in dorsal view, wider that pronotum, slightly narrower than thorax, moderately transverse ( Fig. 1 F View Fig , 5 A View Fig ). Vertex subrhomboidal; passing smoothly into genae anteriorly; coronal suture fully developed; median ocellus not visible; compound eyes, in dorsal view, hemispherical, appressed to head. Antenna 10-segmented, slightly longer than head width; subdivisions only partly visible; relative lengths of antennal segment 10 and terminal setae as 1.0: 0.6: 1.0. Metacoxa ( Fig. 5 B View Fig ) with blunt, tubular meracanthus. Metatibia longer than metafemur, widened apically; bearing sclerotised apical spurs, their number and grouping is not visible ( Fig. 5 B View Fig ). Metatarsal segments moderately long, subequal in length. Forewing ( Fig. 1 F View Fig , 5 C, D View Fig ) oval, widest in the middle; membranous; vein C+Sc moderately, evenly curved, slender, distinctly delimited to cell; cell c+sc relatively wide; costal break developed, close to apex of vein R 1; pterostigma moderately wide, with subparallel margin in the median third, not expanded in apical third; entirely membranous; nodal line developed; vein R slightly shorter than M+Cu; vein Rs mostly straight, weakly curved to costal margin subapically; vein M much longer than M 1+2; vein Cu 1a straight at base, curved towards anal margin subapically; in one wing a crossvein m-cu 1a is developed ( Fig. 5 C View Fig ); veins M 1+2 and M 3+4 oblique to wing margin apically; cell cu 2 moderately long; anal break adjacent to apex of vein Cu 1b; surface spinules not visible. Male unknown. Female terminalia ( Fig. 5 E View Fig ) cuneate; proctiger weakly concave dorsally, apex subacute, slightly upturned; beset with long setae across the middle and shorter setae apically; subgenital plate almost straight ventrally, acute apically.

Measurements (in mm): Head width 0.73; antenna length 0.8; forewing length 1.6; metatibia length 0.5; female proctiger length 0.43.

Comments: Melanastera vetus shares with M. casca and four undescribed Brazilian species associated with Asteraceae ( SERBINA et al. 2024) the pterostigma of the forewing with subparallel margins (see also comments under M. casca ). It differs from M. casca in the forewing with dark dots at the apices of the veins along the margin and a shorter cell cu 1, as well as in the longer, dorsally concave female terminalia. From the extant species, M. vetus sp. nov. differs in the broader forewings (2.4 versus ≥ 2.5) with dark dots, which are restricted to the apices of the veins along the margin but are otherwise absent from the cells. In the extant species associated with Asteraceae , the dark dots on the forewings are either completely absent or present on most cells.