Tumicla whitensis Durante & Apinda-Legnouo 2020, n. sp.
Creators: name: Durante, Antonio
name: Apinda-Legnouo, Emelie Arlette
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Tumicla
Tumicla whitensis

description: Tumicla whitensis Durante n. sp.
(Figs. 10H, 18)
Holotype: GABON • ♂; Makokou, Ipassa, 500 m; 0°30’43”N 12°48’13”E; 14/ 24-3-2015, Durante leg. Gen. sl. n. 912 MAD. In coll. MSNS.
Diagnosis. Species easily distinguishable from minima n. sp. by the darker wing colour of the latter; from parvipunctata n. sp., which has smaller dots on the thorax; from bongorum n. sp., which has more intense pinkish shades on the underside of the forewings. Certain features of the forewing pattern (reddish scales, shape of the dot on the head vertex, shape of the discal dot and the bands not reaching costal margin—see description below) are currently considered accidental and of poor diagnostic value because of the scarcity of the examined material, although it is remarkable that the red scales along the edges of the grey-brown bands are present in no other Gabonese species (only parvipunctata n. sp. has them, but in a negligible density). The genitalia are, however, sufficiently diagnostic. With respect to latipunctata n. sp., the small size and shape of the cornutus are comparable, but the tornus and distal margin of the valva as well the shape of the uncus are clearly diagnostic. T. whitensis is also similar to T. atricraspeda, but this species is normally larger (wingspan) and has dark scales at the apex of the hindwings; and to T. eala, but this species has a longer uncus, and the tornus of the distal margin of the valva is distinct (roundish in whitensis n. sp.; conical in eala) and the cornutus is thorn-like, bearing a long appendage proximad which is absent in eala) are also diagnostic. The small size of whitensis n. sp. is distinctive with respect to all other species outside Gabon The apex of the valva at an approximate right angle in whitensis n. sp. is somewhat similar only to that of T. mutabilis, but the slender uncus and the C-shaped cornutus of the aedeagus in the latter well distinguish it from whitensis.
Description. Wingspan 14.5 mm. Forewing upperside ground colour ochreous yellow, with a number of red scales along the pattern bands, more concentrated at the wing base; pattern grey-brown. Costa ochreous yellow, with a dark streak at the base not reaching the basal band. One basal dot; transversal bands not reaching the costal margin; basal band zigzagged, touching the median band only at cell level; median and postmedian bands zigzagged, vaguely touching each other under the posterior vein of the cell; postmedian band with conspicuous proximal concavity at the end of the cell, inside which is the angled discal dot; submarginal series of eight streak-like dots, the posterior four obsolescent. Fringes grey-brown. Forewing underside ground colour ochreous yellow. No trace of pattern. Hindwing upperside and underside ground colour straw yellow. No pattern. Fringes concolorous. Body concolorous with the wings, with pattern grey-brown. Head with a v-shaped (diagnostic?) dot on the vertex (one third the width of the vertex); antennae ciliated; labial palpi porrect, slender, not extending beyond the frons. Tegulae with two large patches, the anterior one smaller and roundish, and hairy scales reaching just over half of the length of the scutum. Mesoscutum with two fairly large anterior dots; the probable mesoscutellar dot is not present due to the lack of scales. Legs concolorous with the hindwings; fore- and mid-legs with praetarsi, distal portion of femur and tibia grey-brown; hindlegs lacking the grey-brown on the distal portion of the femur only. Abdomen with no pattern.
Genitalia ♂. Uncus quite large, curved backwards, distally pointed; tegumen triangular, twice as long as the eighth tergite (dorsal view); tuba analis membranous; vinculum V-shaped (ventro-caudal view), smaller than the other Gabonese species, with slender arms; saccus shallow; juxta pentagon-shaped with a small cavity in the middle of the dorsal side; fultura superior rectangular with dorsal corners bent and connected to the arms of the transtilla. Valva quite long (about 2.3 longer than wide); costa slightly undulate, convex in the middle; apex just over 90°; termen straight, with broad irregular indentations; tornus roundish. Processus distalis plicae appearing as a small swelling at the start of the distal third of the valva, membranous, with 10-12 small setae. Aedeagus quite long, with a median concavity hosting a strong thorn-like cornutus, bearing a long appendage proximad; coecum penis very small. Vesica small, damaged, probably roundish.
Etymology. This species is named after the Minister of Waters and Forests (Ministère des Eaux et Forêts) of Gabon, Lee White, for his efforts, passion and achievements in a very complex role. The name derives from the Latinisation of the surname White with the addition of the Latin suffix -ensis, meaning “belonging to”.
description: Published as part of Durante, Antonio & Apinda-Legnouo, Emelie Arlette, 2020, Report on species of the genus Tumicla Wallengren, 1863 in Gabon (Lepidoptera Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), pp. 90-116 in Zootaxa 4868 (1) on pages 111-114, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4868.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4417344