Prasinocyma robusta Hausmann, Sciarretta & Parisi, 2016, sp. n.
Creators: name: Hausmann, Axel
name: Sciarretta, Andrea
name: Parisi, Francesco
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Prasinocyma
Prasinocyma robusta

description: Prasinocyma robusta sp. n.
(Figs 15, 56, 89)
Holotype. ♂, S. Ethiopia, [Oromia] Sidamo, 13 km, w Yabello, Motel, 1960m, 4.90° N 38.01° E, 28–30.III.2009, leg. R. Beck, M. Dietl (BC ZSM Lep 81819 failure; 85817 with 164bp minibarcode; gen.prp. ZSM G 19467).
Paratypes. Oromia: 6♀, id. (BC ZSM Lep 85818); 1♀, S. Ethiopia, Oromia, [Sidama], 7 km NW Yabelo, 1950 m (lux), 4.9252°N, 38.0435°E, 9.XI.2010, leg. de Freina, Hacker, Peks, Schreier. Southern Nations: 1♀, Ethiopia, Gamu Gofa, nr Arba Minch, 1400m, 6°15’N 37°30’E, 4.V.2008, S. Naumann, H. Schnitzler.
Description. Adult (Fig. 15). Wingspan. Male 28 mm, female 30 – 35 mm. Ground colour pale leaf green, slightly irrorated with whitish scales, without spot at the inner termen, fringe whitish, forewing costa whitish. Discal spots and terminal dots absent from fore- and hindwings. Hindwing termen round, angled at tornus. Length of male palpi 0.7 times diameter of eye, palpi whitish with pale brown or pale green tinge, tip darker. Length of female palpi 0.8 – 1.0 times diameter of eye. Frons pale brown, in fresh specimens sometimes with slight green tinge. Antennae bipectinate in male, branches ochreous. Antennae filiform in female. Male frenulum present. Male hindtibia with four spurs, without pencil.
Male genitalia (Fig. 56). Uncus stout. Socii absent. Gnathos strongly sclerotized. Sacculus slightly sclerotized, shorter than 1/2 of valva. Valva with a forceps-shaped sclerite at base, length of dorsal arm 1/4 length of valva. Aedeagus narrow, length 2.1 mm, with subterminal rounded projection, stalk very short. Sternum A8 membranous, sub-trapezoidal and flat at the distal end, without projections or lobes.
Female genitalia (Fig. 89). Lamella postvaginalis broadly sclerotized, alate. Antrum with curved posterior projections. Ductus bursae broad, membranous. Corpus bursae oval. Signum developed as a small narrow ridge.
Differential diagnosis. In habitus similar to Prasinocyma acutipennis Wiltshire, 1994, described from southwestern Saudi Arabia (near Taif, al-Shafa, 2000 m; Holotype male NHM, with topotypical material examined and barcoded at the ZSM), but much smaller (wingspan 22 – 24 mm), discal spots sometimes diffusely marked, frons pale green with 'dark purple patches', in male genitalia the subapical ventral lobe smaller, the dorsal arm of the forceps-shaped sclerite ('harpe') longer than the ventral part, Aedeagus with lateral projection at tip, not subterminally. In habitus also reminiscent of the South African Paraprasina discolor Warren, 1897, but the latter with two hindtibial spurs only, female antennae bipectinate, palpi longer, in male genitalia with stout projection ('harpe') at centre of valva etc. (cf. Fig. 100 in Janse 1935), genetic distance 10.6%. In habitus somewhat reminiscent of P. hailei, but larger, body more robust, forewings elongate, discal spots absent, fringe whitish, in male genitalia slightly reminiscent of the forceps-shaped condition of the sacculus in P. amharensis.
Genetic data. Sequenced to 164bp minibarcodes. Genetic divergence from the Saudi Arabian sister species P. acutipennis 6.5%. Nearest neighbour in Ethiopia: P. amharensis (4.6%).
Etymology. The name refers to the stout body of this species.
description: Published as part of Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016, The Geometrinae of Ethiopia II: Tribus Hemistolini, genus Prasinocyma (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae), pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 4065 (1) on pages 19-20, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4065.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/270490