Prasinocyma aetheraea Debauche 1937
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 aetheraea

description: Prasinocyma aetheraea (Debauche, 1937)
(Figs 31, 70, 99)
Prasinocyma aetheraea Debauche (1937): 327. Locus typicus: Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, "over 8000 ft " (Holotype ♀ NHM, examined).
Material. Oromia: 1♂ 9♀, Bale (locality no. 65; BC ZSM Lep 81484, 81486, 81487; gen.prp. ZSM G 19529); 1♀, Bale (66; BC ZSM Lep 26126); 7♀, Bale (no. 5; BC ZSM Lep 13200, 13201, 13202; gen.prp. ZSM G 19409, 19410); 1♀, Bale (no. 67; BC ZSM Lep 26141); 1♀, Bale (no. 25; BC ZSM Lep 13153; gen.prp. G 19411); 2♂ 7♀, Bale (no. 64; gen.prp. ZSM G 19650, 19655); 1♂, Bale (no. 80; gen.prp. ZSM G 19639); 1♂ 2♀, Bale (no. 92; BC ZSM Lep 81863, 84184; gen prp. 19586); 3♀, Bale (no. 99; BC ZSM Lep 84764).
Redescription. Adult (Fig. 31). Wingspan. Male and female 32 – 35 mm. Wing coloration appearing as pale whitish-green ground colour strongly irrorated with dark green, forming diffuse patches with different intensity of green, forewing costa red. Forewings without spot at the inner termen, a diffuse discal dot sometimes weakly developed. On hindwings, discal spot developed as elongate diffuse dark green streak towards costa, sometimes with a small darker dot in its centre. Black terminal dots present on all wings. Hindwing termen slightly concave between veins. Length of male palpi 0.8 – 1.0 times diameter of eye, tip and upperside reddish, underside white. Length of female palpi 1.2 – 1.4 times diameter of eye. Frons reddish. Antennae bipectinate in male, filiform in female. Antennal branches pale ochre. Male frenulum present. Male hindtibia with four spurs, pencil absent.
Male genitalia (Fig. 70). Uncus comparatively short, stout, curved. Ventral subapical lobe of valva conspicuously projecting. Centre of valva with a long, corrugate and slightly spinulose ridge. Sacculus strongly sclerotized at its ventral and dorsal margin ('forceps-shaped'), distally curved towards costa of valva, spinulose and pointed at tip. Aedeagus small, length 1.35 – 1.6 mm, bent and pistol-shaped, stalk short, about 1/6 length of aedeagus. Centre of aedeagus with a narrow sclerite. Sternum A8 with paired triangular projections, roundly concave at centre.
Female genitalia (Fig. 99). Sterigma furrowed. Ductus bursae sclerotized, short. Corpus bursae pyriform. Signum present, but very small.
Differential diagnosis. Male genitalia reminiscent of those of P. f a l l a x sp. n., but in the latter the spinose tip of sacculus overlapping with the broad part, aedeagus longer, with two cornuti, basal stalk longer, sternum A8 with sub-truncate projections.
Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:AAD6949. Intraspecific variation low: 0.55% (n=10). Nearest neighbour in Ethiopia: P. fallax sp. n. (3.3%).
Remarks. Female ratio at light very high, 27/33 = 82%. The identification of the Bale mountain populations as P. aetheraea is currently based on the well corresponding structure of the female genitalia with those of the type specimen. The type locality of the following species (P. fallax sp. n.), however, is situated slightly closer to Addis Ababa (140km) than the Bale mountains (220km) and the exact type locality of P. aetheraea may be far outside the city. Since no female is known of the following species (P. fallax sp. n.) and since the type specimen of P. aetheraea is not yet DNA barcoded that question awaits final confirmation.
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 page 30, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4065.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/270490