Chalcibotys massasiensis Maes 2024, sp.nov.
Creators: name: Maes, Koen V. N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Crambidae
Chalcibotys
Chalcibotys massasiensis

description: Chalcibotys massasiensis sp.nov.
Type Material: Holotype ♂: Tanganyika Terr. Massassi [Masasi], 460 m, 15 to 23-VI-1936 Zerny / K.Maes Gen.Prep. nr. ♂ 1443/ ABSRC1003757; Paratypes: 1♀: Tanganyika Terr., Massassi [Masasi], 460 m, 15 to 23-VI-1936 Zerny / K.Maes Gen.Prep. nr. ♀ 1444/ ABSRC1003758; 1♂: Maronga Forest, Moz [ambique]. 20°03'S, 33°09'E, 6 to 11-IX-1972 R.H.Jones/ K.Maes Gen.Prep.nr. ♂ 1144/ ABSRC1003756; 1♀: Tanzania, Morogoro, 8.7 km S. of Mikumi, 7°27'54.1"S, 37°00'53.5"E, 430 m, Black / MV lights. 6-VI-2001. K.Maes/ K.Maes Gen.Prep.nr. ♀ 1143/ ABSRC1003760; 1♂: Tanzania, Morogoro, 7.1 km S. of Mikumi, 7°27'22.8"S, 37°00'25.6"E, 500 m, Black / MV lights, 10- VI-2001. K. Maes / ABSRC1003759; 1♂: Tanganyika Terr. Massassi [Masasi], 460 m, 15 to 23-VI-1936 Zerny / K.Maes Gen.Prep. nr. ♂ 2963 (Wien); 4♂: Tanganyika Terr., Massassi [Masasi], 460 m, 15 to 23-VI-1936 Zerny (Wien).
Diagnosis: uncus short and very broad; valva long and slender, pointed; aedeagus with a series of spines: a larger patch with a smaller patch on the side. Female genitalia with a curled, enlarged pouch beyond the antrum; corpus bursae small.
Description:
Head: frons flat; maxillary palps near base of scaled proboscis; labial palps slender, upturned, all three segments clearly distinguishable; antennae filiform in males and females.
Thorax: ground colour wings grey; fore wing triangular, costa light yellow with clear black markings, one near the base of the wing near the tegula, one at the base of the antemedian line, one at the base of the antemedian line, one at the base of the postmedian line and one on the outer margin of the reniform whitish spot; antemedian line slightly curved, postmedian line S-shaped with whitish reniform spot on its outer margin, broad near the costa, terminating narrower near the basal angle of the cell. Hind wings same colour as the fore wings, grey with a black almost straight antemedial line and a short almost straight postmedian line starting at the costa and ending near the first cubital vein. Outer margin of fore and hind wings with fine black scaling, fringe grey as ground colour.
Wingspan: 16-17mm.
Abdomen: dorsal and ventral side with the same colour, as ground colour of wings.
Male genitalia: (Fig. 2: C, D) uncus broadly triangular and fused with the large tegumen; vinculum arms long with a simple saccus; valva as previous species but longer and with the costa more straight and ending in a point; sacculus slightly curved and ending in an apical point; similar area with elongated setae near the middle at the last third part of the valva; juxta as a plate. Aedeagus tubular, slightly narrowed near the first third, carrying two bunched of strongly sclerotized spines: the largest one with about 13 spines, a second bunch of aligned spines, smaller and less numerous (7).
Female genitalia: (Fig. 3: A; Fig. 4: B,D.) papillae anales membranous with some short and long setae; apophyses posteriores about half of the length of the apophyses anteriores; sinus vaginalis membranous, widened but less as in the previous species, and forming a small cup before continuing in a tubular part towards a widened, curled and slightly sclerotized bulbous structure (Fig. 4: B); ductus bursae tubular, covered with minute sclerotizations and forming an extension near one fourth of the length of the ductus bursae, this part is also covered with much less sclerotizations; corpus bursae, long oval and less bulbous as in the previous species (Fig. 4: D). Signum, appendix bursae lacking.
Tympanal organs: (Fig. 5: B) as for the genus.
Etymology: The name refers to the type locality: Massassi in Tanzania.
Foodplant: unknown.
Distribution: Mozambique, Tanzania
description: Published as part of Maes, Koen V. N., 2024, Studies on Crambidae V: Chalcibotys, a new genus of Spilomelinae from Africa (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae: Spilomelinae), pp. 7-10 in Metamorphosis 35 (1) on pages 107-108, DOI: 10.4314/met.v35i1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/14119592