Eucosmocydia nigeriana Brown and Razowski 2022, new species
Creators: name: Brown, John W.
name: Razowski, Józef
name: Aarvik, Leif
name: Timm, Alicia E.
name: Copeland, Robert S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Tortricidae
Eucosmocydia
Eucosmocydia nigeriana

description: Eucosmocydia nigeriana Brown and Razowski, new species
Fig. 8, 9, 24, 32, 39
Diagnosis. Eucosmocydia nigeriana is nearly indistinguishable from E. lecaniodiscana in facies, male secondary features, and genitalia. However, in the female genitalia of E. nigeriana, the somewhat parallel-sided anteriormost portion of the pocket of the sterigma is slightly shorter than that of E. lecaniodiscana. Also, the sclerite of abdominal segment 7 of the male (Fig. 32) has a small, median, triangular point, rather than rounded as in E. lecaniodiscana (Fig. 31). These slight differences in morphology are corroborated by differences in barcodes (see below).
Description. Male. Head. Scales of vertex and frons pale gray mixed with cream; labial palpus weakly upturned, length approximately 1.2 times diameter of compound eye, third segment exposed, scales of labial palpus and basal flagellomeres of antenna concolorous with vertex. Thorax. Nota and tegula pale brown speckled with cream. Forewing (Fig. 8) length 5.0– 5.5 mm (n = 2); forewing with costa gently arched throughout, termen weakly concave beneath apex, broadly convex in remainder; pattern slightly two-toned, with slender, ill-defined, brown, median line dividing basal 0.5 from distal 0.5, terminating before costa; upperside ground color in basal 0.5 orange yellow, speckled with greyish brown; distal 0.5 with pattern more complex including small irregular patches of pale orange and brown, a larger leaden gray patch in tornus; costal strigulae cream, slender, divisions brownish; speculum near mid-termen with slender, pinkish cream crescent-shaped mark and two black dots. Forewing underside tan with alternating rows of black and cream scales in basal 0.75, except in costal region, hind margin cream. Fringe orange-yellow with brown basal line. Hindwing brown, paler in basal region, with scattered black scales in male. Fringe cream with brown basal line. Abdomen. Segment 7 (Fig. 32) with rounded-trapezoidal sclerite at mid-venter of anterior margin, with a small, median, triangular point on posterior margin. Genitalia (Fig. 24) with tegumen broad, ovoid, with sparse fine setae in dorso-posterior 0.5 representing fused socii valva narrowest in basal 0.5, ventral margin abruptly broadened and rounded at base of cucullus, costa and ventral margins of cucullus somewhat parallel-sided, rounded; caulis long, rodlike; phallus somewhat evenly curved throughout, distinctly expanded at junction with caulis.
Female. Head and thorax. Essentially as described for male, but hindwing uniformly dark brown (Fig. 9). Abdomen. Venter of segment 7 with broad, subsquare area of faint sclerotization. Female genitalia (Fig. 39) with pair of ill-defined, bristly pads at posterior margin of segment 7; pocket of ostium triangular with irregularly rounded, slight expansion at anterior end, giving rise to frail part of ductus bursae; ductus bursae slender in posterior 0.5 broader in anterior 0.5 starting at origin of ductus seminalis; corpus round with two thorn-shaped signa of similar size.
DNA barcodes. There are three sequences of this species in BOLD (BIN: AAU2218), with an average distance of 0.1% among them, and a 4.01% distance to the nearest neighbor, E. lecaniodiscana.
Types. Holotype ♂, Nigeria, Oyo State, Ibadan, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, 7.5008°N, 3.9065°E, 240 m, 19 Jun 2006, G. M. Miller & T. M. Kuklenski (USNM). Paratypes (1♂, 1♀). Nigeria: Oyo State, Ibadan, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, 7.5008°N, 3.9065°E, 240 m, 14–31 Mar 2006 (1♀), S. E. Miller & T. M. Kuklenski, 18 Jun 2006 (1♂), T. M. Kuklenski & T. Olorode (USNM).
Distribution and biology. Eucosmocydia nigeriana is known only from Nigeria, where it was collected from ultraviolet light. Nothing is known of the early stages.
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the country of the type locality.
description: Published as part of Brown, John W., Razowski, Józef, Aarvik, Leif, Timm, Alicia E. & Copeland, Robert S., 2022, New species and new combinations in Afrotropical Eucosmocydia Diakonoff, 1988 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethreutinae), pp. 1-27 in Insecta Mundi 2022 (927) on pages 17-19, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6533434