Amicta bouhedmaensis Arnscheid & Rajaei & Sobczyk 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Arnscheid, Wilfried R.
name: Rajaei, Hossein
name: Sobczyk, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Psychidae
Amicta
Amicta bouhedmaensis

description: Amicta bouhedmaensis sp. nov.
Fig. 4, 20
Material examined. Holotype ♂, Tunesien, Degache [Degueche], 20.xi.1953, leg. Chneour (ex coll. Daniel,) in MWM.
Paratypes: 2 ♂, Tunisia, Bou Hedma, III (?).1929, leg. Dr. Bytinski-Salz (coll. Daniel in MWM) (GP 4012, 4055 Arnscheid) in MWM.
Diagnosis. Male wingspan 24–26 mm, forewing length 10.7–11.2 mm, width 5.1–5.8 mm, FI 2.0– 2.1 mm. Forewings stretched, slender, costal margin nearly straight, apex slightly pointed, termen oblique. All wings translucent, extremely sparsely covered with scales. A little more along the veins. Veins whitish, anterior and posterior margin densely covered with brownish scales (class 2 after Sauter & Hättenschwiler 1999), more densely scaled along the costal margin. Scales mostly bifurcate. Posterior margin with long hair-like scales. Fringes spatulate, lighter grey, long, with 3–5 dentations. Thorax and abdomen densely covered with long brownish hair-like scales. Only femur and tibia ventrally paler greyish. EI 0.70. Antennae length 5.8–6.2 mm, 41–43 segments without pedicellus and scapus. The pecten long, 1.6 mm. The longest pecten of 11 time of segment diameter.
Male genitalia. Elongate in general appearance, tegumen stretched, more or less tapered, triangular, not folded laterally and distally, covered with short hairs. Valvae long, extending far beyond the distal end of tegumen, apically round, covered with short setae. Clasper of sacculus elongate, slender, distally narrower and covered apically with 4 short thorns. Anellus short, rounded. Vinculum broad, bulging laterally. Saccus variable, long, stretched and distinctly pointed or more or less spoon-shaped. Phallus same length as or longer than genitalia, slightly bent, with distinct roundish enlargement caudally, vesica covered with short cornuti. Female. Unknown. Larval case. Unknown.
Distribution. Only known from the type locality.
Discussion. Differs from the next similar species A. murina by the smaller FI (A. murina 2.3), the nearly straight costal margin (A. murina slightly concave), the two-dentated scales (A. murina hair-like) and the 4 thorns on clasper of the male genitalia (A. murina 6). It is also distinguished from A. chambiana by the larger wingspan 2.0–2.1 (A. chambiana 21.0–23.5), the lower EI of 0.70 (A. chambiana 0.72–0.77) and the shorter antennae of 5.8–6.2 (A. chambiana 6.2–7.4). From all other Amicta species mentioned it is easily to distinguished by its general appearance.
Etymology. Named after its origin, the National Park of Bou Hedma in Tunisia.
description: Published as part of Arnscheid, Wilfried R., Rajaei, Hossein & Sobczyk, Thomas, 2021, A taxonomic review of the genus Amicta Heylaerts, 1881 in North Africa, Near and Middle East (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Oiketicinae, Acanthopsychini), pp. 349-368 in Zootaxa 5071 (3) on pages 355-359, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5071.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/5723760