Pacificulla flaviagera Park, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Park, Kyu-Tek
name: Lee, Sangmi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Lecithoceridae
Pacificulla
Pacificulla flaviagera

description: 1. Pacificulla flaviagera Park, sp. nov.
(Figs. 1, 15, 19, 31, 31 a −c)
Holotype. 3, Papua New Guinea- Col. Becker PNG 2995, Madang, Brahman Mission- 200m, 11−15 X 1992, V.O. Becker Col; gen. slide. no. CIS-5629/Park.
Diagnosis. Pacificulla flaviagera is superficially similar to P. thrasydora (Meyrick), comb. nov. and P. philotima (Diakonoff), comb. nov., but can be distinguished from the latter two by the median orange patch of the forewing, the inner margin distinctly angulate at the middle, the outer margin rounded, convex; and the hindwing bearing a median orange patch, the outer margin more sharply angled on vein M1 and distinctly angulate on CuA2. The above two species were described from females and hence, cannot be compared convincingly with flaviagera because its female is unknown.
Description. Adult (Figs. 1, 15, 19, 31 c). Wingspan, 22 mm. Head: Purplish black. Antenna with rather short basal segment, dilated apically, purplish black dorsally; flagellum dark brown, fascicular ciliates with short, whitish hairs. Labial palpus with second segment normally thickened, gently recurved, evenly scaled, yellowish brown in basal 3/5, then densely clothed with blackish scales, acute apically. Thorax: Collar broadly developed, purplish brown with orange scales anteriorly. Tegula and thorax purplish black. Forewing slightly dilated posteriorly; ground color purplish black; large light orange patch from 2/5 of hind margin, not reaching costa, with rounded outer margin; costa arched beyond 4/5 length; apex obtuse; termen oblique; fringe concolorous with ground color; venation with R2 and R3+4 stalked, R5 and M2 absent, M3 approximated, M3 and CuA1 short-stalked; fringe black. Hindwing with similar light-orange patch as that of forewing, occupying median third of wing, outer margin strongly angled on M1; venation with M2 absent; apex slightly produced; fringe concolorous with ground color. Hind tibia clothed with dark orange scales all around, with blackish scales apically. Abdomen: Blackish, second and third segments orange, next four segments with orange margins; tergites II −VII with spinous zones in male.
Male genitalia (Figs. 31, 31 a −b) with uncus as long as tegumen, heavily sclerotized, slightly furrowed on ventral surface, slightly bent basally and strongly bent pre-apically, slightly dilated beyond 2/3 length, bearing minute setae; apex truncated. Tegumen broad, weakly sclerotized. Valva elongate, densely setose, especially strong setae in apical portion and on ventral margin medially; costa concave before middle, then convex; ventral margin slightly convex before middle. Juxta convex on caudal margin. Vincullum sclerotized, band-like. Aedeagus slender, with sharply produced apex; cornuti consisiting of a raw of short spines, about 1/3 length of aedeagus.
Female genitalia unknown.
Distribution. Papua New Guinea (Madang).
Etymology. The genus name is derived from the Latin, flavi (= yellow) and ager (= field).
Remarks. Pacificulla thrasydora (Meyrick, 1910), Pacificulla philotima (Diakonoff, 1954), and Pacificulla miltina (Durrant, 1915), comb. nov., are externally similar, but can be distinguished by the shape of markings on both wings from each other. P. thrasydora (Fig. 2) was described from a single male. The holotype deposited in BMNH is missing the abdomen. It is differentiated from the new species as noted above. Diakonoff (1954) differentiated P. philotima and C. xanthorrhoea, on the shape of sternite VIII in the female: a truncate caudal edge in P. philotima (Fig. 39) and an ovate caudal edge in C. xanthorrhoea (Fig. 40). However, this difference appears to be an artifact of slide-mounting, and thus, Crocanthes xanthorrhoea Diakonoff, 1954 is synonymized with P. philotima (Fig. 3). The type localities of the two are the same: Bernhard Camp, sea level 50−600 m, Papua (= Irian Jaya, Indonesia). The former was collected in July −August and the latter in April. Both types deposited in RMNH were critically compared, which confirmed that they are conspecific. P. miltina (Fig. 4) can be distinguished by the light orange median patch on the forewing more or less triangular, strongly serrated along the outer margin, and with the patch on the hindwing strongly narrowed in the basal 2/5. The holotype is deposited in BMNH, but the abdomen has not been dissected.
description: Published as part of Park, Kyu-Tek & Lee, Sangmi, 2013, Pacificulla gen. nov. of Lecithoceridae (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea) from New Guinea, with descriptions of six new species, pp. 67-77 in Zootaxa 3599 (1) on pages 68-69, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.283220