Pseudoradiarctia rhodesiana Hampson 1900, comb. n.
Creators: name: Haynes, Patrick G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Arctiidae
Pseudoradiarctia
Pseudoradiarctia rhodesiana

description: Pseudoradiarctia rhodesiana (Hampson, 1900) comb. n.
Figures 7, 8, 22, 23.
Diacrisia rhodesiana Hampson, 1900: 57.
Spilosoma rhodesiana (Hampson, 1900); Gaede, In Seitz, 1930: 98; Goodger & Watson, 1995: 19. Spilosoma angolensis Bartel, 1903: 186; Kühne, 2005: 489.
Type locality: Mashonaland [Mashonaland, Zimbabwe], Salisbury [Harare]. Range: Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania.
Material examined. Syntype ɗ and genitalia preparation, Diacrisia rhodesiana Hampson, [Zimbabwe:] Salisbury [Harare], Mashonaland, 17.xi.97, G.A.K. Marshall / Arctiidae genitalia slide 136 (BMNH). Syntype Ψ, same data as male (BMNH). Syntype ɗ and genitalia preparation, Spilosoma angolensis Bartel / Angola, Quisoll, 23 km v. Malange, Kaml S. V. / 2 / Type / 44135 (ZMB). Hampson (1900) described rhodesiana from a single male and female. To stabilize the nomenclature and remove any confusion as to the identity of this species, the syntype male bearing the small round red label “ Type ” is here designated LECTOTYPE and the syntype female is here designated PARALECTOTYPE. Additional non-type material examined: Zimbabwe: Nyanga, 1 ɗ / genitalia slide S266 (PGH); Salisbury [Harare], Mashonaland, 2 ɗɗ, 1 Ψ (BMNH). Angola: Upper Cubango-Cunene Watershed, 5500 ft, South Central Angola, Port West Afrika / Spilosoma angolensis Bartel, det. D.S. Fletcher 1954, compared holotype 11.xi.1954, 1 ɗ / Arctiidae genitalia slide 133; Quirimbo, 2 ɗɗ; Mt. Moco, 2 ɗɗ (BMNH). Uganda: “Kitobola” [Kitoba?] 1 ɗ / genitalia slide AR17 (MRAC); Mulema, 2 ɗɗ (BMNH). Tanzania: Mbeya, 1 ɗ / Arctiidae genitalia slide 6285 (BMNH).
Description. Forewing ɗ 18 – 20mm, Ψ 21 – 23mm. Male. HEAD: Buff-brown; frons buff-grey; vertex pale orange. Palp buff-grey dorsally, pale buff ventrally. Antenna black, grey dorsally. THORAX: Patagium dark buffgrey with pale orange posterior fringe. Tegula dark buff-grey with pale orange fringes. Mesonotum and metathorax yellow-grey. Legs grey or orange-grey; femur black apically. Forewing buff-yellow with most interneural spaces pale grey and more distinct between CuA2 and 1A+2A where the grey patch is divided longitudinally. Hindwing pale yellow semihyaline. Under surface of both wings as upper surface but paler. ABDOMEN: Pale orange dorsally with pronounced black segmental bands except on the first segment where the band is replaced by a large almost square spot; buff-orange laterally with a row of black spots above a row of black dashes; buff-grey ventrally. Genitalia: Posterior margin of eighth abdominal tergite weakly concave; eighth sternum with a small medial sclerite; lateral sclerites wide and rounded apically. Coremata present. Juxta long, wide and basally rotund, divided, and with two long, tapered and lightly curved terminal extensions reaching the basal constriction of the uncus. Valva long, narrow, moderately arcuate and finely setose on inner margins. Uncus long, constricted basally, tapered apically, and sparsely setose. Aedeagus slightly curved; vesica very finely scobinate. Female. As the male but larger and wings deeper buff-orange with more pronounced interneural patches. Because of the lack of additional material and because the female is easy to separate on external characters alone, the abdomen was not dissected.
Comments. The single examined male from Tanzania is paler yellow overall.
Kühne (2005) synonymized Spilosoma angolensis with S. rhodesiana. Although some moths from Angola are paler in wing colour, specimens of angolensis s.l. examined for this review show no significant differences in genitalia to the examined rhodesiana. The synonymy is correct but may be questioned following examination of further specimens and from other regions e.g. North West Zambia and Botswana.
description: Published as part of Haynes, Patrick G., 2011, A review of some of the Binna- like species of Afrotropical Spilosoma Curtis (1825) listed by Goodger & Watson (1995) and including the genus Radiarctia Dubatolov (2006) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae, Arctiinae), pp. 22-36 in Zootaxa 2811 on page 26, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277133