Delorhachis manuelae Fiebig, Taberer, Giusti and Laszlo 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Taberer, Tabitha R.
name: Fiebig, Ralf
name: Giusti, Alessandro
name: László, Gyula M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Limacodidae
Delorhachis
Delorhachis manuelae

description: Delorhachis manuelae Fiebig, Taberer, Giusti and László sp. nov. (Figures 43–44,
85, 11 9–120, 148)
Holotype. Male, ′MUSEUM WITT | AFRIKA | Congo | ODZALA Nat. Park | H: 400–500 m | 0° 23′N, 14°50′E | 29. 01. – 03. 03. 1997 | leg. Siniaev & Murzin ̍ || ′ Genitalpräparat | Heterocera | Nr. 36.324 | Museum WITT München ̍ (MWW).
Paratype. Republic of the Congo. 1 male, Odzala National Park, 400–500 m, 0.383°N, 14.833°E, 29 January–03 March 1997, Siniaev, V., Murzin, S. leg., gen. slide no. 36.325 (MWW); 17 males, same site and collector (MWW).
Description
Male external morphology. Fore wing length 13 mm. Head, collar, and tegula yelloworange to yellow-beige, antenna bipectinate in basal fourth, otherwise filiform, colour as of head. Tegula with one white rounded patch. Thorax ochreous brown to beige dorsally, yellow ventrally. Legs yellow. Abdomen yellow-orange to light beige dorsally, yellow ventrally, first two segments with ochreous brown to beige hair scales. Fore wing short, broad, triangular, with rounded apex; ground colour ochreous brown to light beige, veins contrasting black in postmedial area. Medio-ventral fascia white, oval, narrow, strongly directed inwards, margined with black on distal edge. Fringe long, colour as ground colour. Hind wing uniformly light brown to pale beige, with black veins postmedially. Underside of wing: fore wing pale brown to pale beige, hind wing yellow-beige to pale beige without markings; fringe as ground colour.
Female. Unknown.
Male genitalia. Uncus long, tapered, pointed apically. Tegumen broad. Gnathos broad, plate-like, with two short, rounded distal lobes with a shallow rounded medial depression. Juxta with a v-shaped moderately sclerotised basal section, with two relatively short, heavily sclerotised distal processes; manica with a bunch of straight pseudocornuti varying in width and length. Vinculum long, broad, rounded. Valva wide at base, abruptly constricted medially, very narrow distally without dorso-apical process and with very short, thin, upcurved and pointed ventral process. Phallus long, narrow, medially slightly bent with sclerotised, apically pointed ventral surface in its basal half. Vesica membranous without cornuti.
Diagnosis
This species is closest to D. syntomoctena in terms of adult morphology, but is generally lighter in colour. In the male genitalia, the following notable differences are observed: the gnathos is broad in both species but in D. manuelae sp. nov. it is M-shaped with two short rounded distal lobes whilst in D. syntomoctena the gnathos has a single short, rounded apical process. Delorhachis manuelae has a valva which is strongly constricted medially, with a narrow distal half, whilst the valva of D. syntomoctena tapers gradually and is triangular in shape. At the distal portion of the valva, the new species lacks dorso-apical process and has a short, curved, narrow, pointed ventral process, whilst in the related species, the dorsal process is well developed and the ventral process is very small and rounded. Delorhachis manuelae also possesses a shorter phallus than D. syntomoctena.
Genetic information
Due to the age of the accessed specimens, this species has not been sampled for DNA barcoding.
Etymology
Delorhachis manuelae is named in honour of Manuela Windisch, München, Germany, for her contribution to entomological research.
Distribution and habitat
This species has only been found from the northern part of the Republic of the Congo, a region generally characterised by lowland wet Guinea-Congolian rainforest. However, it is worth noting that Odzala has an incredibly unique and rich savannah fauna as well, although it is difficult to establish which of these habitats this species is associated with based on the label data.
description: Published as part of Taberer, Tabitha R., Fiebig, Ralf, Giusti, Alessandro & László, Gyula M., 2023, Taxonomic revision of the genus Delorhachis Karsch 1896 (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae), pp. 54-129 in Journal of Natural History 57 (1 - 4) on pages 93-94, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2022.2157346, http://zenodo.org/record/7636801