Tumicla pallida Durante & Apinda-Legnouo 2020, n. sp.
Creators: name: Durante, Antonio
name: Apinda-Legnouo, Emelie Arlette
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Tumicla
Tumicla pallida

description: Tumicla pallida Durante n. sp.
(Figs. 9F, 16)
Holotype: GABON • ♂; Makokou, Ipassa, 500 m; 0°30’43”N 12°48’13”E; 19-2/ 11-3-2011; Durante leg.; Gen. sl. n. 617 MAD. In coll. MSNS.
Paratypes: • 1♂; same data as holotype; Gen. sl. n. 615 MAD. In the first author’s collection.
Diagnosis. Tumicla pallida is easily distinguishable from minima n. sp. by the darker wing colour of the latter, and distinguishable from parvipunctata n. sp., which has smaller dots on the thorax. The genitalia of Tumicla pallida n. sp. are distinctive compared to all the other species of the Gabonese group due to the shape of the valva (with smooth apex and a conspicuous papillary process, Fig. 16D) and cornuti (one robust, oval, slightly bent cornutus at the distal end of the aedeagus; vesica with one small thorn-like cornutus or a group of three small thorn-like cornuti, Figs. 16E, 16E 1). Differences with respect to Tumicla gigantea (Kühne, 2007) include: the bigger size of the latter; the termen of the valva; the stout aedeagus, single straight cornutus and smooth vesica of gigantea.
Description. Wingspan 16-17 mm. Forewing upperside ground colour light ochreous yellow; pattern greybrown. Costa light ochreous yellow, with grey-brown dots in the presence of the bands; at the base, the dark streak not reaching the basal band. One basal dot; basal band zigzagged, touching the median band at cell and anal vein level; median and postmedian band zigzagged and touching each other under the posterior vein of the cell; postmedian band with conspicuous proximal concavity at the end of the cell, inside which is the angled discal dot; submarginal series of eight streak-like dots. Fringes grey-brown. Forewing underside ground colour light ochreous yellow, with pinkish shades at costa and cell. Costa grey-brown in its proximal fourth, with grey-brown dots corresponding to the transversal bands on the upperside. Only the first (anterior) two or three streaks of the submarginal band are present, very faded. Hindwing upperside and underside ground colour straw yellow. No pattern. Fringes concolorous. Body concolorous with the wings, with pattern grey-brown. Head with a dot on the vertex (one third the width of the vertex); antennae ciliated; labial palpi porrect, slender, not extending beyond the frons. Tegulae with two large patches of almost the same size and hairy scales reaching half of the length of the scutum. Mesoscutum with three large dots, two anterior and one posterior (mesoscutellar). Legs concolorous with the hindwings; fore- and mid-legs with praetarsi, distal portion of femur and tibia grey-brown; hindlegs lacking the grey-brown on the distal portion of the femur only. Abdomen with no pattern.
Genitalia ♂. Uncus slender, curved backwards (lateral view), distally pointed; tegumen triangular, nearly as long as the eighth tergite (dorsal view); tuba analis membranous; vinculum V-shaped (ventro-caudal view) with fairly robust arms; saccus not deep; juxta hexagonal with a swelling in the middle; manica penis ventro-laterally sclerotized (valvellae); fultura superior rectangular, minimally sclerotised.
Valva long (more than two and half times longer than wide); costa slightly convex; apex very smoothly rounded; termen slightly undulating and tapering distally at the tornus with a conspicuous papillary process. Processus distalis plicae appearing as a modest swelling halfway along the valva, with 5-7 short setae. Aedeagus slender, with no coecum, with a lateral concavity at its distal end with a robust, ogival, slightly bent cornutus. Vesica sub-spherical with one small thorn-like cornutus (gen. sl. n. 615 MAD) or a group of three small thorn-like cornuti (gen. sl. n. 617 MAD, Fig. 16E); single tiny thorns may be present around the group (Fig. 16E 1).
Etymology. The name of this species derives from Latin pallidus (pale, light) due to its light colour.
description: Published as part of Durante, Antonio & Apinda-Legnouo, Emelie Arlette, 2020, Report on species of the genus Tumicla Wallengren, 1863 in Gabon (Lepidoptera Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), pp. 90-116 in Zootaxa 4868 (1) on pages 109-110, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4868.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4417344