Aenetus porlovi Grehan, C. Mielke & De Groof 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Grehan, John R.
name: Mielke, Carlos G. C.
name: Ignatev, Nikolai
name: Groof, Benny De
name: Yakovlev, Roman
name: Klingler, Mark A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hepialidae
Aenetus
Aenetus porlovi

description: Aenetus porlovi Grehan, C. Mielke & De Groof, sp. nov.
(Figs 1a–b, 10a, 11a, 13a–b, 14a, 15a, 16a, 17a, 18d, 19a, 20a)
Type material. Holotype. 1 ♀ “ Indonesia, Lomblen isl. [Lembata], Lamalera vill. Area, +/- 400m, 8–14/XI/2006 ”; HOLOTYPUS, Grehan, C. Mielke & De Groof, 2025 (RMNH)
Diagnosis. Forewing postdiscal line of subsquare shaped spots compared with ovoid to round spots in other species. Dorsal surface of the lateral lobe of the lamella antevaginalis narrowing basally (to junction with dorsal plate), and distal end forming a rounded knob (Fig. 19a)
Description. Female (Figs 1a–b, 10a, 11a, 13a–b, 14a, 15a, 16a, 17a, 18d, 19a, 20a). Wingspan ~ 54 mm; Forewing length: 30 mm, width: 14 mm; Hindwing length: 24 mm, width: 12 mm.
Head. Antennae pale yellowish brown, scape and pedicel covered with short piliform scales, scape cylindrical, pedicel rounded and slightly barrel shaped, flagellum broken. Eyes prominent, about ⅔ head width in dorsal view. Labial palps (Fig. 10a) three segmented, mid segment slightly longer than basal segment, distal segment less than half length of mid segment, more sclerotized than other segments, and slightly wider apically with von Rath’s organ at apex.
Thorax. Pro- and mesothorax dorsally covered with dark yellowish green scales, scutum III pale yellowish brown, anteriorly free of scales, dorsal posterior scales orange; lateral and ventral thorax orange to yellowish brown. Forewing triangular, costal margin centrally sub-linear, curving distally to shallow falcate apex; outer margin straight, distinct tornus, anal margin a shallow curve. Wing venation hepialine, central and posterior discal cells subequal length and width, branching of Rs1 and Rs2 near apex, hindwing Sc and R curved (Fig. 14). Dorsal ground colour pale green with dark green transverse lines forming a tegulate pattern between veins, width of lines expanding near bordering veins to form a narrow hour-glass shape; each row of transverse lines slightly offset from adjacent rows (Fig. 11a); three dark brown trapezoidal patches between costal margin and Sc; outer margin, tornus, and anal margin irregularly edged with dark brown; Broken transverse postdiscal line of five dark brown spots between common stalk of Rs1+Rs2 and M 3, anterior spot (anterior to Rs3) at slight angle to rest, two partially fused spots between CuA 2 and A. Ventral ground colour reddish-brown with pale yellowish brown along veins. Hindwing triangular with linear outer margin, distinct tornus, and linear posterior margin. Ground color pale reddish-brown with narrow dark brown edging along costal and outer margins. Ventral ground colour reddish-brown with pale yellowish brown along veins. Legs (Fig. 13a–b): meta leg broken at distal end of first tarsus, overall leg length shorter than pro- and meso legs, metaleg tibia wider than femur; epiphysis narrow triangle, arolium distally sclerotized.
Pre-genital abdomen. Dorsal scales reddish-brown on segments I–IV, merging to yellowish green on posterior segments to brown on TVIII; pleural and ventral surfaces pale yellowish brown. Tergites and sternites weakly sclerotized; TII (Fig. 16a) lateral ridge extending posteriorly from lateral tuberculate plate, tergum III lateral ridge indistinct. Tergosternal sclerite (Fig. 15a) with short lateral and dorsal brace, narrowly triangular intermediate zone, and curved, partially fused tergosternal bar. sternum II anterior margin broadly V-shaped; lateral arms short; lateral ridge extending posteriorly and angled medially; tergum VII sub-square, slightly longer than wide, tergum VIII rectangular, wider than long, about half length of tergum VII; sternum VII and sternum VIII fused, rectangular, weakly sclerotized, about twice as long as wide (Fig. 17a).
Genitalia (Fig. 18d, 19a, 20a). Dorsal plate, a narrow, inverted U-shape, dorsally setose, anal papilla shallow (Fig. 16h). Subanal sclerites narrow, lightly sclerotized. Lamella antevaginalis with dorsally setose, U-shaped central lobe, lateral lobe narrow, subrectangular, medially forming a shallow, medially oriented, setose knob (Figs 18d, 19a). Subanal sclerite narrow, sub-horizontal, weakly sclerotized. Bursa copulatrix (Fig. 20a) with cylindrical corpus bursae and diverticulum, latter 1/3 length of corpus bursae. Corpus bursae of similar length to ductus bursae.
Male. Unknown.
Geographical distribution. Known from the type locality only, at Lamalera village, 400 m. Lomblen Island, Indonesia (Fig. 21).
Host plants. Unknown
Etymology. Named for Alexander Porlov, Indonesia, who helped BDG collect Hepialidae from this region. A noun in the genitive case.
Remarks. The shape and relative proportions of the corpus bursae and ductus bursae are similar to that found in Aenetus sp. from Buru (Fig. 18b) and A. tegulatus (Fig. 20c). Tergum I twice as wide as long, dorsal surface covered with elongate yellowish-brown piliform scales as illustrated for A. tegulatus (Fig. 12a–b).
description: Published as part of Grehan, John R., Mielke, Carlos G. C., Ignatev, Nikolai, Groof, Benny De, Yakovlev, Roman & Klingler, Mark A., 2025, Four new species of Aenetus Herrich-Schäffer (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) from eastern Indonesia, with comment on distributional correlation with Gondwana tectonics, pp. 537-554 in Zootaxa 5613 (3) on pages 539-541, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5613.3.6, http://zenodo.org/record/15216976