Pseudopoliosia conica Durante & Apinda-Legnouo 2022, n. sp.
Creators: name: Durante, Antonio
name: Apinda-Legnouo, Emelie Arlette
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Pseudopoliosia
Pseudopoliosia conica

description: Pseudopoliosia conica Durante n. sp.
(Figs. 3B, 3C, 5, 6)
Holotype: ♂, GABON, Mondah Forest [near Libreville], 0 m asl, 0°34’44’’N 9°20’06’’E, 26-11-2017, Durante leg., g. sl. n. 1018 MAD; in coll. MSNS.
Paratypes: 21 ♂♂, same data as the holotype, g. sl. n. 1038, 1039, 1053, 1067 MAD; 1 ♀, same data, g. sl. n. 1051 MAD. All in the first author’s collection.
Diagnosis (Table 1).
Bar is 1 mm unless otherwise stated; bar in pictures of P. nigrifrons wings is conjectural. Figures without scale bar are from pictures without size references.
Pictures of P. aestuariensis n. sp. are all from the holotype, male, g. sl. n. 1054 MAD;
Pictures of P. danella: wings are from the paratype, female, g. sl. n. 177 MAD, coll. MSNS; male genitalia after Durante & Panzera (2002: 139); female genitalia are from the paratype, female, g. sl. n. 173 MAD, coll. MSNS.
Pictures of P. conica n. sp.: wings are from the holotype, male, g. sl. n. 1018 MAD, coll. MSNS; male genitalia are from the paratype g. sl. n. 1038 MAD, coll. MAD; valva and aedeagus are from the paratype g. sl. n. 1053 MAD, coll. MAD; processus distalis plicae is from the holotype g. sl. n. 1018 MAD, coll. MSNS.
Pictures of P. nigeriana: wings are from the paratype, male, g. sl. n. 160 MAD, coll. MSNS; genitalia are from the paratype, male, g. sl. n. 148 MAD, coll. MSNS.
Pictures of P. nigrifrons: wings and male genitalia are from the holotype, g. sl. no. Arct. 869, coll. NHMUK; female genitalia are from g. sl. no. Arct. 5679, coll. NHMUK.
Pseudopoliosia conica n. sp. externally resembles P. danella, both having forewings lighter than the hindwings, although the latter species seems to have a slightly wider wingspan. However, the genitalia are clearly different (with the processus of the ala valvae thorn-like in P. conica n. sp. and S-shaped in P. danella). In all the other species of the genus, the fore- and hindwings are practically of the same colour.
The male genitalia of P. conica n. sp. are very similar to those of P. nigeriana and P. nigrifrons. However, the conspicuous cluster of strong setae on the distal process of the supravalva very clearly distinguishes P. conica n. sp. from both.
The double dimple-shaped signum distinguishes P. conica n. sp. from both P. danella and P. nigrifrons (which have a single dimple-shaped signum).
Description. Wingspan ♂ 13–16 mm; ♀ 17.5 mm.
Head frons and vertex, notum (including patagia and tegulae) all same colour as forewing upperside or slightly lighter; frontoclypeus dark grey; antennae ciliated (cilia slightly thicker in male), dorsally same colour as vertex, ventrally unpigmented; labial palpi porrect, not extending beyond frons, as dark as frontoclypeus.
Thorax. Thoracic sternites as dark as forewing underside; legs same colour, but hind pair lighter; spurs formula 0-2-4. Forewing upperside ground colour dark ivory, with sparse light brown scales on distal half; costa dark ivory. Forewing underside dark brownish-grey with anal area paler, proximal 2/5 of costal area darker and distal 3/5 ivory. Hindwing upperside darker than forewing upperside and turning to grey. Hindwing underside same colour as upperside and therefore lighter than forewing underside. Fringes concolourous.
Abdomen same colour as hindwings; male with eighth abdominal segment short, about ½ length of seventh, with anterior margin slightly sclerotized laterally and ventrally; female with seventh abdominal segment only slightly longer than sixth, bearing two pleural membranous pouches on anterior margin; eighth abdominal segment one third length of sixth.
Genitalia. ♂. Uncus pointed, long and slender, bent backwards, with slightly enlarged base; tegumen short and slender, inverted-V-shaped in dorsal view, with slender pedunculi (sensu Diakonoff 1939); vinculum also slender, but more sclerotized than tegumen, largely U-shaped, with saccus upwardly arched; juxta membranous, positioned between two bracket-shaped valvellae. Valva three and half times longer than wide (3.48 length:width ratio, see Fig. 5A); basis valvae dorsally extending mesad to meet each other and forming rod-like transtilla, ventrally tapering and touching each other. Costa with membranous papilla-shaped processus distalis plicae in fairly proximal position along costal margin, surmounted by 8-10 thin fairly long setae (Fig. 5B). Ala valvae slender, ending with a sturdy thorn-like process, distally slightly exceeding the supravalva. Supravalva with costa sclerotized and distal third flaplike, roughly ellipsoid, fairly sclerotized, with dorsal margin reinforced by conspicuous band of thick spines (Fig. 5A —in the picture, on the right valva, the dorsal margin is twisted as it is in the normal physiological position, so it seems ventral; on the left valva it has been deliberately twisted); aedeagus tubular, stout, quite short, enlarged at caudal end; coecum penis absent, ductus seminalis inserted at anterior end; vesica with two main lobes: right one smaller, globular (on the left in Fig. 5C); left one bigger with two main diverticula bearing two or three sturdy thornlike cornuti, and few small scobinate granicula between them (on the right in Fig. 5C).
♀. Caudal ventral margin of seventh abdominal segment membranous, lamella antevaginalis membranous, not distinguishable from anterior edge of ostium bursae (Fig. 6B); lamella postvaginalis as longitudinal sclerotized bar occupying all of ventral A8; papillae anales square with rounded corners; apophyses half length of A7, posterior slightly longer than anterior; dorsal pheromone glands as two very small pouches with caudal opening at intersegmental membrane between A8 and A9 (Fig. 6C).
Ostium bursae at intersegmental membrane between A7 and A8, ventrally membranous, dorsally highly sclerotized (lamella postvaginalis—see above); ductus bursae about as long as corpus, membranous, with caudal half (antrum) highly sclerotized and triangular in ventral view; corpus bursae spherical, membranous, not as thick as ductus, with scobination of tiny thorn-like spicules in tissue of wall; signum oval, dimple-like with tiny hard thornlike spicules (Fig. 6D). Small appendix bursae dome-shaped, membranous, connected to ductus bursae, bearing ductus seminalis originating in latero-caudal position (Fig. 6B).
Etymology. The name of this species is derived from the Latin “conicus”, meaning conical, and refers to the conical shape of the cornuti in the male genitalia.
description: Published as part of Durante, Antonio & Apinda-Legnouo, Emelie Arlette, 2022, Sixth contribution to the study of the Lithosiini of Gabon: the genus Pseudopoliosia Krüger, 2015 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae), pp. 554-566 in Zootaxa 5195 (6) on pages 561-564, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5195.6.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7223928