Afrasura camilla Durante, sp. n.
Creators: name: Durante, Antonio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Arctiidae
Afrasura
Afrasura camilla

description: Afrasura camilla Durante sp. n.
(Figs. 14, 15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 37)
Material examined. Holotype. 3, Gabon, Ipassa-Makokou, (0°30’ 43’’N, 12°48’13’’E), 500 m, 19-2/ 11-3-2011, Durante legit,. In coll. MSNS. Paratypes. 4 3, same data as the holotype, 2 3 same locality, 5/ 10-4-2010, 1 3 same locality, 5/ 10-4-2010, g. prep. 528 MAD; 2 Ƥ, same data as the holotype, 1 Ƥ same locality, 5/ 10-4-2010, g. prep. 530 MAD. In coll. MSNS and MAD.
Diagnosis. This species has the spurs formula 0-2-4, so it can be easily differentiated from the species with 0- 2-2 formula in the A. submarmorata species group. It is similar to submarmorata, discreta, violacea, and aetheria sp. n. The latter presents a pattern with better defined bands than camilla sp. n.; violacea has a yellow (not whitish) ground colour. The differences within the fringes and the discal dot colour, used in Durante (2009: 42) between submarmorata and discreta, at the present appear to be more variable than originally thought, so camilla sp. n. is only fully distinguishable using female genitalic morphology: submarmorata presents the appendix rotating dorsally, camilla sp. n. ventrally; discreta lacks such an appendix.
Description. Adult. Wingspan: 3 13–15 mm; Ƥ 15.5– 17 mm. Forewing upperside ground colour very pale yellow, almost whitish; the ground colour is considered to be extended on the base, the costa, and the termen including the distal end of the veins; pattern violaceous-grey or brownish in colour. At forewings base one dot on radial vein and a smaller one at the very base of costa. Typically, the only first basal band is separately discernible; all the others are confused in a marbled pattern. Presence of a dot at the distal end of the cell; three or often four dots in a submarginal series, sometimes almost included in the main pattern. The interstices among the pattern are scattered of light pink scales. Hindwing upperside ground colour very light yellow. Forewing underside very light yellow along costa, termen, anal margin, and at the base; the centre of the wing is brownish-grey, often with a small pink area at the distal end of the cell. Hindwing underside as in upperside. Forewing fringes from very light yellow to buff; hindwing fringes very light yellow. Head, patagia, tegulae, and notum same colour as the upperside forewings ground. Antennae same colour as the head, ciliated (male) and filiform (female). Labial palpi darker yellow than the colour of the head. Tegulae with one dot, mesoscutum with two small dots not always visible. Sterna of the thorax and abdomen as the hindwings. Forelegs hairy, darker yellow than the colour of thorax sternum, with violaceous-grey scales on the distal half of tibiae. Mid- and hindlegs same colour of the thorax sternum. Pretarsi deep gray in all the legs. Spurs formula 0-2-4.
Male genitalia. A8 membranous, about half shorter than the sixth segment; eighth tergum with a filiform arch in the middle of its cephalic margin; eighth sternum with a filiform U-shaped reinforcement originating from its cephalic margin at the pleural junctions. It embraces the membranous pouches of the intersegmental membrane between A8 and A7, where the coremata take place. The corematal shape is exclusive of the submarmorata group, being not sacciform (i.e., largely oval), but fusiform (i.e., more slender, ogival). A7 membranous, a little longer than the sixth segment.Uncus slender, bent caudally, ending in a point; tegumen slender; vinculum with saccus of medium length. Juxta (JX, in figs. 23, 24) membranous, roughly ogival in shape, protruding dorso-anteriorly on the manica penis with a slightly sclerotized M, that probably can be thought as valvellae. The fultura superior is formed by a thickening of, or is strictly related to the transtilla shaped like a helmet. Valva with characteristic undulation of the costa; presence of a longitudinal swelling along the inner margin of the sacculus with few long and many short setae on it. Distal portion of supravalva membranous, sub-rectangular in shape with roundish corners when compressed under slide. Distal end of ala valvae sclerotized, slender, pointed, slightly longer than the supravalva.Aedoeagus tubular, slightly bent; vesica with a thorn-like cornutus at the end of the main lobe and sparse very small spines on the same lobe opposite to the cornutus, and on the minor lobes.
Female genitalia. A7 tergum two times longer than the sixth segment; two very small pocket-like invaginations at the anterior corners of A7 sternum; A8 small (about one third shorter than the sixth segment); no lamellae ante- and postvaginalis. Dorsal pheromone glands shorter than posterior apophyses. Ostium bursae not discernible; antrum sclerotized, almost square in ventral view, internally covered by tiny spines; ductus bursae membranous but stiff, approximately as long as the antrum, with a big membranous appendix, rotating of about 270° around and ventrally the bursa; from its distal end the ductus seminalis gets origin. Corpus bursae ovoidal, internally covered by tiny spines, with two dimple-shaped signa.
Etymology. Named for the author’s second daughter, Camilla. Noun in apposition (ICZN 11.9.1.2).
description: Published as part of Durante, Antonio, 2012, The genus Afrasura Durante, 2009 in Gabon, with description of five new species and a new species group (Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), pp. 383-398 in Zootaxa 3478 on pages 389-390, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.210414