Tumicla globosa 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 globosa

description: Tumicla globosa Durante n. sp.
(Figs. 8C, 13)
Holotype: GABON • ♂; Makokou, Ipassa, 500 m; 0°30’43”N 12°48’13”E; 24/ 25-2-2011; Durante leg.; Gen. sl. n. 908 MAD. In coll. MSNS.
Paratypes: • 7♂♂; same locality as holotype; 19-2/ 11-3-2011; Durante leg. • 4♂♂; same locality as holotype; 14/ 24-3-2015; Durante leg. All in the first author’s collection.
Diagnosis. Tumicla globosa is externally undistinguishable from latipunctata n. sp., pallida n. sp. and falcata n. sp., although latipunctata has a larger dot on the head (2/3 the width of the vertex; about 1/ 2 in globosa n. sp.); in pallida the streak at the base of the costa is separated from the basal band, with only one dot at the wing base; falcata has the discal dot on the upperside of the forewings, dorsally and ventrally touching the postmedian band (only dorsally in globosa n. sp.); finally, the genitalia are clearly different in all the three species in terms of the distal margin of the valva (tornus rounded in globosa n. sp.; with tornus with a papillary process in the three) and the cornuti of the vesica (three large thorn-like cornuti in globosa n. sp., no cornuti in latipunctata n. sp., one small thorn-like cornutus in pallida n. sp., very tiny scattered thorns in falcata n. sp.). Tumicla globosa is distinguishable from parvipunctata n. sp. by the bigger dark dots on globosa ’s thorax; from bongorum n. sp. and eala by the absence of a pink shade on the ventral side of the forewings, although the darker specimens of globosa n. sp. could be hard to diagnose by means of this character, so it is preferable to distinguish the species by means of genital morphology, particularly the shape of the cornuti and vesica (in bongorum n. sp. there are twelve larger and about fifteen smaller thorn-like cornuti, the vesica is bilobate, L-shaped; there are no cornuti in eala and the vesica is elongate). Tumicla globosa is easily distinguishable from minima n. sp. by the darker and reddish ground colour of the upperside of minima ’s forewings and the pinkish upperside of its hindwings. The larger specimens of T. globosa are also similar to Tumicla atricraspeda (Hampson, 1914) (figured in Kühne 2007 and in Durante 2008), but the genitalia are clearly distinctive with valval distal margin largely waved (indented with small conical processes irregularly distributed in globosa n. sp.), cornutus of the aedeagus is C-shaped (no cornuti on the aedeagus in globosa n. sp.) and the vesica bilobed and without cornuti (as opposed to spherical and with three big thorn-like cornuti in globosa n. sp.).
Description. Wingspan 14.5-18 mm. Forewing upperside ground colour ochreous yellow; pattern grey-brown. Costa ochreous yellow, with a grey-brown streak from the base to the basal band and in the presence of the other bands, except the submarginal, which never reaches the costal margin. Two basal dots, the posterior one larger; 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, the latter touching the postmedian band only dorsally (diagnostic with respect to falcata n. sp.?); submarginal series of eight streak-like dots. Fringes grey-brown.
Forewing underside ground colour light ochreous yellow. Costa dark brown in its proximal fourth, with greybrown subtriangular dot corresponding to the postmedian band on the upperside. Anterior four streaks of the submarginal band very faded, present only on the darker specimens. Hindwing upperside and underside ground colour straw yellow. No pattern. Fringes concolorous. Body concolorous with the wings, with pattern grey-brown. Head with a large dot on the vertex (half as wide as the vertex); antennae ciliated; labial palpi porrect, slender, not extending beyond the frons. Tegulae with two large patches, the anterior one smaller and roundish, with 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 of the slender type, albeit large, curved backwards, distally pointed; tegumen triangular, nearly as long as the eighth tergite (dorsal view); tuba analis membranous; vinculum U-shaped (ventro-caudal view) with fairly robust arms; saccus not deep; juxta spatulate, vaguely hexagonal, ventrally slightly protruding (in lateral view); fultura superior rectangular. Valva squat (two times longer than wide at the median points); costa slightly undulate; apex rounded; termen gently convex, indented with small conical processes of varying height and irregularly distributed; tornus rounded. Processus distalis plicae appearing as a small swelling halfway along the valva, membranous, dome-like, with about 6-12 small setae. Aedeagus stout; coecum penis inconspicuous. Vesica irregularly spherical, with three big thorn-like cornuti and one or two others, much smaller.
Etymology. The name of this species derives from Latin globosus (spherical) with reference to the vesica shape.
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 101-102, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4868.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4417344