Prasinocyma septentrionalis Hausmann, Sciarretta & Parisi, 2016, sp. n.
Creators: name: Hausmann, Axel
name: Sciarretta, Andrea
name: Parisi, Francesco
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Prasinocyma
Prasinocyma septentrionalis

description: Prasinocyma septentrionalis sp. n.
(Figs 28, 67, 96)
Holotype. ♂, S. Ethiopia [Southern Nations], Arba Minch, Reg. Omo, Prov. Gemu Gofa, 1350 – 1450m 6°0’N 37°33’E, 14.IV – 2.V.2001, leg. G. Riedel, gen.prp. ZSM G 19403, BC ZSM Lep 13197, coll. ZSM.
Paratypes. Oromia: 2♂ 1♀, Ethiopia, Bale mountains, Harenna Forest 1600m (lux) 21.II.2010, leg. F. Parisi. A. Sciarretta, coll. DAEF (gen.prp. DAEF GL1); 1♀, Ethiopia, Bale mountains, Harenna Forest Karcha Camp 2350m (lux) 20.II.2010, leg. F. Parisi, A. Sciarretta, coll. DAEF; 3♂ 3♀, C. Ethiopia, Oromia, Southern Bale Mts, Harenna Forest, Katcha clearing, 1810m, 6.6167°N – 39.7782°E, 21.II. – 7.III.2014, D. Wiersbowsky; 2♀, Ethiopia, Bale Mountains, Harenna Forest, Afro-montane forest, 06°42’58”N / 39°43’31”E, 2381m, 29.X.2011, leg. H. S. Staude. Southern Nations: 3♀, S. Ethiopia, Arba Minch, Reg. Omo, Prov. Gemu Gofa, 1350 – 1450m 6°0’N 37°33’E, 14.IV – 2.V.2001, leg. G. Riedel (BC ZSM Lep 13198, 13197; gen.prp. ZSM G 19408); 1♀, S. Ethiopia, Gamu Gofa, V.2008, Arba Minch 1350m, leg. R. Beck, G. Riedel (BC ZSM Lep 18040); 1♂, Äthiopien [Ethiopia], Ostafrikanischer Graben [East African Rift Valley], Prov. Gamu Goffa, Arba Minch, Nachisar Nationalpark 1180 – 1380m, 06°00’ N 37°47’ E, 17 – 19.V.2013, Beck R. & R. Wanninger leg (BC ZSM Lep 78495); 1♀, Äthiopien [Ethiopia], Ostafrikanischer Graben [East African Rift Valley], Southern Nations, Bonga, 16 km E, 2440m, 07°11’ N 36°28’ E, 04.V.2013, Beck R. & R. Wanninger leg (BC ZSM Lep 81858 failure); 1♂ 1♀, Ethiopia, Prov. Kaffa, 10 km n Bonga, 1550m 7°21’N 36°25’E, 29.IV.2008, leg. S. Naumann, H. Schnitzler; 1♀, Äthiopien [Ethiopia], Ostafrikanischer Graben [East African Rift valley], Mago Nationalpark, 1217m, 06°47.365’ N, 36°27.475’O, 2.VII.2014, Beck, R. & G. Riedel (BC ZSM Lep 84757).
Description. Adult (Fig. 28). Wingspan. Male and female 32 – 36 mm. Ground colour bluish green, irrorated with white strigulae. Forewings with a white dot at ½ of the inner margin, sometimes brown in the distal half. Fore- and hindwings, with black or reddish black discal dot, conspicuously whitish encircled. Terminal dots absent from all wings. Hindwing termen angled at M3. Length of male palpi 1.2 times diameter of eye, tip and upperside dark brown with greenish scales, underside white. Length of female palpi 1.7 times diameter of eye. Frons deep green, sometimes irrorated with redbrown scales. Antennae bipectinate in male, with broad sub-dentate flagellum in female. Antennal branches ochre. Male frenulum present. Male hindtibia with white pencil, four spurs and terminal process covering half of first tarsomere.
Male genitalia (Fig. 67). Uncus long (1.2 – 1.35 mm), valva elongate, with small subapical ventral lobe, slerotized long and stout harpe curved towards the costa and here again curved towards base of valva, with spinose, rounded tip. Aedeagus comparatively short (2.0 – 2.1 mm), straight, stalk very short, with two lateral sclerites and small subapical, lateral tooth. Sternum A8 without lobes or projections.
Female genitalia (Fig. 96). Sterigma triangular, edges rounded. Ductus bursae comparatively long (2.0 mm), broad, sclerotized. Corpus bursae globular, signum small with two posterior teeth.
Differential diagnosis. In habitus well matching the type series of P. croca Fletcher, 1978 (locus typicus: Tanzania, Usa River; holotype male TMB Budapest, paratype in NHM, examined), but in male genitalia strongly differing in the shape of the harpe which is only slightly curved at the ventral margin of valva in P. c ro c a. Furthermore the uncus is shorter (1.0 mm) and the aedeagus narrower and longer (2.3 mm) in P. cro c a. Male genitalia of P. pupillata (Warren, 1902) as figured in Janse (1935: 289) similar, but in the latter the uncus much shorter, the valva and its subapical ventral lobe broader, the harpe narrower and the aedeagus much longer.
Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:AAD6947. Intraspecific variation 0.95% (n=4). Nearest neighbours in Ethiopia: P. nereis (3.7%), P. corrugata (4.4%) and P. aquamarina sp. n. (5.4%). Outside Ethiopia diverging from P. c ro c a by 1.7% (sequenced from Tanzania = locus typicus) and from P. pupillata by 3.8% (sequenced from South Africa; locus typicus = Tanzania).
Etymology. The name refers to the distribution area north of the distribution area of the sister species (P. croca); latin septentrionalis = northern.
description: Published as part of Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016, The Geometrinae of Ethiopia II: Tribus Hemistolini, genus Prasinocyma (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae), pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 4065 (1) on pages 27-28, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4065.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/270490