Eupithecia prochazkai Mironov & Šumpich 2022, sp. n.
Creators: name: Mironov, Vladimir
name: Šumpich, Jan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Eupithecia
Eupithecia prochazkai

description: Eupithecia prochazkai sp. n.
(Figs 1–4, 20, 28, 37)
Type material: Holotype, ♂, China, NW. Yunnan, Nu Jiang valley, Road Lushui / Gulang, 25°58,15ʺ N, 98°47,40 ʺ E, 4.iii.2019, H— 2000 m, leg. A. Saldaitis. Gen. prep. J. Procházka 20045, Photo J. Šumpich 21404 (NMPC). Paratypes 5 ♂, 2 ♀, same data as holotype, 3 ♂, 1 ♀, same locality and collector but date 10.iii.2019. Gen. prep. J. Procházka 20154 (♂) and 20044 (♀), Photo J. Šumpich 21406, 21405 and 21410 (NMPC).
Diagnosis. This species belongs to the fletcherata species-group (Bolte 1990) on the basis of the structure of the male and female genitalia. It is externally most similar to the female of Chinese species E. amandae Galsworthy & Mironov, 2011 (Mironov & Galsworthy 2014). The male and female genitalia of this new species are very characteristic. The combination of the shape of the valves, the cornuti on the vesica and the shape of eighth sternite in the male, and the shape of the bursa copulatrix and unique disposition of the spines in the bursa in the female distinguish E. prochazkai sp. n. from all other allied species.
Description. Adults. (Figs 1–4, 20). Male and female. A relatively small, broad-winged species, wingspan 16.5-17.0 mm, fore wing 9.5 mm. Head and notum covered with yellowish scales. Fore wing elongate, rather narrow; costal margin slightly bowed; apex narrowly rounded. Ground colour pale brownish grey; transverse lines not well visible but marked by blackish costal blotches: elongate basal, antemedial, medial and postmedial lines; costa in apical part brown; terminal area blackish with two brown blotches, medial and subtornal, and tornal white spot; discal dot black, narrow, ovoid-acuminate; terminal line narrow, brown, interrupted by veins. Hind wing ovoid, pale grey, with traces of dark transverse lines along anal margin; terminal line as on forewing; discal dot well visible, narrow, elongate, and paler than on the forewing. Fringe chequered with brownish and pale dirty whitish.
Male genitalia (Fig. 28). Uncus narrow, elongate, biapical. Valve broadened at the middle; dorsal margin straight; ventral margin with prominent sclerotized process in the middle, slightly asymmetrical on left and right valvae; apex of valve rounded; sacculus heavily sclerotized from base of valve to process. Vinculum rather short, semicircular. Papillae on anterior arms of labides elongate, narrow, covered with normal-sized setae. Aedeagus short, thick, stout. Vesica multiply granulate, armed with two stout, horn-like apical cornuti, one of which is curved near apex, and with one folded, irregular cornutus near ductus ejaculatorius base. Sternite A8 peg-like, elongate, broadened basally, with two short, blunt, sclerotized apical horns; basal hollow broad and shallow.
Female genitalia (Fig. 37). Bursa copulatrix almost pouch-like, sclerotized, about 2/3 covered with spines in posterior part; anterior end of bursae blunt; in the middle of one side there is a broad, sclerotized diverticulum with a patch of large and heavily sclerotized spines at the base. Colliculum membranous. Antrum short and broad. Tergite A8 square. Anterior and posterior apophyses rather narrow. Papillae anales slightly elongate, narrowly rounded at apices, covered with long setae.
Bionomy. Host plant unknown. Type material was collected by light in early March at an elevation of 2000 m (Fig. 42).
Distribution. China. Known only from Yunnan province.
Etymology. This species is named in honour of the Czech lepidopterist Ing. Josef Procházka (Nižbor, Czech Republic) who was interested in Geometridae and built a large collection of Palaearctic species.
description: Published as part of Mironov, Vladimir & Šumpich, Jan, 2022, New species of the genus Eupithecia (Lepidoptera, Geometridae) from China. Part VII, pp. 289-304 in Zootaxa 5154 (3) on page 290, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5154.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/6644714