Delorhachis nimbaensis Taberer, Fiebig, Giusti and Laszlo 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Taberer, Tabitha R.
name: Fiebig, Ralf
name: Giusti, Alessandro
name: László, Gyula M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Limacodidae
Delorhachis
Delorhachis nimbaensis

description: Delorhachis nimbaensis Taberer, Fiebig, Giusti and László sp. nov. (Figures 49–50,
88, 12 4–125, 151)
Holotype. Male, ′ LIBERIA 974 m | Nimba Mountains, Nimba West | Mount Gangra summit | 7°32′45.82̍N, 8°38′9.36″W | 17–25.iii.2017 250 W blended bulb | & bucket trap 8 W cold cathode | UV light | Sáfián, Sz. Simonics, G. Leg. | ANHRT:2018.24″ || ′ANHRTUK | 00224300̍| ′ Gen. slide No. | TT 105 | prep. by T. R. Taberer ̍ (ANHRT).
Paratype. Liberia. 1 male, Grassfield, Nimba, September–October 1968, Forbes-Watson, A. leg., gen. slide no. NHMUK 010317408, QR code no. NHMUK 014200545 (NHMUK).
Description
External morphology. Male. Fore wing length 11.5–12 mm.Head,collar, tegula, and thorax brown, antenna bipectinate in basal fourth, otherwise filiform, yellow-brown. Tegula with one pale yellow rounded patch. Thorax dark chestnut brown dorsally, ventral side and legs yellowish-brown. Abdomen uniformly brown dorsally and yellowish brown ventrally. Fore wing short, broad, triangular, with rounded apex; ground colour chestnut brown, veins contrasting black in postmedial area. Medio-ventral fascia white, oval, directed inwards, margined with black on distal edge. Fringe long. Hind wing chestnut brown, with weakly defined dark brown veins postmedially. Underside of both wing sets pale brown without markings; fringe as ground colour.
Female. Unknown.
Male genitalia. Uncus medium-long, tapered, pointed apically. Tegumen broad. Gnathos large, very broad, rounded, shield-like, weakly sclerotised, distal section very finely setose with a shallow medial indent. Juxta short, rounded basally, with two short, ventral, ribbon-like distal processes; manica with a bunch of slightly curved moderately long pseudocornuti. Vinculum short, broad, rounded. Valva long, very narrow, distally with a pointed, curved dorso-apical process and a slightly longer, narrow, thin, pointed, curved ventral process. Phallus long, straight, with sclerotised, apically pointed ventral surface in its basal half. Vesica membranous without cornuti.
Diagnosis
Based on the configuration of the male genitalia, this new species and D. smithi form a species pair, distinguished from other members of the species group by the extremely long, narrow valva with elongate, thin, apical processes.
Delorhachis nimbaensis is distinguished externally from its sister species by its much darker ground colour. In terms of the male genitalia, D. nimbaensis has a longer, slightly broader gnathos, and a straighter valva with a markedly shorter dorso-apical process, as well as having a wider angle between the apical processes than in the related species.
Genetic information
No specimens of D. nimbaensis were DNA barcoded.
Etymology
Delorhachis nimbaensis is named after the Nimba Mountains, Liberia, where it is assumed to be endemic.
Distribution and habitat (Figure 186)
This species is found only in the northern Nimba Mountains, Liberia, an area characterised by tropical moist montane forest.
description: Published as part of Taberer, Tabitha R., Fiebig, Ralf, Giusti, Alessandro & László, Gyula M., 2023, Taxonomic revision of the genus Delorhachis Karsch 1896 (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae), pp. 54-129 in Journal of Natural History 57 (1 - 4) on pages 97-98, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2022.2157346, http://zenodo.org/record/7636801