Tumicla falcata 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 falcata

description: Tumicla falcata Durante & Apinda Legnouo n. sp.
(Figs. 8B, 12)
Holotype: GABON • ♂; Makokou, Ipassa, 500 m; 0°30’43”N 12°48’13”E; 19-2/ 11-3-2011; Durante leg.; Gen. sl. n. 896 MAD; in coll. MSNS.
Paratypes: • 7♂♂; same data as holotype • 3♂♂; same locality; 14/ 24-3-2015; Durante leg. All in the first author’s collection.
Diagnosis. Tumicla falcata is externally undistinguishable from latipunctata n. sp. and globosa n. sp., although latipunctata has a larger dot on the head (2/3 the width of the vertex; about 1/ 2 in falcata n. sp.) and globosa has the discal dot on the upperside of the forewing touching the postmedian band only dorsally (dorsally and ventrally in falcata n. sp.). However, the genitalia are clearly different in terms of both the distal margin of the valva and the shape of the cornutus (falcate in falcata n. sp., Z-shaped in latipunctata n. sp., three big thorns in globosa n. sp.). Tumicla falcata is diagnosable from parvipunctata n. sp. by the larger dark dots on the thorax; from bongorum n. sp. and eala by the absence of pink shading on the ventral side of the forewings, although genital morphology is the most reliable character, particularly the distal margin of the valva, uncus and cornutus. Tumicla falcata is easily distinguished 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 cornutus of T. falcata is vaguely similar to that of Tumicla mutabilis but falcata n. sp. never has a black pattern or shadow on the hindwings, and the genitalia are clearly distinctive: uncus (proximal arm of the C not curved in falcata n. sp., well curved in mutabilis), valval costal margin (straight in falcata n. sp., concave in mutabilis), and proportions (squat valva in falcata n. sp., elongated valva in mutabilis), vesica (spheroidal in falcata n. sp., digitiform in mutabilis, see Fig 22 in Volynkin & László 2018: 301).
Description. Wingspan 14-17 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 in many cases the median (which does not always reach the costal margin) and in all cases the submarginal (which never reaches the costal margin). Two basal dots, the posterior one larger, very close to each other; basal band zigzagged, touching the median band at cell and anal vein level; median and postmedian bands 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 small angled discal dot, which touches the postmedian band dorsally and ventrally (diagnostic with respect to globosa n. sp.?); submarginal series of eight streak-like dots. Fringes grey-brown. Forewing underside ground colour ochreous yellow. Costa dark brown in its proximal fourth, with grey-brown dots (not always present) corresponding to the transversal band on the upperside, and the dot corresponding to the postmedian band usually present. Streaks of the submarginal band faded, the first two/four better-marked in 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 dot on the vertex (just over one third of the vertex in size); antennae ciliated; labial palpi porrect, slender, not extending beyond the frons. Tegulae with two patches, the anterior one smaller, and hairy scales reaching the entire 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 (character less constant than others, due to the clear presence of grey-brown on the distal portion of the third leg femur on one specimen (875) and the weak presence on another specimen (874)). Abdomen with no pattern.
Genitalia ♂. Uncus slender, slightly 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 heart-shaped, no evidence of valvellae; fultura superior trapezium-shaped. Valva squat (a little more than twice as long as wide at the median points); costa straight or slightly concave in the distal half; termen nearly straight or slightly convex, irregularly and variably indented with many small and very small conical processes not uniformly distributed (the bases of setae) (see Fig. 12 D 2), tornus with a short papillary process. Processus distalis plicae appearing as conspicuous swelling with 6-9 long setae. Aedeagus quite short, no coecum, with a lateral concavity at its distal end with a falciform cornutus and many small elongated thorns at its base (Fig. 12 E 1). Vesica small, spheroid, with very tiny scattered thorns.
Etymology. The name of this species derives from the Latin falcatus (sickle-shaped) with reference to the shape of the cornutus.
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 100-101, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4868.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/4417344