Thubdora pulchella Park & Karisch, 2022

Karisch, Timm, Dutton, Amy-Jayne, Yu, Tae-Uk & Park, Kyu-Tek, 2025, Lecithoceridae (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea) from Nimba Mts. bordering Liberia and Guinea, Part I: The subfamily Torodorinae, with descriptions of 15 new species, Zootaxa 5728 (2), pp. 247-286 : 282-284

1. Thubdora pulchella Park & Karisch, 2022

( Fig. 21 )

Thubdora pulchella Park & Karisch , in Park et al., 2022b: 362 . TL: Ivory Coast, Mt. Tonkoui.

Material examined. 1♂, Liberia, Nimba Mountains , alt. 1050 m, 4.2 km SE Yekepa, camp secondary-forest on SE slope 7°32’35.6’’N 8°31’20.3’’W, 23 viii 2022, LF (125 W HQL), leg. T. Karisch, gen. slide no. 4189/ Karisch, barcoding CBNU688 , in MNVD . 1♀, Liberia, Nimba Mountains , alt. 1060 m, 4.4 km SE Yekepa, 0.2 km SSW camp secondary-forest near Parinari 7°32’27.3’’N 8°31’24.3’’W, 28 viii 2022, LF (125 W HQL), leg. T. Karisch & A.J. Dutton, gen. slide no. 4181/ Karisch, barcoding CBNU691 , in MNVD .

Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished by the elongated forewing and the hindwing with a yellowish patch; and also the male and female genitalia have good diagnostic characters separating this species from its congeners, especially by having the broadened uncus in the male and specifically modified large signum in the female. The female is reported here for the first time, with a description and illustration of the genitalia.

Male genitalia ( Figs 21B, B 1 ). See Park et al. (2022b, Fig. 4B ).

Female genitalia ( Fig. 21C ). Abdominal sternite VIII deeply emarginated medially, forming an oval. Ostium bursae roundly concave, with thin latero-caudal processes. Antrum cup-shaped, weakly sclerotized, about 1/6 the length of corpus bursae. Ductus bursae about 1.5 times the length of corpus bursae; ductus seminalis arising from near middle. Corpus bursae large, ovate; signum large, about half the length of corpus bursae, specifically modified as in Fig. 21C .

Distribution. Ivory Coast, Liberia ( Nimba Mts.: new record).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A, Topographic map of the Guinea Highlands (Wikipedia.org./wiki/Guinea_Highlands/, Tom Radulovich, CC BY- SA 4.0, colours adapted); B, Blue itabirit at Blue Lake in laminar formation with other minerals (photo: A.-J Dutton, 2022); C, View from the NW-SE-exposed mountain ridge to the main ridge of Nimba Mountains in Liberia, in the middle with the excavations for iron ore. (photo: A.-J. Dutton, 2022); D, Blue Lake and its surroundings showing the extent of iron ore mining in the southern part of the Nimba Mountains (photo: T. Karisch, 2022); E, Cloud covered main ridge of the southern part of the Nimba Mountains (photo: A.-J Dutton).

FIGURE 4. Dragmatucha gracilinea Park & Karisch, sp. nov.: A, male (holotype); B, head with labial palpus; C, male genitalia (holotype, gen. slide no. 4165/Karisch); C1, ditto, aedeagus; D, abdomen.

FIGURE 21. A, Thubdora pulchella Park & Karisch, 2022: A, male; B, male genitalia (gen. slide no. 4189/Karisch); B1, ditto, aedeagus; C, female genitalia (gen. slide no. 4181/Karisch).