Saccharodite ligata Zelazny, 2011

Zelazny, B. & Webb, M. D., 2011, 3071, Zootaxa 3071, pp. 1-307 : 169

Saccharodite ligata Zelazny , sp. nov.

( Fig. 329)

Description. Forewings 2.0 times longer than wide, length in male about 2.8 mm. Colour white to stramineous; a red stripe above eyes, and connected to it an orange area in front of eyes; a broad, conspicuous orange band across apex of frons and base of clypeus; fore tibiae light orange, at tips red; middle tibiae faintly orange, tips conspicuously dark red; mesopleura with a bright orange mark; last two abdominal segments orange, but genitalia stramineous. Forewings heavily powdered; white, mottled with grey; last subcostal sector and parts of C, Sc, R and M orange or red; remaining veins white; four dark reddish-brown spots on base of Sc+R, the last one extending along base of first subcostal sector. In profile junction of vertex and face strongly angulated; subantennal processes clearly separated from margins of facial carinae; rostrum slightly surpassing hind trochanters. Forewings with Sc+R fork at middle of wing; basal median cell elongated, about twice as wide as basal cell between Sc+R and M; Ms1 unbranched and without a small triangle at its base. Male genitalia with pygofer narrow. Genital styles oval; proximal dorsal process short and slender; distal dorsal process long. Apical part of aedeagus short; on the dorsal side with a basal impression which narrows to a groove near the tip.

Etymology. The species name is a Latin participle (ligatus, -a, -um = bound together).

Type material. Holotype ♂ (forewing 2.8 mm), NEW CALEDONIA; labels: 1) NEW CALEDONIA:/ Ponebo , 20–100m / 3.II.1964 2) R. Straatman/ Malaise Trap / BISHOP ( BPBM) . Paratype. NEW CALEDONIA: Ponebo , 22.I.1964, 1 ♂ (fw. 2.8), light trap, R . Straatman ( BPBM) .

Distribution. New Caledonia.

Diagnosis. Saccharodite ligata shows some similarities to Sa. thia Fennah , also from New Caledonia. It can be distinguished from that species by the unbranched Ms1 vein of the forewings, by the bright red tips of the fore and middle tibiae, and by the narrow dorsal groove on the apical part of the male aedeagus. The forewing venation resemble that of Sa. nanus sp. nov. from New Guinea which, however, shows considerable differences in head structure and coloration.