Prasinocyma nereis Townsend, 1952

Hausmann, Axel, Sciarretta, Andrea & Parisi, Francesco, 2016, The Geometrinae of Ethiopia II: Tribus Hemistolini, genus Prasinocyma (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4065 (1), pp. 1-63 : 18

Prasinocyma nereis Townsend, 1952 (comb.n.)

( Figs 12 , 53 )

Prasinocyma nereis Townsend (1952) : 68. Locus typicus: Kenya: Nakura (Holotype ♂ NHM, examined). In Scoble (1999) combined with genus name Eretmopus . Neither genitalia nor COI data suggest or justify a placement outside Prasinocyma , therefore combined with Prasinocyma here (comb.n.).

Material. Amhara: 1♂, Lake Tana (no. 82; BC ZSM Lep 83221, gen.prp. ZSM G 19588); Oromia: 1♂, West Shoa (locality no. 28; BC ZSM Lep 10016; gen.prp. ZSM G 19402).

Redescription. Adult ( Fig. 12 ). Wingspan. Male 28 – 32 mm. Ground colour pale bluish green, irrorated with white strigulae. Forewing without spot at the inner termen, with minute, black discal dot. Terminal dots of fore- and hindwings absent. Hindwing termen rounded. Length of male palpi 1.2 times diameter of eye, tip and upperside reddish, underside white. Frons reddish. Antennae long, bipectinate in male. Antennal branches pale ochre. Male frenulum present. Male hindtibia with white pencil and four spurs, with large projection at tip, covering half of first tarsomere.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 53 ). Uncus dilated at centre. Socii vestigial, reduced to two small setose bulbs. Gnathos strongly sclerotized, pointed and spinulose at the inner margin. Valva large, distally sub-rectangular, sub-apical lobe large. Sacculus sclerotized, at tip rectangularly bent toward costa to a large, strongly spinose harpe. Aedeagus (length 2.5 mm) with a single, long cornutus curved at its base, at the origin of the ductus seminalis a round sclerite with dentate margin. Sternum A8 with two sclerotized lobes, spinulose at posterior margin and deeply notched between.

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:AAY3216. Nearest neighbours: P. s ho a (3.0%) and P. c ro ca (3.7%). P. shoa and P. nereis have COI sequences when excluding the 3rd, highly variable, codon position.

Remarks. New for the fauna of Ethiopia.

Figures

FIGURES 7 – 12. Adults of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar— 1 cm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides, and / or DNA barcoding, and / or nomenclatural status of the illustrated specimen are given. 7. Prasinocyma getachewi sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 13169; Holotype); 8. Prasinocyma baumgaertneri sp. n. (BC ZSM Lep 81479; Holotype); 9. Prasinocyma oblita Prout, 1930 (gen. prp. ZSM G 16002); 10. Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937 (BC ZSM Lep 85812 - 83226); 11. Prasinocyma loveridgei Prout, 1926 (cf. perpulverata Prout, 1916); 12. Prasinocyma nereis Townsend, 1952 (comb. n.) (BC ZSM Lep 83221).

FIGURES 51 – 55. Male genitalia of Ethiopian Prasinocyma species. Scale Bar (s) — 1 mm. In parantheses the ID-numbers of genitalia slides are given. 51. Prasinocyma hailei Debauche, 1937 (gen. prp. ZSM G 19395); 52. Prasinocyma loveridgei Prout, 1926, Kenya (cf. perpulverata) (gen. prp. ZSM G 16092); 53. Prasinocyma nereis Townsend, 1952 (comb. n.) (gen. prp. ZSM G 19402); 54. Prasinocyma shoa Herbulot, 1993 (gen. prp. ZSM G 16246); 55. Prasinocyma shoa yabellensis subsp. n., (gen. prp. ZSM G 19401).