Afrasura indecisa orientalis, Durante, Antonio, 2009

Durante, Antonio, 2009, Revision of the Afrotropical species of Asura Walker, 1854 (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae, Lithosiinae), with the description of a new genus, Zootaxa 2280, pp. 27-52 : 36-37

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.275270

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6214725

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/922687EE-CC0B-C12C-FF2C-F992FD9DFE23

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Afrasura indecisa orientalis
status

subsp. nov.

Afrasura indecisa orientalis ssp. n.

( Figs. 4, 5 View FIGURES 1 – 12 , 43 View FIGURES 41 – 52 )

Holotype: 3, Etiopia, Menegesha-Suba State forest, 21/ 23-2-2003. In coll. MSNS.

Paratypes: 5 3, same data as holotype. 3 in coll. MAD and 2 in MSNS.

Diagnosis. Wingspan wider than nominal subspecies: 23–27 mm; forewing proportionally more narrow and longer. Wing ground colour straw-yellow, light compared with the deep yellow or orange yellow of indecisa . Forewings with a large median band, lacking pink suffusion on the underside. Hindwing transparency more accentuated. In the six examined specimens, there are no strong yellow marginal edges and cilia in the hindwing as seen in some specimens of the nominotypical subspecies. In three of the studied specimens, the dashes and dots that form the basal bands on the forewings are thickened and almost linked; the median and postmedian bands join to form a large fascia which includes and conceals the discal dot. The four dots of the submarginal series are thickened. On the hindwings there is a large transparent postmedian fascia ( Fig. 5 View FIGURES 1 – 12 ). Genitalia as in typical indecisa .

Remarks. Afrasura indecisa has strong affinities with Afrasura rivulosa , but more surprising is the convergence of characters between their Ethiopian subspecies, which are sympatric and synchronic.

Etymology. Named orientalis (‘oriental’) because the subspecies lives in the easternmost part of the species’ geographic distribution.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Arctiidae

Genus

Afrasura

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