Eridachtha calamopis Meyrick, 1920

Park, Kyu-Tek, Minet, Joël, Koo, Jun-Mo & Yu, Tae-Uk, 2024, Review of the Afrotropical members of the genus Eridachtha Meyrick, 1910 (Lepidoptera: Lecithoceridae: Lecithocerinae), with descriptions of 12 new species, Zootaxa 5468 (2), pp. 275-307 : 278-280

Eridachtha calamopis Meyrick, 1920

( Fig. 3 )

Eridachtha calamopis Meyrick, 1920b: 76 ; Park et al. 2021: 357. TL: Kenya. [MNHN].

Material examined. Kenya: 1♂ (lectotype, type no. M601, designated by Viette (1951)),“British East Africa”, Kenya ( Mount Kenya , west slope), lower forests ( Podocarpus ), 2,400 m, station no. 39, Jan.–Feb. 1912, leg. Ch. Alluaud & R. Jeannel, genitalia slide: prep. J. Minet no. 1668, in MNHN. Additional 3 type specimens (paralectotypes, male and females) are housed in MNHN and NHMUK .

Diagnosis. Male ( Figs 3A, C ). Wingspan 18.0–21.0 mm (forewing length of the lectotype: 9.7 mm). Since the species was described from Kenya, no further specimen was apparently collected. The male genitalia of the lectotype (prep. J. Minet no. 1668, in MNHN) are illustrated and described for the first time. The forewing venation ( Fig. 3C ) has the vein R 3 free (separated from R 4+5); R 4 and R 5 are stalked for basal 3/5. The male genitalia are similar to those of A. phaeochlora Meyrick, 1920 , but they can be distinguished by the gnathos whose basal plate is slightly convex on the caudal margin (while sharply produced in the latter); Furthermore, the cucullus is slenderer and the median process on anterior margin of juxta is narrower.

Male genitalia ( Figs 3D–F ): uncus basal lobes with ovate lateral arms, concave into V-shape. Mesal process of gnathos small, strongly bent downward pre-apically. Costal bar connecting tegumen and valva narrowly banded, slightly angulate medially. Valva broadly concave on ventral margin; cucullus narrowly elongated, nearly parallel-sided, with short spines densely distributed along ventral margin; apex rounded; sacculus broadly developed. Juxta with large, thumb-like process on anterior margin medially. Aedeagus nearly as long as valva, as wide as cucullus, bent medially, with a linear sclerotized cornutus, which is slightly arched medially.

Female unknown.

Distribution. Kenya (Central).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Eridachtha calamopis Meyrick, 1920: A, male, lectotype; B, labels; C, forewing venation; D, male genitalia (slide J. Minet no. 1668); E, aedeagus; F, close-up of D (vinculum, tegumen and A10). Scale bar for D and E: 0.5 mm.