Homadaula taraktica sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 450C8F55-311A-4BCD-B371-FBD278ECB13A

Type material: Holotype ♂, Kenya, Central, Castle Forest Lodge, 2060 m, 0°22′51′′N 36°18′35′′E, 27.x.2016, leg. D. Agassiz & K. Larsen , genitalia slide Mey 47/21, (coll. Agassiz) . Paratypes: 2 ♀, same locality, 20.xi.2009, leg. D. Agassiz, genitalia slide DJLA 1279 (coll. Agassiz), genitalia slide Mey 04/22 (MfN); 2 ♀, Kenya, Central, Thika, 6000 ft., 3.xii.1999, leg. D. Agassiz , genitalia slide Mey 50/21 (coll. Agassiz) ; 1 ♂, Tanzania, Tanga Region, Lushoto District, 1600 m, Mazumbai Forest Reserve, 17– 18.xi.1995, leg. S. McKamey et al., coll. ZMUC Denmark (coll. Agassiz) ; 1 ♀, same locality, 30.xi–7.xii.1995, leg. S. McKamey et al., coll. ZMUC Denmark (coll. Agassiz) ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Zimbabwe, Manicaland, Bvumba, 1360 m, 19°03′33′′S 32°42′41′′E, 3–5.xi.2016, leg. D. Agassiz & K. Larsen , genitalia slide Mey 44/21, (coll. Agassiz, MfN) .

Description: Adult (Fig. 25). Length of forewing 6-7 mm, wingspan 13.5–16 mm. Head and thorax brown, with grey-tipped scales; labial palpi straight, longer as eye diameter, ascending, proboscis long, light brown. Antennae filiform, 0.5 of forewing length, short ciliated (0.3–0.4) on ventral side. Fore and middle legs grey, with some darker scales, hind femur and tibia yellow-brown. Forewing brown, with some grey-tipped scales in apical part and in plical fold, darker scales forming indistinct streaks on costal magin and small spots on wing surface, hindwings brown, darker apically and along veins, translucent patch present, Cu1 and M3 with long stalk, female with three and male with one frenular bristles.

Male genitalia: (Fig. 26). Pleural lobes of segment VIII short and flat, with long, lamellar scales, tergal plate (= segment VIII) deeply divided in dorsal view, broad and apically rounded in lateral view, ventral apices with long thick bristles; segment IX compact, ring-like structure, vinculum with narrow bridge between bases of valvae; uncus absent, gnathos arms (or derived socii) bulbous, sclerotised apically and encompassing anal tube; anellus with elongate basal part and large, distal part in form of a small gear wheel-like structure, pair of appendices of anellus present; valva long, with large, triangular dorsal lobe, valva in ventral view like the pincer of a scorpion, tips of ventral lobes rounded. Phallus short with enlarged circular base, dagger-like.

Female genitalia: (Fig. 27). Sternum VII without lateral, oblique suture; henia short and straight, originating from inter-segmental membrane, bulla seminalis absent, bursa copulatrix without signa, ductus seminalis from base of short ductus bursae.

Diagnosis: The deeply divided tergal plate together with the apically rounded ventral lobes of the valvae are diagnostic for the species. The male genitalia of the new species are similar to H. malawiensis sp. nov. and H. peregovitsi sp. nov. The species can only be separated by examination of the male genitalia.

Distribution: Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Etymology: The specific epithet is derived from the Greek “taraktikos”, confusing, with reference to the complicated architecture of the anellus-phallus complex in the male genitalia.