Siccia butvilai Saldaitis & Ivinskis, 2008

Volynkin, Anton V., 2023, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Siccia Walker (= Aemene Walker, syn. n.) in the Afrotropics with descriptions of seventy-three new species, three new subspecies, and a check-list of Asiatic taxa of the genus (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), Ecologica Montenegrina 64, pp. 1-184 : 24

Siccia butvilai Saldaitis & Ivinskis, 2008

( Figs 32 , 294 )

Siccia butvilai Saldaitis & Ivinskis in Ivinskis & Saldaitis, 2008, Acta Zoologica Lituanica, 18 (4): 258, figs 5, 6 (Type locality: “ Socotra Island, N Hadhier Mts , h- 900 m, near Dicksam loc.”).

Type material examined. Holotype ( Figs 32 , 294 ): male, [ Yemen] “ Sokotra Island N. | Haghier Mts., | h- 900 m. | near Dicksam loc. | 05.03.2008. | Leg. A.Saldaitis ” / red label “ Holotypus | Siccia butvilai sp. nova. | Saldaitis & Ivinskis,2008 ” / “Museum Witt | München” / “Genitalpräparat | Heterocera | Nr. 35.750 | Museum Witt München” (MWM/ ZSM).

Additional material examined. YEMEN: 1 male, S Socotra Island , Wadi Difarroha, south side, 15.i.2010, Saldaitis leg., gen. prep. No.: AV4751 ( ASV) .

Diagnosis. The forewing length is 6.0– 6.5 mm in males. Siccia butvilai is externally reminiscent of pale specimens of S. sordida but distinguished by the smaller size, the reduced forewing pattern and the paler hindwing. In the male genital capsule of S. butvilai , the uncus is somewhat thinner than in S. sordida , the valva is distally broader (it is distally tapered in S. sordida ), and the distal saccular process is longer, broader and rugose (it is smooth in S. sordida ). Compared to S. sordida , the cucullus of S. butvilai has shorter ventral processes and a well-developed, broadly triangular dorsal process which is vestigial in the congener. The phallus of S. butvilai is distally broader than in S. sordida . The vesica of the species is more elongate and narrower than in the similar congener, has a broader subbasal dorsal diverticulum, and lacks cornuti.

The female is unknown.

Molecular data. Currently unavailable for this species.

Distribution. The species is endemic to Socotra Island ( Yemen) ( Ivinskis & Saldaitis 2008).

Figures

Figures 18–32. Siccia spp., adults. Depositories of the specimens: 18, 19, 21, 24–28 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 20, 29 and 32 in MWM/ZSM; 20 and 22 in ANHRT; 23 in SNMF (photo by M. Terragni); 30 in ASV; 31 in NHMB (photo by I. Zürcher-Pfander).

Figures 293–296. Siccia spp., male genitalia. Depositories of the specimens dissected: 293 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 294 and 295 in MWM/ZSM; 296 after Hacker (2016).