Wittoecia brehmi ( Yakovlev & Witt, 2016 )

Yakovlev, Roman V., Fiebig, Ralf & Stadie, Dirk, 2022, Description of the female Wittoecia brehmi (Yakovlev & Witt, 2016) (Lepidoptera, Cossidae: Zeuzerinae), Ecologica Montenegrina 50, pp. 56-58 : 57-58

Wittoecia brehmi ( Yakovlev & Witt, 2016)

Azygophleps brehmi Yakovlev & Witt, 2016: 71 .

Type locality: Ethiopia, Bale Mountain , Catcha bei Rira, 2350 m, 06°42.899´N, 39°43.441´E .

Type material: holotype (male) in Museum Witt (Munich, Germany) .

Material examined. 1 female, Ethiopia, Oromia [Province], Harena forest, Lodge Katcha Camp Ground , 06°48.763´N, 39°10.606´E, 01−03.v.2016, LF, 2316 m, leg. R. Fiebig and D. Stadie (Dirk Stadie private collection) .

Description. Female ( Fig. 1 ). Significantly bigger than male. Length of fore wing 34 mm. Antenna bipectinate in proximal half (setae equal to antenna rod diameter in length). Fore wing wide, apically semicircular. Costal edge light-brown, hind edge creamy, most of wing area light-yellow; thin undulated transverse brown strokes along all wing area; fringe light-yellow. Hind wing light-yellow with poorly noticeable wavy light-brown pattern on periphery of wing; fringe light-yellow.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 2 ). Ovipositor short; papillae anales tapered, with longitudinal grooves; apophyses posteriores and apophyses anteriores thick, almost equal in length; ostium poorly submerged; antrum funnel-shaped, poorly sclerotized; ductus bursae copulatrix wide, relatively short, membranous; bursa copulatrix bag-like, without signa. In medium part of bursa copulatrix on medium length ductus – small bulla with sclerotized base and membranous periphery. Diameter of bursa copulatrix twice bigger than that of bulla.

Diagnosis. Currently, it is difficult to make a detailed analysis of the difference in the female genitals in the genera of the subfamily Zeuzerinae due to objectively poor study of the female morphology, because they are rare in collection materials. It can only be noted that in the genus Azygophleps Hampson, 1892 the ovipositor is significantly longer and on the bursa copulatrix there is a star-like signum. The closest in the female genital structure are the African genus Davidlivingstonia Yakovlev, 2020 and Phragmataecia Newman, 1850 . In the specimens of these genera, the ovipositor is relatively short, and there are no signa on the bursa copulatrix. The female genitalia of the genus Wittoecia Yakovlev, 2020 are clearly distinguished in the large bulla which is basally sclerotized.

Acknowledgment

The author is grateful to Anna Ustjuzhanina (Tomsk, Russia) for the help in translation of the paper and to Hartmuth Strutzberg (Weimar, Germany) for the excellent genital preparation.

Figures

Figure 1. Wittoecia brehmi (Yakovlev & Witt, 2016), female (Dirk Stadie private collection).

Figure 2. Wittoecia brehmi (Yakovlev & Witt, 2016), female genitalia (slide Genitalpräparat Dirk Stadie 4/2021).