Alara aquilonia Zelazny, 2011

Zelazny, B. & Webb, M. D., 2011, 3071, Zootaxa 3071, pp. 1-307 : 17

Alara aquilonia Zelazny , sp. nov.

( Fig. 125)

Description. Forewings 2.0 times longer than wide, length about 3.5 mm. Colour stramineous; two small dark grey marks in front and above the eyes; apical section of labium dark brown; fore femora greyish, fore and middle femora with a thin red stripe along apical half; all tibiae with a bright red ring around middle and with dark tips; abdomen stramineous, last two segments reddish brown, genitalia grey. Forewings white, powdered; very faintly infuscated around some of the cross-veins; costal margin tinted with orange. Rostrum reaching middle of abdomen; antennae small. Forewings with Sc+R fork in basal third; Ms1 branched distad of its middle, bases of Ms1 and Cu1 connected by a cross-vein. Male genitalia with pygofer narrow. Genital styles with dorsal processes well separated. Apical part of aedeagus simple, elongated.

Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective (aquilonius, -a, -um = northern).

Type material. Holotype ♂ (forewing 3.5 mm, body 1.8 mm), LAOS; labels: 1) LAOS: Vientiane / Prov., Gi Sion/ Vill., de Tha Ngone / 5–19.XII.1965 2) Native Collector/ RONDON - BISHOP MUS./ COLLECTION/ Malaise Trap ( BPBM).

Distribution. Laos.

Diagnosis. Alara aquilonia is similar to A. obscura (Muir) from Java, Borneo and Sri Lanka. However, the dorsal processes of the male genital styles are separated, and the male aedeagus is shorter and does not widen apically. It also differs in the coloration of the facial marks and the abdomen, but, with only one specimen available, it is not clear how consistent such colour differences are.