Gnathodes helvella Whalley, 1971

Elliott, Imogen R., 2024, Five new species in the Afrotropical genus Gnathodes Whalley (Lepidoptera: Thyrididae, Siculodinae) with the description of the female of Gnathodes fiscinella Whalley, Zootaxa 5555 (2), pp. 253-268 : 255

Gnathodes helvella Whalley, 1971

(Figs 1, 11, 19, 21)

Gnathodes helvella Whalley, 1971 , Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology, Supplement 17: 170.

Type locality: “ Mt. Mlanje ” [=Mt. Mulanje, Malawi]

Name-bearing type material examined. Holotype, ♂, [type disc] “Holo- / type” // “Nyasaland. / Mt. Mlanje. / 24.IV 1913. / S.A.Neave. / 1914-171.” // “ ♂ / Pyralidae / Brit. Mus. / Slide No. / 9599” // “HOLOTYPE / Gnathodes / helvella / Whalley / det. P.E.S. Whalley, 1969” // [QR code label with unique ID] “ NHMUK010292347 ” // “BMNH(E)1622918” ( NHMUK). Additional material examined. MALAWI. 1 paratype ♀, Nyasaland , Mt. Mlanje, 15.iv.1913, leg. S.A. Neave, slide No. 10595 ( NHMUK) .

Notes. Based on the examination of the male holotype (Fig. 1) and female paratype of G. helvella , there appears to be no sexual dimorphism in this species and males and females are the same size. There is some similarity in the patterning of the forewing underside of G. helvella to that of Nakawa fulvipicta ( Hampson, 1914) . However, based on the male genitalia, these species are unlikely to be closely allied.

Notably, Whalley (1971) excluded three male specimens from his type series, from Cameroon ( CMNH), Mozambique and Zimbabwe ( NMB), which have not been examined in this present study. Although the last two from near the type locality are likely to be conspecific, they may hold valuable information on the variability within the species while the one from Cameroon could even prove to be distinct and undescribed.