Scaeosopha sabahensis Sinev et Li, 2012

Li, Houhun, Zhang, Zhiwei & Sinev, Sergey Yu., 2012, Review of the genus Scaeosopha Meyrick, 1914 (Lepidoptera, Cosmopterigidae, Scaeosophinae) in the world, with descriptions of sixteen new species, Zootaxa 3322, pp. 1-34 : 18

Scaeosopha sabahensis Sinev et Li sp. nov.

( Figs. 14, 38)

Description. Adult ( Fig. 14): Wingspan 13.0–16.5 mm. Head with frons whitish-yellow, black laterally, vertex and scale tuft behind compound eye black. Antenna with scape black dorsally, whitish-yellow ventrally; flagellum black with whitish-yellow annuli dorsally, deep-yellow ventrally. Labial palpus whitish-yellow; second segment black at base and on outer surface, with a subapical black annulus; third segment with a black annulus at base, black at apex. Thorax and tegula black. Forewing grayish-white, suffused with black scales, black scales much denser basally and distally, forming a large basal patch and a diffused distal blotch; costal margin with a black spot at 1/3 length; cell with an elliptical black spot at end, edged with whitish-yellow along outside; cilia whitish-yellow mottled black scales. Hindwing and cilia deep-gray. Legs grayish-yellow, fore leg black on ventral surface, mid tibia and tarsus black and deep-yellow on outer side. Abdomen leaden dorsally, grayish-white ventrally.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 38): Brachia of uncus sticklike, narrowed subapically, then slightly widened to rounded apex. Valva irregularly rectangular, costa strongly convex medially, ventral margin straight, terminal rounded; valvella beak-shaped, same length as valva. Anellus sclerotized, nearly a semicircular plate with long arms, apex rounded, reaching base of brachia of uncus. Phallus evenly broad, coiled at middle, with a large cornutus and a row of dense cornuti before apex.

Female. Unknown.

Type material. Holotype ♂, MALAYSIA: N. Borneo, Sabah [3°11' N, 116° 2' E], 45 km on rd. K. Kinabalu Tambunan; 116.20E 5.5N, 12.xii.1987; a[t]. l[ight].; 1000 m, [coll.] J. Huisman, genitalia slide no. ZZWGW003 ( RMNH, Leiden).

Paratypes: 2 ♂, MALAYSIA: N. Borneo, Sabah, Keningau-Kimanis KM 24, 1350 m, a. l. top of ridge, 19.xi.[19]87, coll. R. de Jong ( RMNH, Leiden) ; 1 ♂, Borneo, Sabah, Crockerrange, 40 km S of Kota Kinabalu, Sinsuronrd , 1500 m, RMNH, 18–20.xii.1989, coll. J. Huisman ( RMNH, Leiden) .

Distribution. Malaysia.

Diagnosis. This new species is similar to S. hongkongensis sp. nov., but can be separated from it by the grayish-white forewing with distal 2/5 covered with dense black scales; the eighth segment lacks pleural lobes and the valva is irregularly rectangular in male ( Fig. 38). In S. hongkongensis sp. nov., the yellow forewing has an arrowhead-shaped black patch near apex; the pleural lobes of the eighth segment are very broad and heavily sclerotized, and the valva is broadly subtriangular ( Fig. 35).

Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from the type locality, Sabah, Malaysia.