Erythropteryx Hering, 1937

Taberer, Tabitha R., 2023, Revision of the family Chrysopolomidae Aurivillius, 1895 (Lepidoptera: Zygaenoidea) with the description of three new genera, Bonn zoological Bulletin 72 (1), pp. 1-23 : 18-19

Erythropteryx Hering, 1937

Figs 19 , 38

Annals of the Transvaal Museum 17: 247–248.

Type species. Erythropteryx roseotincta Hering, 1937 (by original designation)

Holotype. ♂.

Type locality. Elisabethville [Lubumbashi], DRC ( RMCA).

Genus re-description. Medium size. Antennae long, black, bipectinate. Head and thorax greyish-pink, abdomen orange. Forewing broad, greyish-pink or beige, speckled with black scales along costal margin. Costal margin orange. Fringe long, same as ground colour; cilia

sometimes orange in distal half. Hindwing orange, sometimes tinged with greyish-pink in distal half; fringe as in forewing. Underside. Ground colour uniformly beige or greyish-beige; hindtibia with one pair of spurs; hindwing with black scale spots along costal margin. Male genitalia. Paired posterior processes of transtilla closely fused medially, creating a lobe-like structure with a small medial depression. Single, central anterior process of transtilla broad, obcordate. Valve wide, short, rounded distally and slightly concave. Juxta with two very long, narrow, apically pointed lateral processes and slightly shorter, narrow, apically rounded central process. Phallus moderate length, ridged in distal half, membranous, with slight medial split; vesica short, membranous.

Diagnosis. Erythropteryx shares affinities with its sister genera Chrysopoloma and Scotinocerides in terms of its habitus, but the forewing is uniform aside from dark speckling along the costa and it appears to always lack the forewing discal spot, often present in the former and the forewing postmedial line which is a characteristic of the latter. The juxta in the male genitalia of E. roseotincta is however very characteristic with two very long lateral processes, which are considerably shorter in members of the aforementioned two genera.

Distribution. The single species in this genus is currently known only from the type locality in Haut-Katanga, DRC. It will almost certainly be present in Zambia but despite reasonably extensive sampling in the Copperbelt, it has not yet been found.

Species content

E. roseotincta Hering, 1937

Figures

Figs 18–23. Adults. 18. Hamartia medora, South Africa (NHMUK). 19. Erythropteryx roseotincta, DRC (RMCA). 20. Achrocerides theorini, Liberia (ANHRT).21. Strigivenifera eborea, Sierra Leone (ANHRT). 22. Diquishia ansorgei, Angola (NHMUK). 23. Auripoloma nigrociliata comb. n., Togo (ANHRT).

Figs 35–38. Male genitalia (a = clasping apparatus; b = phallus). 35. Scotinocerides pseudorestricta, South Africa, genitalia slide No. TT 184 (ANHRT). 36. Scotinocerides fasciata, Tanzania, genitalia slide No. ZSM Sp. 1597 (ZSM). 37. Hamartia medora, South Africa, genitalia slide No. TT 190 (ANHRT). 38. Erythropteryx roseotincta, DRC, genitalia slide No. TT 205 (RMCA).