Poloma Walker, 1855

Takano, Hitoshi & Morgan, Lauren E., 2025, A revision of the genus Poloma Walker, 1855 (Lepidoptera, Eupterotidae) with the description of a new genus, Zootaxa 5627 (3), pp. 526-538 : 527-528

Poloma Walker, 1855

Poloma Waker, 1855: 858 .

Type species: Poloma angulata Walker, 1855 (by original monotypy).

= Sarvena Walker, 1865: 542 .

Type species: Sarvena incompta Walker, 1865 (by original monotypy).

Poloma — Kirby 1892: 810; Aurivillius 1893: 206; 1901: 11; Gaede 1927: 296; Forbes 1955: 108; Pinhey 1975: 129; Vári et al. 2002: 150; Oberprieler et al. 2003: 107; Nässig & Oberprieler 2008: 62; Kitching & Rougerie et al. 2018: suppl. material 1; Krüger 2020: 138.

Sarvena — Kirby 1892: 792; Fletcher & Nye 1982: 146; Vári et al. 2002: 150 (syn.); Nässig & Oberprieler 2008: 63.

Re-description

Male. Upperside. Ground colour of head, thorax and abdomen ferruginous to greyish-brown.

Antenna bipectinate. Forewing triangular, rounded at apex, outer margin gently arcuate; ground colour brown, darker distally. Antemedial band dark brown, arcuate or angled, highlighted with paler scales on its inner and outer margins. Discal spot dark brown, small. Postmedial fascia dark brown, crenulate. Submarginal fascia beige or white, almost straight. Subterminal band dark brown, crenulate. Fringe dark brown. Hindwing outer margin arcuate; ground colour various shades of pink, sometimes with yellowish tinge. Postmedial fascia dark brown, gently arcuate, generally well-defined. Submarginal fascia and region beyond darker, irrorated with dark brown scales, its extent variable. Termination point of postmedial and submarginal fasciae along anal margin distinctly marked forming tornal spots. Underside ground colour of body and wings pale ferruginous brown. Meso- and metatibia with two and four spurs respectively. Wings uniform except for dark brown, crenulate postmedial and submarginal fasciae.

Male genitalia. Uncus with a pair of apically rounded medial processes fused to the tegumen, and a pair of movable bilobed lateral processes, the inner of the two considerably longer. Tegumen ribbon-shaped. Gnathos plate-like, caudally emarginate. Valve triangular, bifurcate apico-dorsally; costa sclerotised. Costal margin concave. Sacculus medially reduced and indicated by heavy sclerotisation along ventral margin to tooth-like distal saccular process. Juxta wide U-shaped. Vinculum narrow, V-shaped. Saccus short, rounded at apex. Phallus slender with a triangular process at entrance of ductus ejaculatorius, tapering towards a sharply-pointed carina; coecum rounded at apex.

Female. Similar to male but rami of antenna shorter, the colouration and patterning less contrasted and generally paler.

Diagnosis. Dissection of the four species currently assigned to Poloma revealed two pairs of species that albeit associated, cannot be considered congeneric based on the differing configurations of the genital capsules. The type species of Poloma , P. angulata and the closely allied P. variegata are small, highly distinctive Eupterotids that share a similar phenotype, with broad brown forewings and contrasting pink hindwings. In the male genitalia, the uncus is diagnostic with a pair of medial processes and a pair of bilobed lateral processes. The sacculus is poorly developed in comparison to other species of Janinae , with only a short tooth-like distal process. A new genus is described below for the remaining two species and detailed comparisons are made between the two genera.

Distribution. The two members of this genus are restricted to southern Africa.