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| Theorica valuliae Pinkaew
in Pinkaew & Muadsub, 2019.
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Abstract
The genus Theorica Diakonoff, 1966 includes two previously described species that occur in Vietnam (i.e., T. secunda Kuznetsov, 1997) and New Guinea (i.e., T. lamyra (Meyrick, 1911)). We report the first occurrence of this genus in Thailand, represented by a new species: Theorica valuliae Pinkaew, n. sp. In addition to illustrations of the adult and genitalia, we also present photographs of living specimens in their natural resting posture.
Keywords: new species, taxonomy, Olethreutini, Thailand, Lepidoptera
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| Theorica valuliae, Living adult on substrate. |
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| FIGURES 3–4. Theorica valuliae, adult (scale bars = 2 mm). 3. Male (Holotype) 4. Female (Paratype). |
Theorica valuliae Pinkaew, n. sp.
Diagnosis. The male of this species is most similar to that of Theorica secunda Kuznetsov in having a modified
hindwing with a tube-like anal lobe separated from the anal margin at the base of the wing. The two species differ
in the ground color of the forewing: grayish brown in T. secunda and pinkish red in T. valuliae. The male genitalia
of T. valuliae are most similar to those of T. lamyra (Meyrick, 1911), but the socii are covered with twisted setae in
T. valuliae and straight setae in T. lamyra. The female genitalia of the new species is distinct from other species by
having a very short ductus bursae with the corpus bursae reaching only slightly beyond the anterior margin of
sternum VII. Moreover, the moth in resting posture has a distinct heart-shape and a dark brown V-shaped mark
crossing both wings (Fig. 2).
....
Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym dedicated to the late Associate Professor Valuli Rojanavongse,
who served as the Master's degree advisor for the first author.
Distribution. Thailand. Specimens were collected in both natural forest (evergreen and dry evergreen forest)
and reforest areas.
Nantasak Pinkaew and Sopita Muadsub. 2019. Theorica valuliae Pinkaew, new species (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Olethreutinae), the First Record of the Genus in Thailand. Zootaxa. 4590(4); 487–494. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4590.4.5
