Cicinnoscelis Holland 1893

Cicinnoscelis Holland, 1893 rev. stat.

Type species: Cicinnoscelis longipes Holland 1893: 183, by original designation.

Literature. Hampson 1919: 78 (as Cicinoscelis [sic]); Dalla Torre & Strand 1925: 120 (as Cicinoscelis [sic]); Naumann 1971: 14; Heppner & Duckworth 1981: 42; Fletcher & Nye 1982: 38; Pühringer & Kallies 2004: 43.

The poorly known genus Cicinnoscelis was considered synonymous with Alonina for many years (sensu Hampson 1919). However, significant differences of the antenna, the wing venation and the structure of the genitalia do not support a close relationship to Alonina. The type species Cicinnoscelis longipes Holland, 1893 rev. comb. from Gabon is only known in the male sex. It seems closely related to and may well be congeneric or even conspecific with Megalosphecia gigantipes Le Cerf, 1916 from Cameroon, the type species of Megalosphecia Le Cerf, 1916, which is solely represented by females. Both species share important structural characters, namely the large size, the long, clavate antennae, the very long and tufted hind legs, the opaque, blackish wings and the rather similar wing venation. The exact relationship of Cicinnoscelis and Megalosphecia could not be definitively clarified. Both genera are here placed in Sesiini for the first time. The following redescription of Cicinnoscelis based on two males of Cicinnoscelis longipes from Eala (Fig. 1) and Bamanya, Congo, which are deposited in MRAC, and two females from southern Africa, below described as Cicinnoscelis flavipes new sp. and C. krooni new sp.

Redescription. Very large clearwing moths with long, slender, tufted hind legs, wingspan varies from 45 to 64 mm. Head with labial palpus moderately upturned, covered with short and ventrally rough scales, third palpomere smooth, second palpomere about three times the length of other palpomeres; proboscis reduced; eyes very large, width of frons about equal the diameter of the eye; antenna spindle-shaped, in male bipectinate, rami covered with minute ciliae, in female simple or bipectinate, without ciliae. Thorax and abdomen smooth, in males particularly dorsally sparsely mottled with hair-like scales; abdomen long, rather slender, cylindrical. Fore- and mid leg strong with long and slender fore coxa; hind leg extremely long; tibia and first tarsomere of all legs, most conspicuous in hind tibia, dorsally and apically with tufts of rough, hair-like scales; spurs of mid leg rather short, of hind leg long and strong, lateral spur half as long as mesal one on all spur pairs. Wings rather narrow, almost opaque; hindwing at dorsum partially hyaline or semihyaline. Wing venation (Fig. 84) of forewing with common stalk of veins R3 and R5, and common origin of M2 and M3; hindwing with stalked M3 and CuA1.

Male genitalia (Fig. 107). Strongly asymmetric; tegumen very broad, gnathos medially located, long and narrow, bifurcate; uncus extremely broad and flat, caudally bilobed, lobes extraordinaryly wide apart, each caudally with strong thorn-like, ventrad pointing sparse setae; valva short and broad, somewhat quadratic, distal margin with irregular protrusions, dorsally pointed and covered with rows of strong thorn-like setae, ventrally rounded; vinculum small, forming a long and narrow saccus; phallus long and slender, slightly s-curved; coecum penis short and round; vesica with enlarged basal part ovoid, dorso-distally covered with numerous sclerotized teeth.

Female genitalia (Fig. 108). Papillae anales very narrow; segment eight and lamella postvaginalis fused to a well sclerotized, compact ring, whose diameter is distinctly larger than width of papillae anales; posterior apophyses about twice the length of anterior pair; ostium wide, round, located basally of segment eight; antrum strong sclerotized, smooth, cylindrical, cranially narrowed; ductus bursae short and broad, gradually enlarged to form a ovoid bursa copulatrix with large longitudinal signum.

Diagnosis. The male genitalia are characterized as follows: (1) tegumen including gnathos, uncus and valva strongly asymmetric; (2) uncus large, extremely broad and flat, of nearly the same dimensions as valva; (3) valva almost quadratic with irregular shape; (4) vesica with proximal part bulbous, dorso-distally covered with numerous sclerotized teeth.

Cicinnoscelis was previously considered synonymous with Alonina, but species of the latter genus differ clearly by the well-developed haustellum, the much shorter second segment of the labial palpus and the shorter hind legs. Males differ further by the serrate, not bipectinate antenna and the completely different, symmetric structure of the genitalia. The assignment of the following two species in Cicinnoscelis, each described from a single female from Southern Africa, should be considered provisionally until males become known.

Genus composition. Currently Cicinnoscelis includes the following three species: C. longipes C. flavipes and C. krooni.

Remark. One species, the enigmatic Megalosphecia callosoma Hampson, 1919 (Fig. 6), differs distinctly from both M. gigantipes and C. longipes (Fig. 1) by its external appearance, particularly by the stalked forewing veins R3 and R4/R5. It is so far only known from two female specimens, the holotype and a paratype from Kashitu, Zambia, in BMNH. This species is immediately identified by the beautiful red abdominal segments with broad black and narrow yellow posterior margin, and by the large transparent areas of the wings. According to the wing venation, M. callosoma represents most probably an undescribed genus of the Sesiini or perhaps of the Cissuvorini Duckworth & Eichlin, 1977, a tribe, which is currently not known from Africa.