Scrobipalpa brandbergensis Bidzilya & Mey, 2011

Figs 69, 70, 139, 184

Scrobipalpa spec. 4 — Bidzilya 2007: 102, fig. 47; pl. 8, fig. 1.

Scrobipalpa brandbergensis Bidzilya & Mey, 2011 in Mey 2011: 211, Pl. 4, fig. 20; pl. 9, fig. 39, pl. 32, fig. 16.

Type material examined. Holotype of brandbergensis ♂, Namibia, Swakopmund, Namib Desert, Vogelfederberg, 28.i.2009, LF, leg. W. Mey (gen. slide 12/10, O. Bidzilya) (NMNW). Paratypes: Namibia: 3 ♀, Erongo, Brandberg, 5–7.iii.2000, Mason Shelter, 1740 m (Mey) (gen. slide 89/05; 17/06, O. Bidzilya) (MfN).

Material examined. Namibia: 2 ♂, Namib, Vogelfederberg, 28.i.2009, LF (Mey) (MfN).

Diagnosis. Scrobipalpa brandbergensis is small (wingspan 9 mm) species with a white forewing bearing indistinct black markings in the cell and at 2/3 near costa, and dense black irroration in apical 1/4, resulting in a forewing pattern that is unique among Scrobipalpa species. The male genitalia of S. brandbergensis are easily recognizable by the combination of a long, slender sacculus and a very short, hump-shaped vincular process. The broad, subrectangular, densely foam-sculptured lobes of the anteromedial depression and the basal half of the apophyses anteriores strongly broadened are characteristic for the female genitalia.

Biology. Host plant unknown. Adults fly in January and March.

Distribution. Namibia.