Paranigilgia brandti Kallies, 2013, sp. nov.

Paranigilgia brandti sp. nov.

(Figs. 18, 28, 29)

Holotype. 13 “ Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Mt. Sinewit, 3500 ft, 27.VI–17.IX.1963, leg. W. W. Brandt” (ANIC). Paratypes: 33, 2Ƥ Indonesia, Irian Jaya [West Papua], Nabire, Irian Jaya - highway, km 45, 745 m, Primärurwald, 3°29’52”S, 135°43’84”E, 23. XI. 1997, leg. K. Cerny & U. Buchsbaum (Gen. Prep. Nos AK110, AK137) (CAK).

Etymology. Named in honour of Wilhelm Brandt, an exceptional lepidopterist who spent many months collecting moths in Papua New Guinea. His extensive and beautifully preserved collection, housed in ANIC, contains many species that have never been collected before or since, and includes the holotype of Paranigilgia brandti sp. nov.

Description (paraype, female, Fig. 18). Alar expanses 3 16.5–18.0 mm; Ƥ 17.5–18.5 mm. Head: frons anthracite with coppery to greenish shine; labial palpus coppery black, white at base. Thorax: black with few scattered off-white scales on tegulae; patagia ventro-laterally off-white; all coxae ochre to white at distal ends; fore coxa white at base; midfemur ochre to white distally; hindfemur dirty-white in middle and distally, spurs white; mid- and hindtarsus each with two white areas dorsally. Forewing: with distinct black patch at base extending to base of posterior margin; black transverse line at about 1/3 and black spot at costa just beyond middle, the latter extending into well-developed transverse line; small black patch along costa subapically; all black marks bordered by lines of ochre-yellow scales in particular towards costa; small diffuse ochre spot distad of centre of outer black transverse line. Hindwing: dark fuscous to grey, somewhat lighter in the centre, coastal margin ventrally bright yellow-white in outer 2/3; fringe ochre. Abdomen: black; tergites with broad off-white bands; anal tuft yellowish ventrally.

Genitalia. Male (Gen. prep. AK110, Fig. 28). Ventral process of valva long, strong, with long and tough setae; phallus strong, with small scale-like structures apically; setae of gnathos short; saccus relatively narrow. Female (Gen. prep. AK137, Fig. 29). Corpus bursae ovoid, bearing two distinct crescent-shaped signa; ovipositor long and narrow; antrum and ostium well sclerotized.

Diagnosis. Paranigilgia brandti sp. nov. is similar to P. m o ro s a and P. m a r i a n n a e sp. nov. It can be distinguished from P. m o ro s a by its smaller size (alar expanse 20 mm in male P. m o ro s a); the color of the palpus, vertex, and thorax (greenish silvery in P. m o ro s a, vertex coppery); the color of the legs (tarsi ochreous in P. morosa); and details of the forewing markings (black inner fasciae of equal width and black subapical streak along the costa divided by two minute white transverse lines in P. m o ro s a). P. mariannae sp. nov. differs from P. brandti sp. nov. as follows: labial palpus wider and shinier, fore-coxa and femur with numerous individual bright white scales, patagia coppery metallic throughout (lacking white patch ventro-laterally), and posterior margin of the hindfemur white. Furthermore, in P. mariannae sp. nov. the base of the forewing lacks the extensive black area and does not connect to the black patch near the base of the posterior margin, and the black spot at the forewing costa at 2/3 does not extend into a well-developed black fascia.

Remarks. P. brandti sp. nov. was initially misidentified as P. m o ro s a, which was described from Buru Island (Moluccas) (Kallies 2004). Closer examination of the holotype of P. m o ro s a, however, revealed that it differs significantly from the species described above. Most specimens of P. brandti sp. nov. were collected in November at light in primary tropical forest in West Papua (Indonesia) at an altitude of 745 m; the specimen from New Britain (Papua New Guinea) was caught between the end of June and mid September at more than 1000 m.