Contribution to the study of the Afrotropical Pyraustinae Meyrick, 1890 (Lepidoptera, Crambidae): Taxonomic and distributional updates on five species with new country records

Michael Seizmair; Alrabea Ishag; Hathal Mohammed Al Dhafer

doi:10.3897/BDJ.13.e161293

Biodiversity Data Journal : Taxonomy & Inventories

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Taxonomy & Inventories

Contribution to the study of the Afrotropical Pyraustinae Meyrick, 1890 (Lepidoptera, Crambidae): Taxonomic and distributional updates on five species with new country records

Michael Seizmair^‡, Alrabea Ishag^§, Hathal Mohammed Al Dhafer^|

‡ SNSB Bavarian State Collection of Zoology Munich (Independent Associated Scientist), Munich, Germany

§ King Saud University Museum of Arthropods, Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

| King Saud University, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Corresponding author: Michael Seizmair (michael.seizmair@gmx.net)

Academic editor: Richard Mally

Received: 05 Jun 2025 | Accepted: 25 Jul 2025 | Published: 30 Jul 2025

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Seizmair M, Ishag A, Al Dhafer H (2025) Contribution to the study of the Afrotropical Pyraustinae Meyrick, 1890 (Lepidoptera, Crambidae): Taxonomic and distributional updates on five species with new country records. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e161293. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e161293

Abstract

Background

The Pyraustinae Meyrick, 1890 form the fifth most diverse subfamily in the Pyraloidea, comprising 1270 described species distributed over 173 genera. For the Afrotropical zone, a total of 160 species have become known to date. Faunistic studies on the subfamily for the Afrotropical zone have been to date regionally confined on the southern parts of Africa, including South Africa, the Mascarene and Malagasy islands. The other parts of sub-Saharan Africa have remained understudied. This results in still unexplored distribution patterns of the Afrotropical Pyraustinae. The Afrotropical zone reaches its northern boundaries in the southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula which include the southern part of Oman (Province Dhofar), Yemen and the south-western parts of Saudi Arabia. For the Pyraustinae, the Arabian Peninsula has been little explored to date. No more than 20 species distributed over 13 genera have become known.

New information

Taxonomic and distributional updates are presented on five species of the Pyraustinae (Lepidoptera, Crambidae), based on material from East and Central Africa and from the tropical parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Ecpyrrhorrhoe diatoma (Hampson, 1913) and Psammotis haematidea (Hampson, 1913) are re-described, with the male and female genitalia described and figured for the first time. A new combination Paschiodes postmediofusalis (Seizmair, 2022) comb. n. from Pyrausta Hübner, 1825 is introduced, with the diagnostic characters differentiating the species from the other species of the Afrotropical genus Paschiodes Hampson, 1913 being listed. Psammotis haematidea (Hampson, 1913), Ecpyrrhorrhoe diatoma (Hampson, 1913) and Euclasta warreni Distant, 1892 are reported as new to the Arabian Peninsula. Psammotis haematidea (Hampson, 1913) is furthermore reported as new to Kenya and Cameroon. Paschiodes postmediofusalis (Seizmair, 2022) comb. n. and Euclasta varii Popescu-Gori & Constantinescu, 1973 are reported as new to Saudi Arabia. For each of the taxa presented, external and internal diagnostic characters are listed and illustrated.

Keywords

Pyraloidea, Pyraustini, Euclastini, morphology, distribution, fauna of the Arabian Peninsula, new combination

Introduction

The Pyraustinae Meyrick, 1890 form the fifth most diverse subfamily in the Pyraloidea, comprising 1270 described species distributed over 173 genera (Landry 2015, Mally et al. 2019 and Nuss et al. 2024). Mally et al. (2019) divide the subfamily into three tribes. A vast majority of the assigned genera is included in the Pyraustini Meyrick, 1890, with no more than five genera attributed to the Portentomorphini Amsel, 1856 and only two valid genera included in the Euclastini Popescu-Gori & Constantinescu, 1977 (Mally et al. 2019 and Nuss et al. 2024). Some 53 % of the genera in the subfamily have remained unassigned to date (Nuss et al. 2024). The subfamily has a world-wide distribution.

For the Afrotropical zone, 160 species have become known to date (De Prins and De Prins 2025). The vast majority of the studies on the African Pyraustinae date to historical work from the beginning of the last century including studies by Hampson (1913a), Hampson (1913b), Hampson (1918a)and Hampson (1918b) . Recent faunistic studies on the subfamily have been to date restricted to the southern parts of Africa including South Africa, the Malagasy and the Mascarene islands (Vari et al. 2002, Shaffer and Munroe 2007and Guillermet 2009). The other parts of sub-Saharan Africa have still been little explored for the subfamily, with comprehensive updated faunistic checklists still missing. Poltavsky et al. (2019) listed no more than six species of the Pyraustinae in their Pyraloidea study on Liberia. Rougeot (1984) mentioned only three species of the subfamily in his Heterocera study on Ethiopia. Further important partial taxonomic revisions with descriptions of new genera considered as endemic include studies by Shaffer and Munroe (2007), Maes (2000), Maes (2001a), Maes (2001b), Maes (2001c), Maes (2002), Maes (2005), Maes (2006a), Maes (2006b), Maes (2009), Maes (2014) and Maes (2023) .

The Afrotropical zone reaches its northern boundaries in the southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula which include the southern part of Oman (Province Dhofar), Yemen and the south-western parts of Saudi Arabia. The potential of this region both for African species reaching their northernmost distribution boundaries and for endemic species has been shown for the Noctuoidea Latreille, 1809 and Geometridae Stephens, 1829 in studies including Hausmann (2006) andHacker (2016). For the Pyraloidea, however, the Arabian Peninsula has been little explored to date. For the Pyraustinae, no more than 20 species distributed over 13 genera have become known in historical studies dating to Walsingham and Hampson (1896) and in recent studies including Pelham-Clinton (1977), Asselbergs (2008), Seizmair (2021), Seizmair (2022), Seizmair (2023a) and Seizmair (2023b).

In this study, the two little known species Psammotis haematidea (Hampson, 1913) and Ecpyrrhorrhoe diatoma (Hampson, 1913) are re-described and new country records from the Arabian Peninsula and the sub-Saharan African mainland are provided. Further distributional updates, based on new country records from Saudi Arabia, are provided for Euclasta warreni Distant, 1892 and Euclasta varii Popescu-Gori & Constantinescu, 1973. A new combination Paschiodes postmediofusalis (Seizmair, 2022) comb. n. from Pyrausta Schrank, 1802 is introduced. The species is reported as new to the fauna of Saudi Arabia.

Materials and methods

Sampling

The material presented in this study is part of samples collected by the authors in Saudi Arabia in the surroundings of Rayda (Province Asir) and of Shada (Al Baha) in research projects of the KSMA in the years 2014 and 2015, in the surroundings of Abha (Province Asir) and in the Fayfa Mts. (Province Jizan) in the years 2022 – 2024 and in the Province Dhofar of the Sultanate of Oman in 2019. Further distributional data from East and Central Africa – Kenya, Cameroon – in the period 1997–2019, were made available to the authors from the ABSRC (Koen V. N. Maes, Wetteren, Belgium). Details on the collection data are given in the material examined sections. The specimens were captured at night by means of light traps equipped with UV tubes and UV power-LEDs. The UV power-LEDS cover a wave spectrum of 365 nm – 385 nm (LepiLED, Nichia, Tokushima, Japan; EntoLED, Starlight, Weissenburg, Germany).

Preparation, dissection and digital image processing

The adults were photographed after relaxation and subsequent preparation with a CANON EOS M6 Mark II under a MP-E-65 mm zoom or with the LEICA imaging system of the KSMA. For examining the genitalia, slide-mounting techniques were applied on the specimens according to the protocol described by Robinson (1976). The genitalia were prepared with Motic (SMZ-171) and Meiji stereomicroscopes. The slides were photographed with a ToupCam c-mount camera (ToupTek Inc., Zhejiang, China). Image post-processing were was performed by means of Adobe Photoshop PS, Version 23.5.2.

Morphological analyses and comparisons

Analyses of wing pattern characters and morphological structures in the specimens from the KSMA and CMS were performed on the images. Structural ratios were calculated on the images by means of the imaging software ToupView, Version 4.12 (ToupTek Inc., Zhejiang, China).The specimens were determined by external and internal morphological characters as listed in Popescu-Gorj and Constantinescu (1973), Popescu-Gorj and Constantinescu (1977), Slamka (2013), Maes (2000) and Seizmair (2022). The specimens of the genera Psammotis Hübner, 1825 and Ecpyrrhorrhoe Hübner, 1825 were compared with relevant type material (det. Koen V. N. Maes).

Terminology and abbreviations

The descriptions of external and internal character states follows the terminology in Maes (1995), Mally et al. (2019) and Nuss et al. (2024). Descriptions of the wing venation follow the terminology in Shaffer and Munroe (2007).

Abbreviations of depositories:

ABSRC = AgroBioSys International Reference Collection, Wetteren, Belgium
CMS = private research collection Michael Seizmair, Gröbenzell, Germany
KSMA = King Saud University Museum of Arthropods, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
RMCA = Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium

Other abbreviations:

slide no = slide number
specimen no = specimen number
n = cardinality / length of a sample

Taxon treatments

Psammotis haematidea (Hampson, 1913)

Nomenclature

Pyrausta haematidea Hampson, 1913. Hampson (1913b): 31-32. Type locality: Tanzania, Ruaha R[iver]

Materials Download as CSV

country:
Saudi Arabia
; stateProvince:
Jizan
; locality:
Fayfa Mts., Al Khashah
; verbatimElevation:
640 m
; verbatimLatitude:
17°14' 30.3684"
; verbatimLongitude:
43° 3' 41.0178"
; samplingEffort:
UV- Light
; eventDate:
10-XI-2023
; individualCount:
1
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
♂24GP028
; recordedBy:
M. Seizmair, A. Ishag
; disposition:
CMS
; occurrenceID:
80000C12-B756-58A8-A7BB-F2A7705E326E
country:
Saudi Arabia
; stateProvince:
Jizan
; locality:
Fayfa Mts., Al Khashah
; verbatimElevation:
640 m
; verbatimLatitude:
17°14' 30.3684"
; verbatimLongitude:
43° 3'41.0178"
; samplingEffort:
UV- Light
; eventDate:
13-XI-2023
; individualCount:
1
; sex:
female
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
♀24GP027
; recordedBy:
M. Seizmair, A. Ishag
; disposition:
CMS
; occurrenceID:
63A0C80B-282D-54F8-9142-561412D6ADCA
country:
Cameroon
; locality:
Center Region, Savannah-Rainforest edge, near Magong, SE of Yoko
; verbatimElevation:
732 m
; verbatimLatitude:
N 05°23’38.5''
; verbatimLongitude:
012°30’48.4”
; samplingEffort:
Black/MV lights
; eventDate:
04 -11-VI-2019
; individualCount:
5
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1000599 (slide no ♂1854)
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; otherCatalogNumbers:
ABSRC1000600 (slide no ♂1855), ABSRC1000683, ABSRC1004998, ABSRC1004999
; occurrenceID:
4D32E076-B86B-5077-9DAB-2FEA798452E6
country:
Cameroon
; locality:
Center Region, Savannah-Rainforest edge, near Magong, SE of Yoko
; verbatimElevation:
732 m
; verbatimLatitude:
N 05°23’38.5''
; verbatimLongitude:
012°30’48.4”
; samplingEffort:
Black/MV lights
; eventDate:
05 -11-VI-2019
; individualCount:
8
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1000653
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; otherCatalogNumbers:
ABSRC1000654, ABSRC1000656 - ABSRC1000661
; occurrenceID:
77BC4A7C-BD96-530F-A0D9-40D8EBD06149
country:
Cameroon
; locality:
Center Prov. Batchenga
; eventDate:
19-VI-1993
; individualCount:
1
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1005053
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; occurrenceID:
0F79783F-1588-53AA-87B8-9D94170255D6
country:
Kenya
; locality:
Rift Valley, Marich Pass Field Station area
; verbatimElevation:
950 m
; verbatimLatitude:
01°32’14”
; verbatimLongitude:
35°27’26”
; samplingEffort:
Mercury Vapor Light
; eventDate:
26- 29-VII-1999
; individualCount:
3
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1005051
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; otherCatalogNumbers:
ABSRC1005055, ABSRC1005062 (slide no ♂918)
; occurrenceID:
40E8B73C-993C-5D5C-88DB-001C57F87CC3
country:
Kenya
; locality:
Eastern, Meru N.P. Bwatherongi Camp Site
; verbatimElevation:
600 m
; verbatimLatitude:
00°09’51.8”
; verbatimLongitude:
38°12’32.3”
; samplingEffort:
Black/MV lights
; eventDate:
04-XII-2002
; individualCount:
1
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1005052
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; occurrenceID:
FA118907-92E9-5485-93A3-6B241F9BE5E3
country:
Kenya
; locality:
Kakamega Rainforest Edge “Quarry”
; verbatimElevation:
1800 m
; verbatimLatitude:
0° 10' 12"
; verbatimLongitude:
34° 28' 11.9994"
; samplingEffort:
Mercury Vapor Light
; eventDate:
07-V-1997
; individualCount:
5
; sex:
male
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1005054
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; otherCatalogNumbers:
ABSRC1005058, ABSRC1005059, ABSRC1005060, ABSRC1005061 (slide no ♂1438)
; occurrenceID:
7A95F11A-C6EC-54F3-94B6-C7A52C171DFF
country:
Kenya
; locality:
Rift Valley, Samburu Nat.Res.near Uaso Nyiro river, Intrepid Camp
; verbatimElevation:
910 m
; verbatimLatitude:
0°34’34,8”
; verbatimLongitude:
37°39’36”
; samplingEffort:
Black/MV lights
; eventDate:
13-14-XII-2002
; individualCount:
5
; sex:
male, female
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1005056
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; otherCatalogNumbers:
ABSRC1005057, ABSRC1005064, ABSRC1005065, ABSRC1005066
; occurrenceID:
DAC3EB3E-0FD7-55EF-9A88-2F01E28993B4
country:
Kenya
; locality:
Coast, Rukinga Ranch, Sagana Dam
; verbatimElevation:
462 m
; verbatimLatitude:
03°51’09.6”
; verbatimLongitude:
38°50’39.7”
; samplingEffort:
Black/MV lights
; eventDate:
30-XII-2000
; individualCount:
1
; sex:
female
; lifeStage:
adult
; catalogNumber:
ABSRC1005063 (slide no ♀919)
; recordedBy:
K. Maes
; disposition:
ABSCR
; occurrenceID:
CBFB12C9-E8DD-5DB1-A759-19496959549C

External characters:

Re-description- Wing span: 10.0 mm (male, n = 1), 10.7 mm (female, n = 1), fore-wing length: 5.2 mm (male, n = 1), 6.3 mm (female, n = 1). Head: Antenna yellowish in the flagellum, greyish-white in the ciliae in both sexes. Vertex and frons with reddish and yellowish scales. Labial palpus with an extended patch of elongate shining white scales ventrally in the first segment, scaling of the second and third segments brownish-yellowish interspersed with greyish and reddish scales, length relative to the diameter of the eye 1.7 (n = 1, male). Maxillary palpus obliquely upturned, with brownish-yellowish scaling, length relative to the length of the labial palpus 0.2 (n = 1, male). Thorax: Scaling of the dorsum reddish-brown interspersed with yellowish scales, scaling of the venter greyish-white in both sexes. Fore-wing upper side ground reddish, antemedial, postmedial and subterminal lines yellow. Postmedial line with a right-angled inward turn at CuA1, then running upwards towards the cell, with another right-angled turn at CuA1 towards the anal border. Subterminal line developing from the costa, interrupted at R5, continuing strongly tapered at CuA1 and terminating at the anal border. Costa with yellow scales between the medial area and the apex. Fringe yellow, long-scaled. Hind-wing ground concolorous with the fore-wing ground. Postmedial line concolorous with the fore-wing postmedial line, strongly broadened, w-shaped. Fringe yellow, with elongate reddish scales at the anal border. There are no intersexual differences in the wing maculation. Legs greyish-brown in the femur, greyish-white in the tibia. Abdomen: Dorsum with reddish scaling, in the male with a yellowish-grey anal tuft, venter greyish-white (Hampson (1913b), Figs 1a, 2a).

Figure 1.

External characters, adults, dorsal views, scale bars = 5 mm:

a: P. haematidea, slide no. 24GP028;
b: E. diatoma, slide no. 24GP032;
c: E. varii, slide no. 25KSMA001;
d: E. warreni, slide no. 25GP004.

Figure 2.

External characters, head profiles. Scale bars = 1 mm:

a: P. haematidea, slide no 24GP028;
b: E. diatoma, slide no. 24GP034.

Male genitalia:

Uncus 1.8 times longer than wide (n = 1), apex pointed, with very short chaetae dorso-laterally, ventrally with two overlapping flanges of rhomboid shape and with anteriad-directed process. Transtilla widely separated, transtillum inferior well developed. Valva strongly broadened in the anterior half, posteriorly constricted, apex medially rounded, costa and ventral border parallel, basal costa inflated, base of the editum anteriorly thumb-shaped, posteriorly bifid with acuminate ends, sella with a posterior cup-shaped extension, anterior end hook-shaped. Sacculus post-basally dilated, with a sclerotised dorsal ridge. Arms of the juxta slender, strongly elongated, acuminate, length of the split relative to the total length 0.6. Vinculum u-shaped, short, 1.8 times wider than long (n = 1). Phallus cylindrical, constant in width. Vesica with two spiculose patches and one thorn-shaped, slightly curved cornutus (Figs 3a, 4a).

Figure 3.

Internal characters, male genitalia capsule, phallus omitted. Scale bars = 1 mm:

a: P. haematidea, slide no 24GP028, juxta omitted;
b: E. diatoma, slide no 24GP034;
c: E. warreni, slide no 25GP004;
d: P. postmediofusalis comb. n., slide no 23GP011.

Figure 4.

Internal characters, male genitalia, phallus. Scale bars = 0.5 mm:

a: P. haematidea, slide no 24GP028, with juxta;
b: E. diatoma, slide no 22GP034;
c: E. warreni, slide no 25GP004;
d: P. postmediofusalis comb. n., slide no 23GP011.

Female genitalia:

Length of the posterior apophysis relative to the anterior apophysis 0.7 (n = 1). Anterior apophysis with a subtriangular-shaped medial projection. Posterior ductus bursae sclerotised. Colliculum short. Antrum sclerotised, elongated. Rhomboid signum with longitudinal and transversal sclerites, ratio length of longitudinal/length of transversal axis 0.6 (n = 1), lateral processes short, rounded. Bursa with further sclerotisation at the appendix (Fig. 5a).

Figure 5.

Female genitalia, Scale bars a, b, c = 1 mm, d = 0.25 mm:

a: P. haematidea, slide no. 24GP027;
b: E. diatoma, slide no. 22GP066;
c: E. diatoma, slide no. 22GP066, close-up antrum, ovipositor;
d: E. diatoma, slide no. 22GP066, close-up signa.

Diagnosis

The species is externally easily differentiated from the other congeners by the presence of an angulated yellowish postmedial line in the fore-wing and by the presence of a wedge-shaped hind-wing postmedial line. The items in the wing maculation as mentioned in the re-description above are in conformance with the original description in Hampson (1913b). From the externally closest Psammotis rubrilinearis Seizmair, 2023, the species is furthermore differentiated in the male genitalia by the presence of a pair of processed flanges in the uncus, by the shape of the editum basis with a posterior bifurcation, by the shape of the sella, the anterior end of which is curved towards the ventral border of the valva and by the elongated arms of the bifid juxta.

Distribution

Afrotropical. To date only known from the type locality in Tanzania (De Prins and De Prins 2025). New to the Arabian Peninsula, to Cameroon and to Kenya.