Lethe giancbozanoi Lang & Monastyrskii

Lang, Song-Yun & Monastyrskii, Alexander L., 2016, Description of two new species of the Lethe manzorum - group (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) from China, Zootaxa 4103 (5), pp. 453-462 : 455-460

Lethe giancbozanoi Lang & Monastyrskii sp. nov.

(Figs: 9, 10, 21, 25d, 28)

Lethe manzorum: Bozano, 1999 . Guide Butt. Palearctic Region, Satyridae 1: 46, figs. ♀ [sic] ups, ♀ [sic] uns.

Type material. Holotype ♂, CHINA: Yunnan, Gongshan, East slope of Mts. Gao-li-gong, 2800 m, 26.VII.2015, leg. S-y. Lang (LSY); Paratype: 1 ♂ ( Bozano, 1999: 46, figs. ♀ ups, ♀ uns), CHINA: Yunnan, Gaoligong Shan, 2200 m, 1.VIII.1995, leg. M. Bousquet (GCB).

Description. ♂ Forewing length: 25 mm. Upperside: ground color greyish brown with a dark green tinge; forewing postdiscal band with outer edge bordered with distinct pale yellow markings; forewing yellow subapical spots in cells M1 and M2 distinct; forewing with a slender orange marginal line; hindwing postdiscal spots with their yellow iris connected with each other. Underside: ground color yellow with markings similar to those of L. manzorum .

Male genitalia. (Figs: 21, 25d) Gnathos: base normal in width, gradually tapering towards the end, bent downwards near the base, and bent upwards near the tip. Valva: nearly parallelogram in shape, pointed distally; dorsal edge weakly protruding near the apex; central part of ventral edge angular.

♀ unknown.

Diagnosis. This new species can be distinguished from L. manzorum and L. sisii by the combination of the following characters: a) upper surface of forewing with prominent postdiscal yellow markings similar to those of L. manzorum ; these markings are vestigial in L. sisii ; b) ground color of under surface more yellowish than in both L. manzorum and L. sisii ; c) under surface of both wings with reddish fasciae and bars thinner than in L. manzorum but thicker than in L. sisii (e.g. width of hindwing postdiscal fasciae in space 3: 1.2 mm in this new species, 1.5–1.6 mm in manzorum , 0.9–1.0 mm in sisii ); d) uncus (fig. 21) shorter than that in L. sisii ; e) gnathos is same shape as that in L. sisii , but differs from that in L. manzorum ( Fig. 25 b) (see above); f) valva is not elongated as in L. sisii ; g) ventral edge of valva angular, whereas in L. manzorum it is nearly straight.

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to our colleague Mr. Gian C. Bozano, an Italian lepidopterist famous as the editor and the author of the monographic series “Guide to the Butterflies of the Palearctic Region”. Distribution. China (N.W. Yunnan).

Figures

FIGURE 25. The male gnathos in lateral view. (a) Lethe monilifera; (b) L. manzorum; (c) L. sisii sp. nov.; (d) L. giancbozanoi sp. nov.