Pheosiopsis seni Wu & Hsu

Wu, Shipher, Chang, Wei-Chun, Wang, Li-Hao, Huang, Chia-Lung & Hsu, Yu Feng, 2016, Descriptions of two new notodontid species from the relic Fagus forests in northeastern Taiwan (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae), Zootaxa 4066 (3), pp. 291-300 : 295-297

Pheosiopsis seni Wu & Hsu sp. n.

Figs 9, 10 , 25, 26 , 29, 30 , 34, 36

Type material. Holotype. Male, TAIWAN, Yilan County, Datong, Tsuifenghu, Fagus Forests, 1800 m, 14-VIII- 2012, light trap, leg. C. L. Huang & L. H. Wang ( BMNH); Paratypes. 1 female, same collecting locality as the holotype, 1-VIII-2011, leg. L. H. Wang, Y. C. Lin & H. C. Chuang ( NTNU); 1 male, same collecting locality, 10- VII-2013, leg. S. Wu; 1 female, same collecting locality, 29-VIII-2014, leg. S. Wu & W. C. Chang ( TFRI); 2 females, Hsinchu County, Niauzeishan, 1500 m, L. H. Wang & J. Y. Liang ( NTNU).

Diagnosis. This species is closely related to P. albalienata Kishida & Kobayashi, 2005 ( Figs 11, 12 , 27, 28 , 21 , 32 ), they can be distinguished by: the smaller wingspan size (35mm rather 38 mm); the less protruded forewing apex in male; the less incised posterio-medial margin of male 8th abdominal sternum; the wider valva with medial part of costal margin excurved; the less downcurved valval apex; the slender, longer anterior extension of aedeagus rather than stout and moderate in length; the larger distal triangular process of aedeagus.

Description. Wingspan 35 mm, forewing length 17 mm in males (n= 2); wingspan 40–41 mm, forewing length 20–21 mm in females (n= 4); Eye large; antenna fasciculate in male, filiform in female. Head, all segments of thorax fringed with grey scales. Forewing slightly broad, apex obtuse angled, outer margin excurved; ground coloration grey, tinged with dark grey; discocellular stigma as an oblique strip, black surrounding with pale yellow; marginal region tinged with small black spot between each vein; marginal scale greyish ochreous. Hindwing broad; ground coloration and marginal scales pale greyish ochreous. Abdomen pale ochreous.

Male 8th abdominal sternum ( Fig. 26 ). Sternum broad, anterior margin slightly excurved medially; posterior margin incised medially, apex of two disto-lateral processes round.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 25 ). Uncus stout, short beak-like, apex slightly pointing downward, obtuse; gnathos twice, nearly as long as uncus, excurved medially and gradually pointing upward, spex obtuse; tegument long, broad; vinculum broad, U-shaped in ventral view; juxta sclerotized, plate-like; valve, stout, medial part of costal margin dilated, distal part slightly pointing downward, apex obtuse. Aedeagus 1.5 X longer than valve, anterior half curved downward, gradually tapering; a stout triangular process arising from dorso-anterior part; vesica short, curved with distal part slightly sclerotized.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 29, 30 ). Ovipositor lobe membranous with short hair-like setae; posterior apophyses long and slender, anterior apophyses half length as posterior pair; ostium bursae wide; lamella antevaginalis and postvaginalis dilated, strongly sclerotized; ductus bursae wide, curved posteriorly and coiled anterior; corpus bursae ovate, large; signum nearly W-shaped, narrowed medially.

Mature instar ( Fig. 36 ). Head round, light green; stemmatae brown. Body elongated, cylindrical, length about 45 mm when fully extended; ground coloration green; patterns of thorax and abdomen similar as follows: one pair of rather wide, light greenish white stripes arising longitudinally at dorsal part of body, two pairs of slender stripes locating longitudinally at dorso-lateral side of body, the upper stripes light yellow, the under ones light creamwhite; spiracles black centrally and white at margin; two stripes arising longitudinally along spiracles from prothorax to end of abdomen, the upper one pinkish red, the under one yellow; region between 7th to 9th abdominal segment slightly dilated, then tapering toward posterior margin.

Bionomics. This species is distributed in the mid-altitude Fagus forests of northeastern Taiwan, the adults occur in July and August and the larvae presumably of this species ( Fig. 36 ) were found from April to August (HSUM 09G5, 11D45, 14D100, 14H33, 15F20), suggesting this species may have more than one generation per year. The Japanese Fagus feeding Pheosiopsis olivacea (Matsumura, 1920) is bivoltine ( Kobayashi, 2011).

Notes. Our breeding Pheosiopsis larvae did not emerge successfully in the laboratory condition, the inferred immature-adult matching is based on the morphological similarity with both stages of P. olivacea ( Schintlmeister, 2008; Anonymous, 2015).

Distribution. Endemic to Taiwan.

Etymology. The specific name of this species is dedicated to late Mr. Yong-Chang Sen (TFRI), who passed away in August, 2015. He devoted most of his life to exploring the immature stage of moths of Taiwan, especially notodontid taxa.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 12. Habitus of Pheosiopsis species. 9. P. s e ni Wu & Hsu sp. n., male, holotype (BMNH); 10. ditto, female, paratype (NTNU); 11. P. abalienata Kishida & Kobayashi, 2005, male, holotype (SCAU); 12. ditto, female (NSMT). Bar scale = 10 mm. Photo by Shipher Wu (9, 10, 12); Min Wang (11).

FIGURES 25 – 28. Male genitalia and 8 th abdominal segment of Pheosiopsis species. 25, 27. Male genialita; 26, 28. 8 th abdominal segment; 25 – 26. P. seni Wu & Hsu sp. n., holotype (BMNH); 27, 28. P. abalienata Kishida & Kobayashi, 2005, holotype (SCAU). Photo by Shipher Wu (25, 26); Min Wang (27, 28).

FIGURES 29 – 32. Female genitalia of Pheosiopsis species. 29, 31. Female genitalia; 30, 32. Magnified image of signum; 29 – 30. P. abalienata Kishida & Kobayashi, 2005 (NSMT). 31 – 32. P. s e ni Wu & Hsu sp. n., paratype (NTNU). Photo by Shipher Wu.

FIGURES 33 – 36. Life photos of Syntypistis and Pheosiopsis species. 33, 35. S. taipingshanensis Wu & Hsu sp. n.; 34, 36. P. seni Wu & Hsu sp. n.; 33. Male; 34. Female; 35, 36. Final instar larva on Fagus hayatae. Photo by Shipher Wu (33, 34); Chia- Lung Huang (35, 36).

FIGURES 21 – 24. Female genitalia of Syntypistis species. 21. S. taipingshanensis Wu & Hsu sp. n., paratype (TFRI); 22. S. punctatella (Motschulsky, 1861) (NSMT); 23. S. melana Wu & Fang, 2003 (NSMT); 24. S. abmelana Kobayashi & Kishida, 2005, paratype (NSMT). Photo by Shipher Wu.