Celaenorrhinus munda munda (Moore, 1884) (new record to China)

Xue, Gou-Xi, Inayoshi, Yutaka, Li, Meng, Zhang, Fu-Ming, Lai, Da-Kun & Tian, Hai-Ying, 2020, New records of Celaenorrhinus pyrrha de Niceville, 1889 and C. munda (Moore, 1884) from China (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), ZooKeys 985, pp. 61-70 : 61

Celaenorrhinus munda munda (Moore, 1884) (new record to China) Fig. 4

Plesioneura munda Moore, 1884: 48, type locality: Simla, India.

Celaenorrhinus munda munda ; Evans 1949: 100.

Material examined.

China • 1?, Tibet, Cuona County, Lebugou, 19 June 2013, leg. Songyun Lang.

Description.

Male genitalia (Fig. 9 ). In lateral view, tegumen protruding anteriorly; base of uncus with a semi-erect process; basal half of uncus quadrangular, distal half narrow, sloped, sharply pointed; gnathos sickle-shaped, distal end reaching tip of uncus; saccus pointing slightly downwards, length about half the height of genitalia capsule. In dorsal view, basal processes of uncus triangular, central part of uncus constricted, distal half of uncus bifid, forming a pair of horn-shaped blunt points. In ventral view, left and right parts of gnathos separated. Distal portion of valva bifid, divided into a wide ventral branch and a slender dorsal branch, disto-dorsal margin of the latter with a notch; both branches subequal in length and bent inwards. Aedeagus robust, distal half bent downwards; cornuti triangular and sharply pointed, well sclerotized. Juxta ring-shaped.

Discussion.

Three subspecies have been described for Celaenorrhinus munda , of which C. munda joka Evans, 1949 is only known from the type locality, Tsekou, Yunnan, where the holotype was captured in 1898 as the only known exemplar of the species from China ( Evans 1949).

Celaenorrhinus munda maculicornis Elwes & Edwards, 1897 is distributed from Sikkim, Assam to Myanmar ( Evans 1949). The record of this subspecies from Thailand by Ek-Amnuay (2006: 752, pl. 345, H49b) was considered a misidentification of C. leucocera (Koller, 1844) ( Ek-Amnuay et al. 2007: 14), but Ek-Amnuay (2012: 800, pl. 369, H47) included it again following Pinratana (1985: 28, 120, pl. 11, fig. 37), although Kimura et al. (2011: 34) had pointed out that Pinratana’s record is a misidentification. An earlier record of this subspecies from Thailand was listed by Godfrey (1930: 358) as C. maculicornis , but according to Kimura et al. (2011: 34) it is possibly a misidentification of C. putra (Moore). Devyatkin and Monastyrskii (1999) reported C. munda maculicornis from Vietnam for the first time based upon a female specimen, but in their later works, e.g., Monastyrskii and Devyatkin (2015), this name was not included, possibly because Dr. Devyatkin had realized that the specimen belongs to another species (Monastyrskii pers. comm. 2020). Therefore, we omit Vietnam from the distribution range of ssp. maculicornis (Fig. 8 ), since the identity of the female specimen needs further confirmation.

The nominate subspecies has been recorded from the northwestern Himalayas and Sikkim ( Evans 1949). Ek-Amnuay (2006: 752, pl. 345, H49a) reported it from Thailand, but the photos of the specimens, which were provided by the second author of the present paper, actually represent C. dhanada dhanada ( Inayoshi 2019). This mistake was corrected by Ek-Amnuay (2012: 800). Therefore, we omit Thailand from the distribution of C. munda in the present paper. Judging from the diagnosic characters provided by Evans (1949: 100), the specimen examined in this study belongs to C. munda munda . This discovery eastwardly expands the distribution range of the subspecies (Fig. 8 ).

Evans (1949) recorded both ssp. maculicornis and ssp. munda from Sikkim. Moreover, according to Devyatkin and Monastyrskii (1999), the two taxa are also found in Nepal, and the status of maculicornis remains controversial. Although differences in wing patterns of the two subspecies were clearly described by Evans (1949), the genitalia structures have not been illustrated and compared except for the simple hand drawing ( Evans 1949: pl. 17, B.6. fig. 19). In future studies, comprehensive morphological and molecular analyses are needed to clarify the relationships of these taxa.

Figures

Figure 8. Distribution map of Celaenorrhinus pyrrha and C. munda. Triangle C. pyrrha a Yingjiang (Yunnan Province) b Simian Mountain (Chongqing) Circle C. munda Red C. munda munda Blue C. munda maculicornis Black C. munda joka c Cuona County (Tibet Autonomous Region) d Simla (Type locality of ssp. munda) e Khasi (Type locality of ssp. maculicornis).

Figure 9. Male genitalia of Celaenorrhinus munda munda from Cuona, southern Tibet [Dissection ID Tib 1] A genitalia capsule, lateral view, valva and aedeagus removed B tegumen and gnathos, dorsal view C tegumen and gnathos, ventral view D left valva, outer surface E left valva, inner surface F left valva, dorsal view G aedeagus, lateral view H aedeagus, dorsal view I aedeagus, ventral view J juxta, posterior view.

Figures 1 - 4. Adults of Celaenorrhinus pyrrha and C. munda munda. 1 - 3 C. pyrrha 1 male, China, Chongqing, Simian Mountain, 785 m, 16 August 2016, leg. Guoxi Xue [Dissection ID CQ 164, DNA voucher ID A 58] 2 male, China, Yunnan, Yingjiang, Jinzhuzhai, 27 April 2016, leg. Guoxi Xue [Dissection ID YN 25, DNA voucher ID A 56] 3 female, China, Chongqing, Simian Mountain, 785 m, 16 August 2016, leg. Guoxi Xue [DNA voucher ID A 60] 4 C. munda munda, male, China, Tibet, Cuona County, Lebugou, 19 June 2013, leg. Songyun Lang [Dissection ID Tib 1] a dorsal side b ventral side. Scale bars: 1 cm.