Phlogophora similis Bandyopadhyay, Mallick, Sanyal & Chandra, 2021

Bandyopadhyay, Uttaran, Dey, Rushati, Bhattacharyya, Kamalika, Mallick, Kaushik, Mazumder, Arna, Gayen, Subrata, Das, Moumita, Raha, Angshuman, Sanyal, Abesh Kumar, Kumar, Vikas, Uniyal, Virendra Prasad & Chandra, Kailash, 2021, Taxonomy and ecology of genus Phlogophora Treitschke, 1825 (Lepidoptera Noctuidae) in Indian Himalaya with description of a new species, Zootaxa 5004 (2), pp. 311-342 : 319

Phlogophora similis Bandyopadhyay, Mallick, Sanyal & Chandra sp. nov.

[ Fig. 19–22 , 51–54 ]

Type material: Holotype: India: ♂, West Bengal, Dist. Kalimpong, Neora Valley National Park, Rishap , 27.1073° N, 088.6512° E, 2136 m, 05. IX. 2016; coll. K. Bhattacharyya & team.

Paratypes: 3 ♂♂, same locality as holotype .

Type repository: National Zoological Collection (NZC), ZSI (Reg. no. HT: 7591/H10; PT: 7592/H10)

Description: Wing expanse: 38–40 mm. Head and thorax ochreous, tinged with olive-green, vertex and patagia with dark olive green hairs; junction of each segment of legs yellow-ringed; antenna ciliated, overall brown with one-third of dorsal side ochreous, basal segment bright ochreous; palpi porrect, ochreous, dark brown at sides; abdomen ochreous, segments with fuscous suffusion, underside darker; forewing with ground colour olive-green, apically elongated with ochreous costal fascia having prominent markings of transverse lines; subbasal line up to the submedian fold, black, double and crenulate; antemedial line double, oblique, indistinct; an olive-brown triangular patch in area between subbasal and antemedial line not touching inner margin; orbicular and reniform ochreous, inner part with olive scales, upper part open, bordered with black, lower part conjoined to a semilunate ochreous patch below median nervure; ‘U’ shaped dark olive-brown patch below that up to vein 1; area between orbicular and reniform dark olive-brown; area beyond reniform with a kidney shaped black bordered olive patch; postmedial line double, crenulate, indistinct, angled inward and dark brown above vein 7; pale, dark-bordered, olive-brown submarginal line highly angled at vein 7 and vein 2, oblique in between; a marginal black line; area between submarginal and marginal line purplish. Hind wing golden-ochreous with a broad fuscous submarginal band, preceded by indistinct, pale postmedial line. Cilia of both wings olive-brown with a fine white line through them.

Forewing underside dark suffused with traces of postmedial line; inner margin and submarginal line pale ochreous. Hindwing underside pale, costal area black speckled with traces of dark postmedial line which becomes obsolete towards anal angle.

Male genitalia: Uncus long, distally broadened and spatulate; valva medio-ventrally broad with a bulge at the saccular margin and forming a prominent constriction below cucullus, narrow at apex; cucullus with strong corona, costa moderately sclerotised with a medial sharp but small projection dividing the costal margin in to two prominent crescents; terminally slightly bent long harpe, digitus broad, ear-shaped, not exceeding the costal margin, basal plate of harpe moderately sclerotised; vinculum ‘V’ shaped, sacculus bulbous with moderate sclerotization at dorsal margin; juxta pointed with apical sclerotization; aedeagus long, slender, sclerotised carinal region; vesica long with a large conical subterminal diverticulum; a large strongly sclerotised subterminal scobinate area opposite to the diverticulum with numerous minute cornuti.

Female: Unknown.

Diagnosis: The new species is definitely allied to P. costalis and P. humilis . All the three species are apparently indistinguishable in their wing pattern and coloration. The golden-ochreous hind wing with indistinct postmedial line of P. similis sp. nov. is the only distinguishing feature from its allied species.

In the male genitalia, the new species varies hugely with its siblings. The key features being the distally broad and spatulate uncus where it is narrow in case of both P. costalis and P. humilis ; valva is medio-ventrally broad with narrow cucullus compared to sickle shaped in humilis and spindle shaped in costalis ; the harpe is longer compared to both the siblings and the digitus is ear-shaped compared to triangular in costalis and small spine-like in humilis ; the aedeagus is also comparatively longer and slender. The conical subterminal diverticulum of the vesica of P. similis sp. nov. is absent in costalis , whereas, the minute cornuti of subterminal scobinated patch is lacking in humilis .

Distribution: India: West Bengal (Dist. Kalimpong).

Bionomics: Probably a very range-restricted species recorded only from Neora Valley National Park at around 2100 m altitude, in Sub-tropical Wet Hill Forest receiving 2600 mm annual precipitation with 14.6 ºC annual mean temperature. Individuals were collected in the month of September when the average trap night temperature and average trap night humidity were 17.2 ºC and 92.32% respectively.

Etymology: The name of the new species refers to its apparently similar wing pattern with the closely allied “ costalis ” group of species, all having names ending with suffix “ lis ” including P. humilis and P. nobilis .

Figures

FIGURES 19–22. Habitus images of Phlogophora similis sp. nov. 19. Phlogophora similis sp. nov., male, HT (dorsal); 20. Phlogophora similis sp. nov., male, HT (ventral); 21. Phlogophora similis sp. nov., male, PT (dorsal); 22. Phlogophora similis sp. nov., male, PT (ventral).

FIGURES 51–54. Male genitalia images of Phlogophora similis sp. nov. 51–52. Phlogophora similis sp. nov., male, HT, West Bengal, Gen. prep. NV/RI21/1/05.IX.16/507; 53–54. Phlogophora similis sp. nov., male, PT, West Bengal, Gen. prep. NV/RI21/1/05.IX.16/26.