Tanaotrichia prasonaria trilineata Warren, 1893

Kumari, Shabnam, Bandyopadhyay, Uttaran, Uniyal, Virendra Prasad, Chandra, Kailash & Hausmann, Axel, 2024, Integrative taxonomic review of the genus Rhodostrophia Hübner, 1823 and its allied genus Tanaotrichia Warren, 1893 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) from the Western Himalaya, Zootaxa 5519 (1), pp. 59-89 : 79-84

Tanaotrichia prasonaria trilineata Warren, 1893

[ Fig. 30–32 , 40, 47 , 54, 62 ]

[TL: Sikkim, India]

Tanaotrichia prasonaria trilineata Warren, 1893 , Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 361.

[ Tanaotrichia trilineata ; Leech, 1897; VIII-Lepidoptera Heterocera from China, Japan, and Corea. –Part 11, Family Geometriae ; Subfamilies: Oenochromiae, Orthostixinae, Larentiinae, Acidaliinae, and Geometriae. Journal of Natural History, Series 6, 20 (115): 65–110. Doi: l O. 1080/00222939708680601.- Later on described as a new species named as Tanaotrichia orientis by Prout, 1913]

Material examined: INDIA: 1♀, Himachal Pradesh, Dist. Kangra, Dhauladhar Mountain Range, Dhanoti , 32.23183° N, 076.27132° E, 1170 m, 11.X.2020 ; 1♀, Rakh , 32.21597° N, 076.25905° E, 849 m, 14.X.2020 ; 1♀, Baladi Mod , 32.25395° N, 076.27602° E, 1210 m, 30.IX.2021 ; 1♂, Sudher , 32.214310° N, 076.291564° E, 1064 m, 02.X.2021 ; 1♀, Ghera , 32.260173° N, 076.288707° E, 1404 m, 04.IV.2021 ; 2♀♀, 03. V.2021; leg. S. Kumari.

NWR specimens: INDIA: 1♂, Himachal Pradesh, Dist. Kangra, Dhauladhar Mountain Range, Maiti , 32.2192° N, 076.27902° E, 1084 m, 01.X.2021 ( BOLD Sample Id: BC_ ZSM _ Lep _117599) ; 1♀, Sudher , 32.21431° N, 076.291864° E, 1064 m, 02.X.2021 ; 1♀, Dhanoti , 32.23183° N, 076.27132° E, 1170 m, 02. V.2021; 1♀, Paroh Bari , 32.21791° N, 076.26783° E, 1018 m, 05. V.2021, leg. S. Kumari.

Description:

Forewing length: Male: 15 mm, Female: 15–17 mm.

Antennae filiform in female; quadripectinate in male, flagellum ventrally dentate and brown, dorsal side with basal one-third whitish and the rest brown. Vertex white. Frons reddish-brown. Palpi short, forwardly directed, and reddish-brown laterally. Collar reddish; tegulae and patagia reddish brown; thorax and abdomen reddish ochreous. Underside pale reddish-ochreous. Foretibia, midtibia and hindtibia features are typical of the genus. Forewing elongated, outer margin slightly incurved near apex; reddish-ochreous or reddish or sometimes ochreous, with minute red irroration. Costal margin almost straight except slightly curved near apex, with dark fuscous suffusion in the basal half. Transverse lines narrow, reddish-brown, sometimes with grey suffusion. Antemedial line slightly out curved just below the costa, then almost straight to inner margin. Postmedial line comparatively thicker, obliquely straight, followed by a diffused and indistinct reddish-brown or greyish-fuscous shade. Submarginal line slightly wavy below costa and forms a sinuous between M3 and CuA2, then runs straight to inner margin. Marginal line reddish-brown. Discocellular dot reddish brown and slightly elongated. Cilia concolourous with wings having scattered red scales. Hindwing similar to the forewing, except it lacks the antemedial line. Underside paler with less reddish irroration; transverse lines prominent except the antemedial which is missing in both wings. Discocellular dot less prominent. Cilia darker than upper side ( Figs 30–32 ).

Male genitalia ( Fig. 40 ): Uncus flat, sclerotised; apex broad, setose, bilobed with deep central concavity on posterior margin (appearing as a central cleft) and small subapical protrusion on the lateral margins; basally it has two symmetric, laterally placed, triangular sclerotised plates, tapering towards the base of gnathos with their inner edges curved outward. Gnathos triangular, strongly sclerotised, median process elongated with an acute tip. Valva asymmetric with a slightly sclerotised, somewhat inflated, slighly sclerotised fold medially; apically bilobed and not spinulose; right valva apically bilobed with a minor central concavity; left valva apically bilobed, small, thin digitate process ventrad and rather thicker process dorsad, separated by a deep incision. Costa sclerotised, strongly curved medially, sclerotised and covered with thick spines. Sacculus weakly sclerotised, folded ventrad over valva, swollen or highly curved basally. Juxta Y-shaped with rather shallowr depression. Aedeagus ( Fig. 47 ) long, thin, S-shaped; small scobination in the vesica. Posterior margin of the 8 th sternite ( Fig. 54 ) bilobed with a wide, deep central concavity (octavals shorter).

Female genitalia ( Fig. 62 ) Papillae anales setose, ovally-elongated, posteriorly with small central concavity; posterior apophyses twice the length of anterior apophyses. Ductus bursa sclerotised, curved and shorter than the corpus bursa. Antrum V-shaped with margin strongly sclerotised. Corpus bursae membranous, ovally-elongated; signum as two thin, longitudinal band-like, scobinated, sclerotisation, joined towards ends and located anteriorly below the junction with ductus bursae. 7 th sternite sclerotised, M-shaped with arms projecting backward; posterior margin with shallow, wide central concavity.

Differential diagnosis: Tanaotrichia prasonaria trilineata looks close to its nominotypical ally, T. p. prasonaria (see Fig. 33 : Male, Syntype, NHMUK). However, the latter has been described from the Khasi Hills and is comparatively darker having warmer wing colouration, darker ashy-grey antennae and costal margin of forewings. Morphologically, T. prasonaria subspecies look close to R. bisinuata subspecies ( Fig. 29 ) but are easily distinguishable as follows: the subspecies in the T. prasonaria exhibit comparatively brighter forewings with reddish-ochreous yellow ground colour and dense bright red irroration; their forewings have less acute apex and submarginal line with single sinuous curve (double curves in R. bisinuata subspecies complex). Furthermore, the Rhodostrophia bisinuata subspecies has a characteristic blackish-brown fasciation on the forewings, starting from the postmedial line on M1 and running towards the apex, which is absent in T. prasonaria .

Distribution: India: Sikkim (TL) (Warren 1893), North Western Himalaya ( Prout 1938).

Elsewhere: Not documented.

Genetic data: BIN: BOLD:AFI0500. Its nearest-neighbour is R. cuprinaria with 6.27% genetic distance.

Bionomics: Till now, adults of T. prasonaria trilineata have only been reported from the Himalaya, particularly from North Western and Central Himalayan (Sikkim) regions. However , the life history and larval stages remained undocumented. Our study has documented adults predominantly in the elevational range of 800–1400 m in the Tropical Dry Deciduous forests (5B/C2) and Subtropical Pine forests (9/C1a, C1b), whereas occasional encounters occurred up to 2000 m within the Himalayan Moist Temperate (12/C1c) forest types in DMR. The sightings were recorded during both pre- and post-monsoon seasons with nightly average temperature range of 13–23°C.

Remarks: The male and female genitalia of T. prasonaria trilineata have been described here for the first time, along with the first DNA barcode data. These observations underscore the historical confusion regarding the taxonomic placement and validity of species in the genus Tanaotrichia and Rhodostrophia bisinuata subspecies complex. The detailed morphological and genitalia examination of the species within the two genera points to their taxonomic distinction which is further supported by molecular COI gene sequence divergence information. Both, the NJ tree ( Fig. 63 ) and Bayesian phylogenetic tree ( Fig. 64 ) support the phylogenetic distinction between the two genera and delineate the genus Tanaotrichia as a separate lineage. However, conducting more comprehensive (integrating both morphological and multigene molecular analysis) investigations is crucial before drawing any definitive conclusions on their taxonomic status.

Figures

FIGURE 63. Neighbour-joining tree of COI barcode sequences (570 bp) of different species of the genera Rhodostrophia and Tanaotrichia. The tree was constructed using the Tamura-Nei model, Gamma-distributed (TN93+G) rates, and 1000 bootstrap replications in MEGAX software (Kumar et al. 2018). The full tree is displayed in 63a, and the Rhodostrophia clade (with support values) is displayed in 63b.

FIGURE 64. Bayesian inference (BI) of the phylogenetic tree for different species of the genus Rhodostrophia and Tanaotrichia based on the COI mitochondrial gene sequence. Also, the results of the three species delimitation tests viz., Multi-rate Poisson Tree Processes (mPTP), Bayesian Poisson Tree Processes (bPTP) and Generalized Mixed Yule-Coalescent (GMYC) are shown as vertical color-coded bars. (Numbers on clades indicate posterior probability (PP) for the node. Blue branches are the primary sequences generated during this study from IHR, and the color-coded vertical bars correspond to the species clusters delimited by the respective species delimitation test analysis).

FIGURES 29–33. Habitus images of Rhodostrophia and Tanaotrichia spp. 29. R. bisinuata (29a–29b: Male, Holotype, NHMUK). 30–32. T. prasonaria trilineata (30a–30b: Male, 31a–31b: Female, 32a–32b: Male, Syntype, NHMUK), 33. T. prasonaria prasonaria (33a–33b: Male, Syntype, NHMUK).

FIGURES 34–47. Male genitalia images of Rhodostrophia and Tanaotrichia spp. 34–41. Male Clasping organ (CLA). 34. R. borealis, 35. R. cinerascens*, 36. R. herbicolens, 37. R. pelloniaria, 38. R. stigmatica, 39. R. tristrigalis, 40. T. prasonaria trilineata. 41–47. Male aedeagus. 41. R. borealis, 42. R. cinerascens*, 43. R. herbicolens, 44. R. pelloniaria, 45. R. stigmatica, 46. R. tristrigalis, 47. T. prasonaria trilineata. *Specimens and genitalia slide at ZSM-SNSB, Munich; slides and photos prepared by Dr Axel Hausmann.

FIGURES 48–62. Male genitalia images of Rhodostrophia and Tanaotrichia spp. 48–54. Male 8th Abdominal Sternite. 48. R. borealis, 49. R. cinerascens*, 50. R. herbicolens, 51. R. pelloniaria, 52. R. stigmatica, 53. R. tristrigalis, 54. T. prasonaria trilineata. 55–62. Female genitalia images of Rhodostrophia and Tanaotrichia spp. 55. R. borealis, 56. R. cinerascens*, 57. R. herbicolens, 58. R. pelloniaria, 59. R. stigmatica, 60. R. tristrigalis, 61. R. vinacearia, 62. T. prasonaria trilineata. *Specimens and genitalia slide at ZSM-SNSB, Munich; slides and photos prepared by Dr Axel Hausmann.