Naarda ineffectalis (Walker, 1859)

Toth, Balazs, 2018, New data on the taxonomy, morphology and distribution of Naardaineffectalis (Walker, 1859) (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Hypeninae), Nota Lepidopterologica 41 (1), pp. 99-106 : 100-103

Naarda ineffectalis (Walker, 1859)

Hypena ineffectalis Walker, 1859 - List of specimens of lepidopterous insects in the Collection of the British Museum 16: 85. Type locality: Ceylon [= Sri Lanka]. Holotype, coll. NHMUK.

Ptyophora ochreistigma Hampson, 1893 - Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the Collection of the British Museum 2: 124. Type locality: Nawalapitya, Ceylon [= Sri Lanka]. Holotype, coll. NHMUK.

Type material examined.

Holotype (Figs 1, 13). ♀ (see below): Ceylon; Abdomen missing (coll. NHMUK).

Additional material examined.

Sri Lanka. 1 ♀: Colombo, viii.1908. (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: Colombo, 22.ii.1902. (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: Panquelba, i.1904. (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: Haputale, vi.1899 (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: Gampola, viii.1907; Abdomen missing (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♂: Nawalapitya; Ceylon; Coll. Green; 91.-26., slide No. BM Noct. 2812 (holotype of Ptyophora ochreistigma ) (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀ (Figs 2, 14): Haldumulla; xii.1909; ex. Coll. G.C. Alston; Joicey Bequest. Brit. Mus. 1934-120; slide No. RL7689♀ = BM Noct. 21618♀ (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: Coll. Green; 29-26; Abdomen missing (coll. NHMUK), 4 ♀: Maskeliya; January; ex. Coll. G.C. Alston.; Joicey Bequest. Brit. Mus. 1934-120, slide No. BM Noct. 2944 (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: data as previous specimen, but October (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: data as previous specimen, but March (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: data as previous specimen, but April (coll. NHMUK), 1 ♀: Negombo; 1973.iii.23.; leg. Hüttler B.; slide No. RL10784f (coll. HNHM).

Thailand. 1 ♀ (Fig. 3): N. Thailand, Mae Hong Son prov., Pai, 19°21.50'N, 98°26.81'E, ~500 m a.s.l., at light, 15-24.xii.2010., leg. K. Tomkovich; slide No. OP1624f (coll. OP).

Cambodia. 2 ♂, 1 ♀: Mondolkiri prov.; Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, road Seima–O’Rang; 12°12.02'N, 107°01.98'E, 300 m; No. 117, 30.i.2006, at light; leg. G. Csorba & G. Ronkay; slide Nos TB793m, TB794f, TB813m (coll. HNHM), 2 ♂, 5 ♀: Mondolkiri prov.; Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, road Seima–O’Rang; 12°15.73'N, 107°03.82'E, 360 m; No. 88, 27-29.i.2006, at light; leg. G. Csorba & G. Ronkay; slide Nos TB827f (Fig. 7), TB830f, TB831f, TB832m (Fig. 6) (coll. HNHM).

Japan. 1 ♀ (Fig. 5): Mifune; prov. Higo; Kyushu; 20.x.1855; A.E. Wileman; 1378; “Gnaephila” [sic, hand-written]; Wileman Coll. B.M. 1929-261; NHMUK 010914474; slide No. TB1583f (coll. NHMUK).

Korea. 1 ♂ (Fig. 4): JN: Muan, Sangma-ri; 8.vi.2006. Sei-Woong Choi; 34°55'N, 126°25'E, 55 m; slide No. TB568m (coll. MU).

Sumatra. 3 ♂: North Sumatra, Pematang Siantar, 460 m. 10-14.ii.2002. leg. M. Fibiger & K. Larsen; slide Nos TB412m, TB413m, TB421m (Figs 10, 15) (coll. MF, currently in ZMUC), 1 ♂: North-Sumatra, Hutu Padang (Asahan), River Silau, 48 km SE P. Siantar, Near Sialangoman, 220 m, 13.ii.2002. leg. M. Fibiger & K. Larsen; slide No. TB416m (coll. MF, currently in ZMUC), 1 ♀: North-Sumatra; H.W. II., 28 km S. P. Siantar; Near Tigadoluk, 1050 m; 2°45.87'N, 99°58.33'E; 4.iii.2002., leg. K. Larsen & M. Fibiger; slide No. TB649f (coll. MF, currently in ZMUC), 1 ♀: West-Sumatra, Bukittinggi, 980 m, 00°15.50'S, 100°21.22'E, 19-23.ii.2002., leg. M. Fibiger & K. Larsen; slide No. TB414f (coll. HNHM), 1 ♀: West-Sumatra, Batang Palupuh, 880 m, 7 km N. Bukittinggi, 00°14.57'S, 100°09.22'E, 21.ii.2002. leg. M. Fibiger & K. Larsen; slide No. TB681f (coll. MF, currently in ZMUC), 1 ♀: West-Sumatra, Penjabungan Tonga, 00°48.63'N, 99°34.12'E, 200 m, 18.ii.2002. leg. M. Fibiger & K. Larsen; slide No. TB418f (coll. MF, currently in ZMUC).

Borneo. 1 ♂, 1 ♀: Sarawak, Semongok; 12 mi. S Kuching; 26.iv.1974; at light, A. Earnshaw; slide Nos TB425m, TB544f (coll. ZMUC), 1 ♂ (Fig. 8): data as previous specimens, but 12.viii.1974 (coll. ZMUC), 2 ♂: data as previous specimen, but 24.x.1974; slide Nos TB539m, TB545m (coll. HNHM), 3 ♀: data as previous specimens, but 25.x.1974; slide Nos TB538f, TB546f (coll. ZMUC), 1 ♂: data as previous specimens, but 1.xii.1974; slide No. TB543m (coll. ZMUC), 1 ♀: data as previous specimens, but 6.xii.1974 (coll. ZMUC), 2 ♀ (Fig. 9): data as previous specimen, but 24.xii.1974; slide No. TB683f (coll. ZMUC), 1 ♀: data as previous specimens, but 1.i.1975 (coll. ZMUC).

Taxonomic comments.

Holloway (2008) synonymised N. ochreistigma (Hampson, 1893) and N. ineffectalis on the basis of a topotypic male specimen from the latter taxon having the same genitalia as those of the N. ochreistigma holotype.

Examination of the head structure of the N. ineffectalis holotype specimen (Figs 1, 13) led me to the striking conclusion that it was, in contrast to Hampson (1893), actually a female. Additionally, the characters of the antenna and labial palps match well with those of N. ochreistigma females. These results support Holloway’s synonymisation. Unfortunately the genitalia of the holotype specimen of N. ineffectalis cannot be studied because its abdomen is missing.

Naarda ineffectalis differs from N. notata in its shape of labial palps, overall size, ground colour and pattern of wings as well as in the genitalia of both sexes (Figs 1-20). These differences are detailed below, in the Diagnosis. I consider Naarda notata (Hampson, 1891), corroborating Holloway (2008), as a distinct species; stat. rev.

Description of the female.

Wingspan 12-15 mm, length of forewing 6-8 mm. Antenna typical of females in the genus: filiform and sparsely ciliate, with two setae on each segment as long as the diameter of the flagellum, cilia half as long as diameter of the flagellum. Labial palps four times longer than diameter of eye (longer than in male, see Figs 13-15); 3rd segment conspicuous, 2nd segment broad, domed. Scale-hood of vertex broad-based and long. Forewing brownish grey in colour; subterminal and postmedial lines parallel, slightly sinuous, the subterminal easily fading during ageing, the latter relatively broad; reniform stigma quite small, angular, elongated, pale yellow with two black dots inside, lower dot is larger than the upper one; orbicular rounded, as yellow as reniform. Hindwing slightly paler than forewing except for the area between vein Cu2 and dorsum being as dark as forewing; transverse lines like those of forewing but postmedial line often more conspicuous. Pattern of wings slightly less conspicuous in females than in males.

Female genitalia (Fig. 19). Corpus bursae ovoid, its anterior half densely covered by tiny grains, posterior half slightly wrinkled in longitudinal direction. Near the mouth of ductus bursae a broad and long, helical cervix arises. Ductus bursae smooth, broad, relatively short, nearly entirely covered by the triangular colliculum. Sternum A7 very narrow, sinus absent.

Apophyses anteriores as long as apophyses posteriores; ovipositor lobes angular.

Diagnosis.

Naarda ineffectalis externally resembles several sympatric congeners, including N. huettleri Tóth & Ronkay, 2015 and N. imitata Tóth & Ronkay, 2015 and tends to become worn, so that dissection of genitalia is usually needed for proper identification. Characteristic features of the male genitalia (Fig. 17) are as follows: uncus with double tips, juxta large and scobinate, saccus long, valva short, triangular, aedeagus stout, cornutus very large, vesica longitudinally wrinkled between cornutus and carina. The female genitalia of N. ineffectalis can be distinguished from those of all other Naarda species by presence of the large, helical cervix.

Compared to N. notata the former species has shorter and dorsally more convex labial palps; the wingspan of N. ineffectalis is only two-thirds of N. notata ; the ground colour of the wings is darker, greyer, especially in the basal field; on the forewing the reniform stigma is narrower and lighter, and the transverse lines are less prominent than those of N. notata and N. ineffectalis lacks the blackish patch laterally from the reniform stigma, which is present in the other species. The hindwing of N. ineffectalis is only slightly lighter than the forewing while in N. notata the hindwing is much lighter than the forewing, and the ground colour becomes white towards the costa. In the male genitalia, the uncus of N. ineffectalis is slightly bifurcate, but that of N. notata is simple; the juxta is larger, the valva is much broader and shorter and the cornutus of aedeagus is much larger in N. ineffectalis than in N. notata . The corpus bursae in the female genitalia of N. ineffectalis is bigger in proportion to the whole genitalia, the cervix is much longer and the ductus bursae is shorter than those of N. notata .

Distribution.

From Sri Lanka to Sumatra and Borneo (Sarawak and Brunei: Holloway 2008). On the Asian mainland in Cambodia and Thailand, with isolated, unusually northern, records from Japan and Korea (Fig. 21). As both latter specimens were collected near large ports, accidental introduction by transport cannot be excluded.

New for the faunas of Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Korea and Sumatra (thus for entire Asian mainland and also for the Palaearctic Region).

Key to the Naarda species of Korea and main islands of Japan