Radhica ustjuzhanini Spitsyn, Kondakov, Soboleva & Spitsyna, 2023

Spitsyn, Vitaly M., Kondakov, Alexander V., Soboleva, Alena A. & Spitsyna, Elizaveta A., 2023, A new lappet moth species from southern Laos and Vietnam (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 68, pp. 92-96 : 93-95

Radhica ustjuzhanini Spitsyn, Kondakov, Soboleva & Spitsyna sp. nov.

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Figs. 1-3

Type material. Holotype male RMBH Sph1029 : LAOS, Bolaven Plateau, Sekong province, Thateng town , mountain tropical forest , 15°24'16"N, 106°22'58"E, 22- 25.12.2022, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg .

Diagnosis. The new species can reliably be identified by means of DNA sequences and local range (central part of the Annamese Mountains). The range of Radhica elisabethae de Lajonquière, 1977 is probably limited to Sumatra (see Fig. 1 ).

Description. Male morphology: Wingspan 46 mm, forewing length 23 mm. Eye olive. Antenna brown, bipectinate. Head green. Labial palpus long (its length equal to three eye’s diameter), brown, with silver scales. Thorax green, with a brown-green band medially. Patagium and tegula green. Legs brown, with silver scales. Forewing upperside green; antemedial and postmedial lines clear, brown; subterminal stripe brown, dashed; discal spot black. Forewing underside yellow-orange, with six spots in the subterminal area (three spots in the apical area and three spots in the anal area), discal spot unclear, gray; postmedial line more curved. Hindwing upperside yellow-green, green along costal margin, brown in the basal and anal areas; with a wide black line in the costal area. Hindwing underside yellow-brown, with silver scales in the medial area and unclear pattern of wavy lines; white spot in the basal area. Abdomen gray dorsally, yellow apically, yellow-brown with silver scales ventrally. Male genitalia: The male genital capsule typical for the genus. Basal part of valva is wider than that of the paratype of Radhica elisabethae (the latter species was illustrated in de Lajonquière's (1977) work). Aedeagus short, wide, with a large spine-like process in the apical part.

Female: unknown.

DNA Barcoding. Uncorrected COI p-distances between Radhica ustjuzhanini sp. nov. and R. elisabethae from Sumatra is 8.26%, whereas between Radhica ustjuzhanini sp. nov. and Radhica sp. from southern China and northern Laos (the closest undescribed clade) it is 2.6%.

Reference COI barcode sequence. GenBank acc. no. OR147872.

Distribution. Laos: Sekong; Vietnam: Kon Tum and Gia Lai (BOLD 2023).

Etymology. This novel species is dedicated to Dr. Petr Y. Ustjuzhanin ( Novosibirsk), a prominent Russian entomologist.

Figures

Figure 1. Fragment of the BOLD TaxonID Tree with a taxonomic reappraisal of available COI sequences of Radhica species (assessed on June 15, 2023).

Figure 2. Holotype male of Radhica ustjuzhanini sp. nov. from Laos: A) upperside; B) underside. Scale bar = 10 mm.

Figure 3. Holotype male genitalia of Radhica ustjuzhanini sp. nov. from Laos.