Deuveia panda Krupitsky & Shapoval, 2020

Krupitsky, Anatoly V. & Shapoval, Nazar A., 2020, A new species of Deuveia Minet, 2002 (Lepidoptera, Epicopeiidae) from China, Zootaxa 4869 (2), pp. 295-300 : 296-298

Deuveia panda Krupitsky & Shapoval , sp. n.

( Fig. 1 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1C4E0C19-1C7D-4B8A-B0E8-525E8A384617

Type material: holotype ♂, CHINA, Sichuan Prov., Minshan Mts., Songpan County, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture , 2 km NW of Chuanzhusi, N 32°46’55” E 103°35’26”, 3200 m, 28.VI.2019, A. V. Krupitsky leg. ( ZISP). Field code: GS088; GenBank accession number for mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ( COI) gene: MW 031134 . COI barcode sequence of the holotype (658 base pairs):

AACATTATATTTTATTTTTGGAATTTGAGCAGGAATAATTGGAACATCTTTAAGATTATTAATTCGAGC A G A AT TA G G TA AT C C A G G AT C AT TA AT T G G A G AT G AT C A A AT T TATA ATA C TAT T G TA A C T G C TCATGCTTTTATTATAATTTTTTTCATGGTAATACCAATTATAATTGGAGGATTTGGAAATTGATTAA TCCCATTAATATTAGGAGCTCCTGATATAGCTTTCCCCCGGATAAATAATATAAGATTTTGAATACTCCCCCCCTC A C TA A C C C TAT TA AT T T C A A G A A G A AT C G TA G A A A AT G G A G C A G G A A C T G G AT G A A C A G T TTA C C C C C C A C TAT C AT C TA ATAT T G C A C AT G G A G G AT C C T C T G TA G AT C T T G C C AT T T T T T C T CTACATTTAGCTGGTATTTCATCAATTTTAGGTGCAATTAATTTTATTACAACAATTATTAATATACGATTAAACAATATATCATTTGATCAAATACCATTATTTATTTGAGCTGTGGGAATTACTGCTTTTTTATTACTTTTATCTTTACCAGTTTTAGCTGGCGCAATTACCATACTTTTAACAGATCGAAATTTAAATACTTCTTTTTTCGACCCTGCTGGAGGGGGAGATCCAATTCTATATCAACATTTATTT

Description. Head. Antenna 6.0 mm long, lamellate, tapering distally. Head dark brown with glossy brown unscaled frons. Eyes brown. Maxillary palpus covered with brown scales. Labial palpus with creamy white scales proximally, with dark brown scales distally.

Thorax. Patagia and tegulae dark brown with admixture of lighter scales and hairs. Dorsal side dark brown; ventral side creamy white. Legs dark with whitish scales.

Wings. Wingspan 31.0 mm. Forewing length 14.0 mm. Dorsal side dark brown, with three unequal creamy white bands, which tend to converge towards tornus: basal one extending from wing base, across proximal region of discoidal cell, to tornus area; median one oblique, extending from middle of costa to tornus area; and submarginal one extending from costa near apex to vein CuA1. Ventral side mostly whitish, with bare brown veins and two narrow oblique dark brown bands corresponding to those of dorsal side; proximal half of costa and outer margin (from apex to tornus) narrowly dark brown. Fringe dark brown with admixture of brown scales and hairs. Dorsal side of hindwing creamy white, with a narrow dark brown postmedial band, a narrow submarginal dark brown stripe extending from inner margin to vein M1 and a dark brown marginal band. Fringe creamy white from apex to CuA1, brownish from CuA1 to tornus, inner margin with brown hairs. Stem of CuA and 1A+2A covered with dark brown scales. Ventral side of hindwing creamy white, with stems of veins and, partially, veins bare, brown; a narrow postmedial dark brown band corresponding to that of dorsal side and a very narrow discontinuous submarginal dark brown stripe extending from inner margin to M1 (both band and stripe corresponding to those of dorsal side); tornus with dark brown margin. Fringe as on dorsal side.

Abdomen. Dorsal region with a mediolongitudinal dark brown band and admixture of creamy white scales anteriorly and posteriorly. Terga with a number of creamy white scales laterally. Pleural regions brown dorsally, creamy white ventrally. Sterna creamy white. Brush-organs of abdominal segment A2 laterally with creamy white hairpencils. Abdominal segment A8 with tergum and sternum distinctly narrowed posteriorly ( Fig. 3 ); tergum trapezoidal, with straight lateral edges; lateral edges of sternum slightly concave.

Male genitalia ( Figs 2, 4 and 5 ). Tegumen small, subrectangular. Vinculum stout, extended dorsad, median part with shallow anterior notch. Saccus absent. Uncus subtriangular, with broadened base and hook-like pointed apex. Gnathos complete, with pointed upcurved apex and strongly bent long narrow arms. Subscaphium absent. Valva entire, auriculate, rounded, with broad base and sparsely setose inner surface; costa short, nearly straight; sacculus poorly delimited distally, reaching juxta proximally; costula very small. Lobes of juxta long, broad, leaf-like, with rounded apex in lateral view, with parallel sides and broadly rounded apex in ventral view; base of juxta stout, half as long as lobe of juxta. Aedeagus straight anteriorly and arcuate posteriorly, with a well developed anteroventral coecum and two groups of bacilliform cornuti, smaller ones and larger ones.

Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Apart from the peculiar colouration, the complex of morphological characters, namely the shape of the wings, configuration of bands of wings and the shape of sclerites of the abdomen, including the male genitalia, indicates that the specimen in question is not an aberration and represent a distinct species strongly differing from D. banghaasi . Externally, the new species clearly differs from the latter in the creamy white colour of the wings and ventral side of thorax and abdomen (yellow in D. banghaasi ) and in the simple pattern of the hindwing, whose dorsal side lacks the median band and exhibits a narrow dark brown postmedial band, a narrow submarginal stripe and a dark brown margin (more complex pattern of bands in D. banghaasi , consisting of relatively large separate spots). The male genitalia of the new species differ from those of D. banghaasi in the rounded auriculate valva which has a straight costa (while the valva has a truncate distal margin and a concave costa in D. banghaasi ), longer rounded lobes of juxta (lobes shorter and more pointed in D. banghaasi ) and more slender, slightly less arcuate aedeagus. Additionally, the abdominal tergum and sternum 8 of the new species are shorter and without deep incisions laterally (while the lateral edges of the tergum and sternum are strongly concave in D. banghaasi ).

Distribution and biology. D. panda sp. n. is only known, to date, from the type locality in the western Min Mountains. The closest known locality of D. banghaasi is about 100 km southeast, in the eastern highlands of the Min Mts. ( Fig. 6 ). The new species was found at the edge of a conifer forest with shrubby undergrowth, at an altitude of 3200 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 7 ), somewhat higher than the known habitats of D. banghaasi , which apparently prefers altitudes ranging from 1500 to 3000 m a.s.l. ( Huang et al. 2019a). Several specimens of D. panda sp. n. were spotted in this locality, but only one was collected due to bad weather conditions. Interestingly, this species was not found in the neighbouring valleys, which we intensively explored for two weeks, although these valleys contain some similar habitats.

Etymology. The name refers to the black-and-white colouration of the moth, evoking a symbol of China, the giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David)) , and to the presence of the latter in the Min Mountains, China, the type locality of the new epicopeiid species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Deuveia panda sp. n., holotype, ♂, CHINA, Sichuan Prov., Minshan Mts., Songpan County, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, 2 km NW of Chuanzhusi, N 32°46’55” E 103°35’26”, 3200 m, 28.VI.2019, A.V. Krupitsky leg. (ZISP); dorsal side (left) and ventral side (right).

FIGURE 6. Known localities of Deuveia species. Black—D. banghaasi, after (Minet 2002; Huang et al. 2019a), red—D. panda sp. n. Squares refer to type localities (localities of the syntypes in the case of D. banghaasi).

FIGURE 7. Type locality of D. panda sp. n., CHINA, Sichuan Prov., Minshan Mts., Songpan County, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, 2 km NW of Chuanzhusi, N 32°46’55” E 103°35’26”, 3200 m a.s.l.

FIGURES 2–5. 2. Id., male genitalia, lateral view. 3. Id., male genitalia, postero-ventral view. 4. Id., abdominal segment 8, lateral view. 5. Id., aedeagus with everted vesica, lateral view.