Phlogophora nyestmacska, Gyulai, Peter, Ronkay, László, Ronkay, Gábor & Saldaitis, Aidas, 2015

Gyulai, Peter, Ronkay, László, Ronkay, Gábor & Saldaitis, Aidas, 2015, Two new species of Phlogophora Treitschke (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from China and Vietnam, Zootaxa 3949 (4), pp. 589-596 : 594-595

Phlogophora nyestmacska sp. n.

( Figs 9, 10 , 15, 18 )

Type material. Holotype: male ( Fig. 9 ), Vietnam, Prov. Lao Cai, Fan-si-pan Mts, old Frontier Vietnam Base Camp Site (Sky Gate), 22°20,9’N, 103°46,06’E, 1900 m, 29-30.VIII.1998, leg. A. Kun; slide No. RL 6421m (coll. HNHM).

Paratypes: 2 males, 2 females, with the same data as the holotype (coll. HNHM, PGM & GRB); 1 male, Vietnam, Prov. Lao Cai, Sa Pa, 1650 m, 24.IX.1961, leg. T. Pócs (coll. HNHM); 1 female ( Fig. 10 ), Vietnam, Prov. Lao Cai, Sa Pa district, Fan-si-pan Mts, Frontier Satellite Camp, 2240 m, 103°47’30.9”E, 22°19’17.7”N, 18-22.VIII.1998, leg. A. Kun (coll. HNHM). Slide Nos: RL 11414m (male), L11413 f (female).

Diagnosis and description. Wingspan 31-33 mm, length of forewing 15-16 mm. The adults of the new species are easily separable from the closely related Ph. discisignata ( Figs7, 8 ) by their generally darker forewings with less extensive greenish suffusion and more distinct wing pattern. The emerald-green forewing ground colour of Ph. nyestmacska sp. n. is generally covered up by and intense, slightly violet shaded dark plumbeous-grey suffusion which is extended widely along the costa to the basal area, in the upper part of the cell, along the postmedial line and in the outer half of the marginal field. The greenish ground colour is restricted to the surrounding of the reniform stigma and the postmedial line, the subbasal area and the broad stripe along the inner margin. The antemedial and postmedial crosslines are clearly visible, thin, greenish, defined by blackish and ochreous-brown scales. The reniform stigma is green, defined by a number of rather sharp black dots and a fine whitish annulus; the intracellular black markings are less contrasting, the as well as the rather quadrangular black patch below reniform stigma. In Ph. discisignata , the basic colouration is much lighter, the forewings are majorly green, with variably strong red-brown and pink suffusion in the basal and costal areas, the subcellular section of the median area and the inner half of the marginal field. The dark grey colour is present mainly in the outer part of the marginal area and, sometimes, in the filling of the orbicular stigma. The antemedial and postmedial crosslines are more indistinct, marked by a few dark grey and blackish scales along the greenish borders of the median area. The reniform stigma is white or greenish-white, without or with a few small blackish dots, the black patches at costa, in and below the cell are prominently marked. The hindwing colouration of the two sister-species is practically the same, but the discal spots of the new species are generally paler on both surfaces. The pubescence of the head and the thorax are dark grey in Ph. nyestmacska sp. n., with small ochreous-grey metathoracic tuft, while Ph. discisignata has deep chocolate-brown to blackish-brown thorax with large ochreous-brown metathoracic tuft.

Male genitalia. The configuration of the male genitalia of Ph. nyestmacska ( Fig. 15 ) is very similar to that of Ph. discisignata ( Fig. 14 ), with the following differences: the new species has longer and narrower, apically more acute valvae, longer and especially basally somewhat thinner harpes with smaller, shorter ventral basal extension, longer and thinner, more pointed digitus with slenderer basal plate, distally more tapering juxta and basally broader, more ample and discoidal vesica.

Female genitalia. The female genitalia of P. nyestmacska ( Fig. 18 ) are also similar to those of P. discisignata ( Fig 19 ) but the ostial ring is broad and more distinct from the broad but short and proximally asymmetrical antrum, and the medial part of ductus bursae is straight, not angled at middle. In P. discisignata , the ostium-antrum complex is stronger and more evenly sclerotised; the ostial ring is fused with antrum; the antrum is considerably longer and narrower, more quadratic, with slightly convex sides; and the ductus bursae is angled and twisted at middle section.The configuration of the female genitalia of the P. discisignata-P. nyestmacska species pair is somewhat similar to those of the P. meticulosa species-group (see Fibiger & Hacker 2007, Figs 258-262) due to the narrow, ring like ostium and antrum, the posteriorly sclerotised, otherwise longitudinally ribbed-wrinkled, broadly tubular ductus bursae and the elliptical-ovoid corpus bursae lacking signa, but the appendix bursae is, corresponding with the configuration of the vesica, short, semiglobularsubconical.

Biology and distribution. The new species is known from the higher altitude montane primary forest regions of the Fansipan Mts (Hoang Lien National Park), northern Vietnam, above 1900 metres.

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to the wife of the second author, Maria Tóth-Ronkay.

Figures

FIGURES 7 – 10. Phlogophora ssp. adults. 7. P. discisignata, male, holotype, Sikkim, Darjeeling (ZMHU); 8. P. discisignata, male, Vietnam, Lao Cai (HNHM); 9. P. nyestmacska sp. n., male, holotype, Vietnam, Lao Cai (HNHM); 10. P. nyestmacska sp. n., female, paratype, Vietnam, Lao Cai (HNHM).

FIGURES 14 – 19. Phlogophora ssp. Male and female genitalia. 14. P. discisignata, male, Vietnam, prep. RL 6796 m; 15. P. nyestmacska sp. n., holotype, prep. RL 6421 m; 16. P. striatovirens, female, prep. PGY 4054 f; 17. P. falcifera sp. n., paratype, female, prep. PGY 4041 f; 18. P. nyestmacska sp. n., paratype, female, prep. RL 11413 f; 19. P. discisignata, female, Sikkim, prep. RL 11499 f.