Chamaesphecia montis ( Leech, 1889 ) Yata & Gorbunov & Arita & Aoki, 2018

Yata, Naoki, Gorbunov, Oleg G., Arita, Yutaka & Aoki, Yoshichika, 2018, On the taxonomy and biology of the clearwing moth Aegeria montis (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae), Zootaxa 4369 (3), pp. 443-450 : 444-448

Chamaesphecia montis ( Leech, 1889) , comb. nov.

Figs 1–9

“ Aegeria montis , sp. n. ” — Leech 1889: 592, pl. 30, fig. 4.

Type locality: “A single male … taken at Oiwake , June , 1887.” [= Japan, Honshu , Nagano-ken , Oiwake , Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun].

Holotype: male ( Figs 1, 2 ) (BMNH).

= Chamaesphecia montis: Bartel 1912: 407 , pl. 51, row i.

= Dipsosphecia montis: Hampson 1919: 63 ; Dalla Torre & Strand 1925: 67.

= Bembecia montis: Heppner & Duckworth 1981: 39 ; Inoue 1981a: 234, Inoue 1981b: pl. 296, fig. 19; Pühringer & Kallies 2004: 37.

= Scalarignathia montis: Spatenka et al. 1993: 101 ; Arita 1994: 78, fig. 39; Arita et al. 1994: 16, fig. 17; Gorbunov & Arita 1995: 257, fig. 1; Špatenka et al. 1996: 10; Špatenka et al. 1999: 248, pl. 36, fig. 286; Arita & Ikeda 2000: 172, fig. 39; Yano 2011: 6; Fukuzumi 2012: 355; Arita 2013: 341, pl. 3–54–24; Kudo 2017: 58.

Description. Male ( Figs 3, 4 , 7 ). Alar expanse 20.5 mm; body length 12.2 mm; forewing 10.4 mm; antenna 6.1 mm. Head with antenna black with dark blue sheen; frons dark brown to black with bronze-violet sheen; labial palpus yellow mixed with blackish hairs; vertex black with dark bronze-purple sheen; occipital fringe orange dorsally and black mixed with orange laterally.

Thorax with patagia black with dark green-bronze sheen; tegula dark brown to black with dark violet-bronze sheen, with a narrow yellow margin internally; both meso- and metathorax dark brown to black with violet-bronze sheen; thorax laterally grey-brown with violet sheen and a large yellow spot. Legs with fore coxa dark brown to black with bronze-violet sheen, covered with dense scales yellow with golden sheen on exterior half; fore tibia dark brown to black with bronze-violet sheen; fore femur dark brown to black with bronze-violet sheen dorsally and yellow with golden sheen ventrally; fore tarsus black dorsally and pale yellow with golden sheen ventrally; hind leg dark brown to black with individual pale yellow scales externally. Forewing dorsally dark brown to black with individual yellow scales between veins R3–R4+5; anterior and external transparent areas well-developed, but covered with dense semi-transparent scales with yellowish hue; posterior transparent area virtually absent; external transparent area rounded, divided into four cells between veins R4+5–CuA1, level to vein M2 about 1/3 broader than discal spot and about 1/4 narrower than apical area; cilia brown with bronze sheen; ventrally costal and anal margins, as well as CuA-stem pale yellow, other surface covered with scales, dark brown to black (discal spot somewhat darker) with an admixture of individual scales between veins R5–M3 distally; cilia brown with bronze sheen. Hindwing transparent; discal spot cuneiform, reaching to base of vein M3–CuA1; outer margin dark brown to black with bronze sheen, narrow, about twice as narrow as cilia; cilia brown with bronze sheen, yellow to pale yellow basally.

Abdomen dorsally black with violet-blue sheen; tergite 4 with a narrow pale yellow to white distal margin, tergite 7 with a few pale yellow scales distally; laterally tergites 1+2, 4 and 5 proximally pale yellow to white with golden sheen; ventrally entirely dark brown to black with violet-blue sheen; tuft black with blue sheen and narrow yellow to pale yellow margins.

Male genitalia ( Figs 5, 6 ) (genital preparation No. 0 47 NY, 2017). Tegumen -uncus complex ( Fig. 5 ) broad with individual setae apically; scopula androconialis undeveloped; gnathos with crista gnathi lateralis large and ovoid, crista gnathi medialis shorter and more narrow; valva trapeziform, crista sacculi short with strong bifurcate setae, crista centralis long and broad; aedeagus ( Fig. 6 ) narrow, about 1.5 times as long as valva; vesica with two small cornuti.

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Due to both the external characters and the structure of the male genitalia, C. montis seems to be especially close to C. guriensis (von Emich, 1872) and C. kistenjovi Gorbunov, 1991 .

C. montis is clearly distinguishable from C. guriensis by (i) the coloration of the thorax laterally (entirely dark grey to black in C. guriensis and grey-brown with violet sheen and with a large yellow spot in C. montis ), (ii) fore coxa (without yellow scales in C. guriensis and dark brown to black with bronze-violet sheen, covered with dense scales yellow with golden sheen on exterior half in C. montis ), (iii) forewing pattern (with more yellow scales between veins in apical area in C. guriensis and completely dark brown to black apical area in C. montis ), (iv) the external transparent area of the forewing is larger and divided into five cells between veins R3–CuA 1 in C. guriensis , it is divided into four cells between veins R4+5–CuA 1 in C. montis ), (v) abdomen (dorsally tergites 4, 6 and 7 with a very narrow, whitish, posterior margin, tergite 4 covered with dense pale yellow scales throughout in C. guriensis and dorsally tergite 4 with a narrow pale yellow to white distal margin, but tergite 7 with a few pale yellow scales distally in C. montis ).

Chamaesphecia montis differs from C. kistenjovi by (i) the coloration of the abdomen (dorsally tergite 4 covered with dense yellow scales in C. kistenjovi , dorsally tergite 4 with a narrow pale yellow to white distal margin in C. montis ) and (ii) the smaller external transparent area of the forewing (divided into five cells between veins R3–CuA 1 in C. kistenjovi , it is divided into four cells between veins R4+5–CuA 1 in C. montis ).

Chamaesphecia montis can also be distinguished from the latter species by male genitalia: crista gnathi medialis absent while crista sacculi longer than what in C. guriensis and C. kistenjovi (cp. Fig. 5 with figs 210 and 211 in Špatenka et al. 1999: 501).

From the East Palaearctic C. zhuoxiana ( Yang, 1977) , comb. nov., and C. schroederi Toševski, 1993 , C. montis differs in (i) the coloration of abdomen (all tergites of abdomen with a small ocherous spot medially forming a medial line in C. zhuoxiana and C. schroederi , all tergites of abdomen without a medial spot in C. montis ) and (ii) the narrow outer margin of the hindwing (broad, about 2–3 times as broad as cilia in C. zhuoxiana and C. schroederi , but narrow, about twice as narrow as cilia in C. montis ; cp. Figs 1, 3 with figs 357 in: Špatenka et al. 1999; 457 and pl. 4, fig. 3 in: Yang 1977).

Biology. The host-plant of the species is not known exactly, but its systematic position allows us to suggest it to be a species of Euphorbia sp. ( Euphorbiaceae ). All specimens of the species known to us were collected from mid-June to early July using artificial sex pheromone lures. All of them were attracted at about noon of the local time.

Habitat ( Figs 8 , 9 ). This species lives both near the upper line of the forest belt ( Fig. 8 ) and in the rhododendron belt (Rhododendron molle subsp. japonicum (A. Gray) Kron ) ( Fig. 9 ) at altitudes of about 1600 m in the highlands of central Honshu. It seems appropriate to indicate in connection with occurrence and habitats of C. montis that similar habitats are populated by C. guriensis in high mountains of the Caucasus.

Distribution. This species is currently known only from a few localities in the highlands of Iwate and Nagano prefectures, Honshu, Japan. We assume it is endemic to Honshu Island.

Material examined: 1 male ( Figs 3, 4 , 7 ): Japan, Honshu , Nagano-ken , Shiojiri-shi, Takabocchi, 1650 m, 23.VI.2013, Y. Aoki leg. ( NSMT) ; 1 male, same locality, 16.VI.2013, Y. Aoki leg. ( CYAS) .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Chamaesphecia montis (Leech, 1889), comb. nov., male, Japan, Honshu, Nagano-ken, Shiojiri-shi, Takabocchi, 1650 m, 23.VI.2013. Photo by Y. Aoki.

FIGURE 8. Habitat of Chamaesphecia montis (Leech, 1889), comb. nov., Japan, Honshu, Nagano-ken, Shiojiri-shi, Takabocchi, 1650 m. General view. Photo by Y.Aoki.

FIGURE 9. Habitat of Chamaesphecia montis (Leech, 1889), comb. nov. Japan, Honshu, Nagano-ken, Shiojiri-shi, Takabocchi, 1650 m. Biotope of the species.Photo by Y.Aoki.

FIGURES 1–4. Chamaespheciamontis (Leech, 1889), comb.nov. 1) male holotype.Alar expanse25.0 mm;2)ditto, labels; 3) male, upperside. Japan, Honshu, Nagano-ken, Shiojiri-shi, Takabocchi, 1650 m, 23.VI.2013. Alar expanse 20.5 mm. 4) ditto, underside.

FIGURES 5–6. Chamaesphecia montis (Leech, 1889), comb. nov. male genitalia. Genitalia preparation No. 047 NY, 2017. 5) lateral view; 6) aedeagus. Scale bar:1.0 mm.