Belenois (Anaphaeis) aurota (Fabricius, 1793)

Ge, Si-Xun, Hu, Shao-Ji, Shi, Hong-Liang, Han, Feng-Ying, Li, Ming-Jun & Ren, Li-Li, 2021, The first record of the genus Belenois (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) from China, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 61332-61332 : 61332

Belenois (Anaphaeis) aurota (Fabricius, 1793)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Sixun Ge; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; disposition: in collection; Taxon: scientificName: Belenois aurota (Fabricius, 1793); kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda; class: Insecta; order: Lepidoptera; family: Pieridae; genus: Belenois; subgenus: Anaphaeis; specificEpithet: aurota; taxonRank: species; verbatimTaxonRank: sp.; scientificNameAuthorship: (Fabricius, 1793); vernacularName: Pioneer White; taxonomicStatus: accepted; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Tibet Autonomous Region; county: Zanda County; locality: East of Diya township ; verbatimElevation: 2983 m; verbatimCoordinates: 31°78'83"N, 78°87'88"E; Identification: identifiedBy: Sixun Ge; dateIdentified: 2019; Event: samplingProtocol: sweep net; year: 2019; month: 7; day: 17; habitat: Desolate valley beside the road; Record Level: basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Male (Fig. 1 ). Forewing length 44 mm. Body blackish dorsally covered with grey hair and whitish ventrally. Antennae blackish, in typical club shape. Both wings white on the upperside, but with a creamy yellow hue on the underside. Wings with the following markings. Forewing upperside: costa grey, a short black band at the end of the discocell, a curved black subapical band running from costa to vein CuA1 and outwardly extending along veins to termen. Forewing underside similar to upperside, but all markings, especially the ones in the apical area, tinged with a golden-brown hue. Hindwing upperside: a black spot at the end of vein Sc+R1, termen black fused with a series of subterminal black crescents before vein CuA2. Hindwing underside: the previously-mentioned markings, all veins and a short discal band before vein Rs golden-brown.

Male genitalia (Fig. 2 ). Highly sclerotised. Ring straight of moderate width; tegumen narrow in dorsal view; uncus broad at the base, but abruptly narrowed into the same width towards the tip in the dorsal view, while strongly curved ventrally in the lateral view. Saccus slender with a flattened tip. Valve triangulate, slightly elongated distally with an acutely pointed tip, with a long harpe running through the median part. Aedeagus slender and straight, with a pointed tip, Juxta fan-shaped in posterior view.

Distribution

South, Southeast and Central Asia; Tropical Africa; China (New record)

Figures

Figure 1. Male Belenois aurota (Fabricius, 1793) collected in Diya Township. A. upperside; B. underside.

Figure 2. Male genitalia of B. aurota. A. entire genitalia; B. lateral view of ring; C. left valve; D. lateral view of aedeagus; E. dorsal view of tegumen and uncus; F. ventral view of juxta.