Phycodes interstincta Kallies & Arita

Kallies, Axel, Wang, Min & Arita, Yutaka, 2011, A new species of Phycodes from China (Lepidoptera: Sesioidea: Brachodidae), Zootaxa 2797, pp. 54-56 : 54-55

Phycodes interstincta Kallies & Arita sp. nov.

( Figs 1, 2 )

Holotype: 1 female, China, Guangdong, Guangzhou, Mt. Huolushan, 8. VII. 2008, leg. Chen Liusheng; deposited in Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Paratypes: 2 females, same data; deposited in National Science Museum Tokyo, Japan.

Description. Female ( Fig. 1 , holotype). Alar expanse 23.5 mm, forewing length 11.3 mm, body length 11 mm. Head: black; antenna simple, black, entirely covered with rough black scales; frons and vertex black; pericephalic scales black with individual yellow scales dorsally, white laterally; labial palps bright white, terminal segment black. Thorax: black; patagia black dorsally, bright white laterally; legs black, coxae white; femurs white along posterior margins; hindtibia between tibial spurs ventrally white. Forewing black; with a well-developed deep orange fascia near base, a distinct elongated spot at both costa and posterior edge medially, and three irregular spots of the same color apically; fringe black; underside very similar to upper side but somewhat lighter and with orange markings bigger. Hindwing uniformly blackish brown; fringe yellow, black towards the apex and the anal margin; underside with yellow streaks near base, a yellow patch in the cell and a short and narrow yellow band along anterior margin towards apex. Abdomen: black; sternites 1+2 bright white, sternite 3 dirty white, sternite 4 with narrow white posterior margin, sternite 5 dirty white with a black patch near posterior margin, sternite 6 white in the middle; anal tuft laterally bright white.

Female Genitalia ( Fig. 2 ): Ovipositor relatively short, with a weakly developed triangular pouch-like structure posteriorly ( Fig. 2 a); papillae anales well developed; apophyses anteriores relatively short, about half as long as apophyses posteriores; ostium large, membranous, with a narrow sclerotized plate posteriorly ( Fig. 2 b); tergite 8 well sclerotized; sternite 8 reduced to a narrow band; ductus bursae very long and narrow, with a well-sclerotized antrum; corpus bursae globular, without signum.

Male. Unknown.

Diagnosis. Habitually, Phycodes interstincta sp. nov. is closest to Phycodes maculata ( Fig. 3 ) and to an unnamed species from Sumatra ( Kallies 2000). From both of these species it can be easily separated by the entirely black hindwings (with yellow maculation in both species compared); the presence of a distinct orange fascia and five orange spots on the forewing (without any distinct fascia but with numerous smaller yellow spots in both species compared) and the absence of transverse streaks in the forewing termen (present in Ph. maculata ). The morphology of the female genitalia of the new species, in particular the well-sclerotized 8th sternite, the short ovipositor with its pouch-like structure and the long ductus bursae, is unusual among its congeners and differs from all other species of Phycodes in which the female is known. The female genitalia of neither Ph. maculata nor the unnamed species from Sumatra are known. The male of Ph. interstincta sp. nov. is unknown; however, we speculate that it has a similar general appearance to the female as distinct sexual dimorphism is absent in other species of Phycodes . Males of P. m a c u l a t a and the undescribed Sumatran species are unusual in the genus Phycodes due to their laterally flattened, flagellum-like antennae. Additional material from all three species discussed here is required to confirm their generic placement.

Discussion. The genus Phycodes was characterized in detail by Diakonoff (1986) and Kallies (1998). Together with Nigilgia Walker, 1863 , Paranigilgia Kallies, 1998 , Phycodopteryx Kallies, 2004 , and Hoplophractis Meyrick, 1920 it belongs to the subfamily Phycodinae, currently considered a subfamily of Brachodidae . This association was introduced by Rebel (1907) and later followed by Heppner (1981) and Diakonoff (1986). Even though some characters have been discussed that support such a placement ( Heppner 1981) no convincing synapomorphy has been described that would conclusively confirm a close relationship of Brachodinae and Phycodinae genera. A recent molecular study ( Mutanen et al. 2010) included only a single genus of Brachodinae, Synechodes Turner, 1913 , while Phycodinae genera were not considered. Thus, the systematic position of Phycodes remains unresolved.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 3. Phycodes species. Figs 1 – 2. Phycodes interstincta sp. nov. 1. Female, holotype, alar expanse 23.5 mm. 2. Female genitalia, a. pouch-like structure of the ovipositor, b. ostium plate. 3. Phycodes maculata, male, India, Sikkim (BMNH).