Sovia liuzihaoi Huang & Fan, 2020

Huang, Si-Yao, Wang, Xin-Yue & Fan, Xiao-Ling, 2020, A new species of the genus Sovia Evans, 1949 from South Central Yunnan, China (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), Zootaxa 4731 (4), pp. 565-573 : 567-571

Sovia liuzihaoi Huang & Fan sp. nov.

( Figs. 2–5 , 10–11 , 15 )

Type material. Holotype: ♂, altitude ca. 2100 m, 3. VIII. 2018, Mt. Ailao , Xinping Yi and Dai Autonomous County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, P. R. China, leg. Si-yao Huang, HSY001 ( SCAU) . Paratype: 1 ♂, same data as holotype, HSY002 ( SCAU) ; 1 ♂, same data as holotype ( SCAU) .

Diagnosis. S. liuzihaoi sp. nov. can be distinguished from congeners by forewing upperside with only two subapical spots, male stigma linear, extremely narrow, male genitalia uncus expanded subapically in dorsal view and outer lower angle of valva protruding and forming a perpendicular angle.

Description. Male ( Figs. 2–5 ). Forewing length 15–16 mm (16 mm in holotype). Compound eyes black. Antennae longer than half of the length of forewing. Head covered by yellowish-green hair dorsally. Labial palpi with second segment porrect and covered with yellowish green hair and scales thoroughly; third segment porrect and covered by yellowish green scales ventrally, ending with a blunt tip. Thorax black dorsally and covered by yellowish green hair ventrally. Abdomen black dorsally and covered by pale scales ventrally. Forewing upper side ground color blackish brown, costa scattered with yellowish green scales from base and ending before middle point. Upper side all patterns pale yellowish white; discal cell with cell spot rectangular and narrow; subapical area with two spots in cells R 4 and R 5; cell M 3 with a small rounded spot; cell Cu 1 with a large rectangular spot at base. Stigma linear, pale whitish, not continuous in the middle and presenting at base of cell Cu 2. Cilia clearly chequered with yellowish white and dark brown. Forewing under side yellowish at costa, blackish brown from base to discal zone and reaching outer margin, pale grey at dorsumal area, patterns similar to upper side. Hindwing upper side ground color same as in forewing, becoming paler at costal area and without any markings, cilia same as forewing. Hindwing under side ground color greenish yellow, paler near dorsumal area.

Male genitalia ( Figs. 10–11 ). Uncus long, broad and generally arrow-shaped, with the distal half gradually broadening subapically in dorsal view and abruptly narrowing towards apex and ending with a triangular tip. Tegumen nearly rounded in dorsal view, about half of the length of uncus. Lateral process of tegumen digital in lateral view. Gnathos slightly sclerotized at lateral wall, bifid in ventral view; each branch with basal one third strongly slcerotized and distal two thirds covered by numerous spinules. Saccus short, nearly triangular. Valva broad, with its outer lower angle of valva protruding and forming a perpendicular angle; dorsobasal process strongly sclerotized, trapezoid, with a small projection at the base; dorsodistal process strongly sclerotized, small and parallelogramshaped; ventrobasal process strongly sclerotized, rather broad and nearly trapezoid; ventrodistal process strongly sclerotized and nearly rectangular, with its inner ventral angle extending inward; its dorsal margin covered by numerous dentation of various shape and its outer margin covered by smaller dentation; the inner projection of ventrodistal process broad and robust, surrounded by large dentation. Juxta shallowly V-shaped. Aedeagus moderately long; its suprazonal sheath about two thirds of the length of subzonal sheath; the suprazonal sheath with its distal end expanding in dorsal view and its dorsal wall deeply concave.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Currently this species is only known from its type locality, Mt. Ailao in South Central Yunnan Province, Southwestern China ( Fig. 16 ).

Etymology. The specific name liuzihaoi is dedicated to Dr. Zi-hao Liu (University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei City, Anhui Province, P. R. China), an old friend of the first author and also a Lepidoptera enthusiast who keeping providing him with valuable material of butterflies and moths from other parts of China during the past ten years.

Biology. This species is found near a stream surrounded by good vegetation at an altitude around 2100 m ( Fig. 14 ). Males are very sensitive and flying swiftly when disturbed with typical territorial behavior, and usually resting on leaves of trees or brushes and cement blocks with wings unfolded ( Fig. 15 ).

Figures

FIGURES 16. Distribution map of S. liuzihaoi sp. nov. and its related species. Records of distribution are taken from Huang (2003), Xue et al. (2015) and the present study.

FIGURES 2–9. Male adults of Sovia spp. 2–3, S. liuzihaoi sp. nov., holotype, Mt. Ailao, Xinping County, HSY001; 4–5, ditto, paratype, Mt. Ailao, Xinping County, HSY002; 6–7, S. separata magna (Evans), Baihualing, Baoshan City, HSY003; 8–9, S. lii Xue, paratype, Qinghe, Kang County, HSY005. Scale=1 cm.

FIGURES 10–13. Male genitalia of Sovia spp. 10–11, S. liuzihaoi sp. nov. 10, holotype, HSY001; 11, paratype, HSY002. 12, S. separata magna (Evans), HSY003; 13, S. lii Xue, HSY005. a=genitalia capsule in lateral view with valvae removed; b=inner view of left valva; c=inner view of right valva; d=uncus and tegumen in dorsal view; e= uncus, gnathos and tegumen in ventral view; f=aedeagus in dorsal view; g=aedeagus in lateral view; h=juxta. Scale=1 mm.

FIGURES 14–15. Habitat and alive male adult of Sovia liuzihaoi sp. nov. 14, collecting site in Mt. Ailao; 15, alive male adult resting on a cement block with wings unfolded.