Ovipennis multicornuta Huang, Volynkin, Zhao & Han, 2022

Zhao, Ting-Ting, Volynkin, Anton V., Huang, Si-Yao & Han, Hui-Lin, 2022, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Ovipennis Hampson, 1900 with descriptions of two new species from Southern and Southwestern China (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini), Zootaxa 5178 (5), pp. 483-492 : 487-490

Ovipennis multicornuta Huang, Volynkin, Zhao & Han sp. n.

( Figs 9 , 16 )

Ovipennis (Ovipennis) sp.: Huang et al. 2021: fig. 3.

Type material. Holotype ( Figs 1 , 17 ): male, “ 30-VI-2019 | Fengtongzhai , Baoxing County, Ya’an City , Sichuan Province, China [in Chinese] | HSY TSY CCL [leg. Si-yao Huang, Shun-yun Tan & Cheng-long Cao]” / [gen. prep. No.:] “ LHSY117 ” (Coll. SCAU).

Diagnosis. Externally, Ovipennis multicornuta sp. n. is reminiscent of O. postalba and O. semilutea but distinguished by the larger size, the somewhat smaller yellowish patch, and the outer darkish pattern forming a diffused large patch. In male genital capsule, the uncus is somewhat longer than in the congeners, and the transtilla lacks dorsal lobes, similar to that in O. semilutea . The phallus of the new species is broader than in the congeners. The vesica of O. multicornuta sp. n. is broader than in O. postalba and O. semilutea and sack-like, with a small dorsal basal diverticulum and the surface of its main chamber scattered by several clusters of long and thick cornuti, while the vesica is totally membranous without sclerotized elements in O. postalba , and lobe-like with a single distal cluster of cornuti in O. semilutea .

Description. Male. Length of forewing 9.7 mm in holotype. Antenna brownish with white scales scattered at basal half section. Head, thorax and abdomen covered with whitish scales. Forewing moderately broad, with ochreous-yellowish patch present from subbasal to medial section and larger brownish diffused patch from medial to submarginal section. Forewing cilia whitish. Hindwing monotonous creamy white, cilia whitish.

Male genitalia. Uncus slender and curved subapically. Tegumen triangular, short and broad. Transtilla smooth. Juxta shield-like. Saccus broad and short, U-shaped. Valva dilated distally, thoroughly sclerotized. Distal margin of costa somewhat dentate. Sacculus thick and stout basally, gradually tapered towards distal end. Distal saccular process short and apically pointed. Phallus short and broad, slightly tapered distally. Vesica sack-like with small dorsal basal diverticulum and main chamber bearing several clusters of long and thick cornuti.

Female unknown.

Distribution. Known only from Western Sichuan Province in Southwestern China.

Etymology. The specific epithet “ multicornuta ” refers to the presence of numerous cornuti in the phallus vesica.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Molecular phylogenetic tree recovered from the Maximum likelihood inference analysis of the combined dataset with the best-fit partitioning strategy. The clades were mostly folded except for the genus Ovipennis. The branch of the species Nanarsine milani was marked out by red. The order of the values on the nodes is as follows: ultrafast bootstrap values (UFBS) in IQtree / posterior probabilities (PP) of the Bayesian analysis.

FIGURE 2–11. Adults of Ovipennis spp. Depositories of the specimens: 2, 11 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 3 in CKC; 4–8 in NEFU; 9, 10 in SCAU.

FIGURE 16–18. Male genitalia of Ovipennis spp. Depositories of the slides: 16 in SCAU; 17, 18 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK).