Plutodes exquisita Butler, 1880: 223

Singh, Manpreet, Raha, Angshuman, Mallick, Kaushik, Kirti, Jagbir Singh & Singh, Navneet, 2023, A review of the genus Plutodes Guenée (Geometridae: Ennominae) from India with description of one new species, Zootaxa 5323 (4), pp. 499-523 : 511

Plutodes exquisita Butler, 1880: 223

( Figs 14–15 , 43 )

TL: Darjiling [Darjeeling] (West Bengal, India)

Material examined: India, Sikkim, Gangtok dist. : 1 ♀, Singtam, 26.vii.2019, leg. M. Singh (13664/H10, NZCZSI) .

Diagnosis: Forewing length: ♀ 19 mm. Externally, P.exquisita is closely similar to the Indonesian P.dintelmanni St ̧ning, 2013: 254 (figs 1–2), but can be easily distinguished by the forewing with a conspicuously smaller basal patch and a hindwing with a distinct black tornal eye-spot and joined distal and basal patches. Plutodes dintelmanni lacks the tornal eye and the basal and distal patches on hindwing are distinctly apart. Additionally, in P. exquisita , the crenulate dentate line is strongly developed inside the outer patch of both wings, whereas it is weakly developed in P. dintelmanni . In the male genitalia, both the species are extremely similar except in the shape of sacculus and the claw-like processes, and the number, size and arrangement of the cornuti on the vesica (Sţning 2013). In P. exquisita , the female genitalia have the corpus bursae elliptical, with a large patch of scobination and a pair of weakly crescent-shaped scobinated fields proximally. Also, the ductus bursae is long and narrow with broad antrum. In P. dintelmanni , the corpus bursae is globular and membranous, with a pair of prominent crescent-shaped proximal scobinated areas (Sţning 2013).

Distribution: India: Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, West Bengal ( Butler 1880, Cotes & Swinhoe 1887, Joshi et al. 2021). Global: China, Nepal, Thailand ( Yazaki 1994, Kendrick & Ades 2004, Koçak & Kemal 2010).

Figures

FIGURES 10–17. Habitus of Plutodes spp. 10–11, P. nilgirica, male, Kalakad WLS (Image source, Dr. D. Sţning); 12–13, P. subcaudata, male, Darjeeling (Image source, Dr. D. Sţning); 14–15, P. exquisita, female, Singtam; 16–17, P. flavescens, male, Singtam. Ventral sides: 11, 13, 15, 17.

FIGURES 37–43. Genitalia of Plutodes spp. 37–39, P. nilgirica, male, Munnar: 37, ventral view, 38, valva, 39, aedeagus (vesica not everted); 40–41, P. subcaudata, male, Rishop: 40, ventral view, 41, aedeagus; 42, ditto, female, Ravangla; 43, P. exquisita, female, Singtam (corpus bursae torn). (diagnostic characters indicated by black lines).