Acronicta naxi, Han & Kononenko, 2010

Han, H. L. & Kononenko, V. S., 2010, New species of the genera Acronicta Ochsenheimer, 1816 and Craniophora Snellen, 1867 from China with notes on synonymy and checklist (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae: Acronictinae), Zootaxa 2678 (1), pp. 48-68 : 50

Acronicta naxi , sp. n.

( Figs. 1, 2 , 7, 9 )

Type material. Holotype: male, 10–13.vii. 2009, China, Prov. Yunnan, 60 km NW from Lijiang, Wanlong vill., 2300 m, small montane plateau with elements of broad-leaved vegetation, plum and apricot gardens, surrounded by montane forest with Pinus yunnana (H.L. Han, M.J. Qi & V. Kononenko) (coll. NEFU, Harbin) . Paratypes: 2 females, same date, locality and collectors (coll. NEFU, Harbin and IBSS, Vladivostok) .

Diagnosis. The new species is the sister-species of A. alni ( Figs. 3–6 , 8, 10 ). It differs from the former by larger size, somewhat narrower and longer forewing, intensive ash-grey ground colour of forewing (pale brown grey in A. alni ), more intensive and wider dark brown streaks, dark area between orbicular and reniform, shape of orbicular and indistinct subterminal line. In male genitalia it differs by broader valva, stronger and more massive distal extension of sacculus and arming of vesica; the female differs by longer and somewhat wider ductus bursae and longer cervix bursae.

Description. Adult ( Figs. 1, 2 ). Wingspan: male, holotype – 39 mm, female paratype – 5 mm (in A. alni male–35–37, female– 39–40 mm). Head and thorax ash-grey, patagia bordered with black, abdomen gray, abdominal crest present. Ground colour of forewing bluish ash-grey, irrorated with black scales; inner part of wing intensive dark brown with long black basal-medial and subtornal streaks; basal and antemedial lines black, marked in costal area, antemedial lines double; orbicular oval, elongate, pale grey, bordered inside with black line; reniform indistinct, pale reddish brown, with blackish streak inside, partly shadowed; medial shadow well defined in costal area, dark-brown, contrasting, filling space between stigmata, angled inwardly straight to dorsum where merged with dark siffusion in dorsal part of wing; basal-medial and subtornal streaks wide, intensive black-brown; antemedial line thin, dentate, indistinct; terminal line as a row of thin blackish streaks; subterminal streak long, thin, well defined, surrounded with brown suffusion; terminal line as row of small spots, cilia whitish. Hindwing white, with black suffusion along outer margin, discal spot traceable.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 7 ). Uncus straight, curved basally, somewhat more massive than in A. alni ; tegumen broad, vinculum narrow, but wider than in A. alni ; juxta rather small, plate-like; valva broad, clearly broader than in A. alni , with parallel margins, apically rounded; sacculus broad, apically pointed, with large apical extension extended over edge of valva, bearing small extension in middle between base of valva and apex (in A. alni saccular extension smaller, narrower, apically bifurcate); aedeagus moderate in length, somewhat curved; vesica large, with basal divericulum and patch of moderate cornuti close to apical part (in A. alni vesica larger, basal diverticulum larger, cornuti smaller field of cornuti two times longer than in new species.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 9 ). Ovipositor quadrangular; apophyses thin; anterior apophyses 1,5 times shorter than posterior ones; antrum membranous, ostium split; ductus bursae sclerotised, longer and wider than in A. alni ; corpus bursae elongate, sack-like, narrower than in A. alni , slightly ribbed in anterior part.; cervix bursae somewhat larger than in A. alni .

Etymology. The species is dedicated to the Naxi-Zu nation of the mountains of Northwest Yunnan.

Distribution ( Fig. 31 ). The species is known only from the type locality – Lijiang area in Yunnan Prov. of China. The moths were collected in the vicinity of Wanlong village, in July at an elevation of 2300 m in montane plateau with elements of broad-leaved vegetation, plum and apricot gardens, surrounded by montane forest with Pinus yunnana .

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Acronicta ssp., adults. 1. A. naxi, male, holotype, China (NEFU); 2. A. naxi, female, paratype, China (NEFU); 3. A. alni, China, Tapaishan (ZFMK); 4. A. alni, S Korea (CIS); 5. A. alni, Russia, Primorye (IBSS); 6. A. alni, Denmark (ZM OU).

FIGURES 7–10. Acronicta ssp., genitalia. 7. A. naxi, male, holotype, prep. 1496 HHL; 8. A. alni, S Korea, prep. CIS 104-05 VK; 9. A. naxi, female, paratype, prep. 1495 HHL; 10. A. alni, S Korea, prep. 1774 HHL.

FIGURES 31–32. 31. Acronicta cinerea (holotype of A. cinerascens, ZISP), adult, North China; 32. A. cinerea (holotype of A. cinerascens, ZISP), male genitalia, prep. 0266 AM; 33, 34, Distribution maps. 31. Acronicta alni and A. naxi; 32. Craniophora pacifica, C. draudti, C. tapaishana and C. simillima.