Orthosia songi, Chen & Zhang, 1995, Chen & Zhang, 1995

An, Jeong-Seop, Choi, Sei-Woong & Ronkay, László, 2013, New Noctuidae (s. l.) species from the Korean fauna with description of a new species of Bryophila Treitschke, 1825 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae and Noctuidae), Zootaxa 3734 (3), pp. 345-361 : 350-351

Protegira songi (Chen & Zhang, 1995)

(Plate 3, figs 19–20; gen. fig. 13)

Orthosia songi Chen & Zhang, 1995 , Sinozoologica 12: 242. Type locality: China, Shaanxi. Protegira songi , Ronkay et al., 2010, Esperiana 15: 153.

Records from Korea. 1 male, 1 female, Prov. South Gyeongsang, Jiri-san, Machaeon-myun, Hamyang-gun, 760 m, 127°38’08”E, 35°21’18”N, 7.v.2011, 31.viii.2011, leg. J.S. An (coll. MNU); 1 female, Prov. South Jeolla, Mt. Jiri, Sandong-myun, Gurye-gun, 923m, 127°31’23”E, 35°19’22”N, 7.v.2011, leg. S.W. Choi (coll. MNU).

Diagnosis. The species can be distinguished from the externally somewhat similar Apamea Ochsenheimer, 1816 species by its hairy eyes. The separation of Protegira songi from the other Korean noctuids is rather easy as the most similar Apamea species ( A. chinensis (Leech, 1900) , A. commixta (Butler, 1881) and A. concinna Leech, 1900 ) do not occur in Korea. The genital structures of P. songi are highly autapomorphic (see the gen. fig. 13 and Ronkay et al. 2010), the genitalia of Protegira and Apamea are conspicuously different.

Distribution. The species has a considerable area in the continental part of eastern China, eastwards from the Tibetan plateau, from Gansu to north-eastern Sichuan; it is known also from Hainan (Ronkay et al. 2010). The new records from Korean are the first locality data outside China. The Korean records confirmed the presence of the second generation of the species in the late summer period (Ronkay et al. 2010); this is the first known Orthosiini species producing two generations per year.