Ovipennis hanae, Huang & Volynkin & Černý & Li & Saldaitis, 2024

Huang, Si-Yao, Volynkin, Anton V., Černý, Karel, Li, Zhi-Hong & Saldaitis, Aidas, 2024, Review of the bicolora Fang and binghami Hampson species-groups of the genus Ovipennis Hampson with descriptions of five new species from Southwestern China and Indochina (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini), Zootaxa 5399 (5), pp. 540-554 : 543-546

Ovipennis hanae S.-Y. Huang, Volynkin & Černý, sp. n.

( Figs 10, 11 , 17 , 29 , 37 )

Ovipennis (Ovipennis) thomasi [nec Černý, 2009]: S.-Y. Huang et al. 2021: fig. 3.

Type material. Holotype ( Figs 10 , 17 ): male, “ 30-VI-2021, ĂĀṞṮ, ṪẦŤ ” [30.VI.2021, Pu’er (City), Simao (District), (Yunnan Province, China), leg. Zhi-hong Li], dissection number PO1 ( SCAU).

Paratypes: 1 male, same data as holotype ( CHSY) ; 1 female, IX.2020, Yutang Village , (Yixiang Town), Pu’er City, Yunnan Province, China, Zhi-hong Li leg., gen. prep. No.: LHSY166 ( CHSY) .

Diagnosis. The forewing length is 8.0 mm in males and 8.7 mm in the female. Both sexes of the new species are very similar to the members of the O. binghami species-group and the reliable identification requires the examination of the copulatory organs. Despite the external similarity to the O. binghami species-group, the genitalia structures of both sexes of O. hanae sp. n. clearly match the O. bicolora species-group. The male of O. hanae sp. n. can easily be distinguished from O. bicolora and O. regina sp. n. by the off-white distal section of the forewing having a broad diffuse brown patch, which is unicolorous black in the aforementioned congeners. The female of the new species is similar to O. bicolora and O. regina sp. n. and differs only in its somewhat smaller size and the slightly broader ochreous yellow basal area of the hindwing. The genitalia of both sexes of O. hanae sp. n. are most similar to O. bicolora . In the male genital capsule, the new species differs from the aforementioned congener in the broader basal section of the uncus, the medially broader valva, the dorsal margin of the costa bearing more dentate processes, and the larger medial costal process situated more distally. The phallus vesica of O. hanae sp. n. bears a small cluster of cornuti ventro-distally on the left side with the medial one being the largest and longest, two large cornuti ventro-distally on the right side, and another small cluster of cornuti dorsal-basally on the same side, while O. bicolora has only two large cornuti on the left side of the vesica and a small cluster of cornuti on its right side. In the female genitalia of the new species, the gap between the lobes of the antevaginal plate is shallower, the ductus bursae is shorter and broader, and the signum bursae is much smaller than the corresponding structures of O. bicolora .

Distribution. Southwestern China (Yunnan).

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Dr Hong-xiang Han (IZCAS), a renowned researcher of the Geometridae of China, who helped us obtain the photos of the holotype of Ovipennis bicolora in the current study. The name is a noun in the genitive case.

Figures

FIGURES 1–15. Ovipennis spp.: adults. Depositories of the specimens: 1 in IZCAS; 2, 3 and 11 in CHSY; 4 in WIGJ (ex CAV); 5, 8 and 14 in CKC; 6 in CAV; 7, 13 and 15 in MWM/ZSM (7 ex CKC); 9 and 12 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 10 in SCAU (ex CHSY).

FIGURES 16–19. Male genitalia of Ovipennis spp. Depositories of the specimens dissected: 16 in CHSY; 17 in SCAU; 18 in WIGJ (ex CAV); 19 in CAV.

FIGURES 24–29. Female genitalia of Ovipennis spp. Depositories of the specimens dissected: 24 and 29 in CHSY; 25, 27 and 28 in CKC; 26 in CAV.

FIGURES 33–38. Live adults (Figs 33–37) and habitat (Fig. 38) of Ovipennis spp. 33 and 34, O. bicolora, China, Mt. Omei (photo by Si-Yao Huang); 35 and 36, O. regina sp. n., China, Yunnan (photo by Hong-wei Zhang); 37, O. hanae sp. n., China, Yunnan (photo by Hong-wei Zhang); 38, Qingyinge, Mt. Emei, Sichuan, the habitat in the type locality of O. bicolora.