Aulocera longanfua Lang 2021
Creators: name: Lang, Song-Yun
name: Huang, Si-Yao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nymphalidae
Aulocera
Aulocera longanfua

description: Aulocera longanfua Lang, 2021
(Figs. 7, 8, 20, 29 d, 30 d, 31 d)
Aulocera pygmaea: Lang (nec Holik), 2019: 149, figs. 28, 29.
Aulocera longanfua Lang, 2021: 24, figs. 10–14. TL: Huangtu-liang Pass, Pingwu, Sichuan; H. Huang, 2021: 354; Lang, 2022: 120, pl. XI: 10–12.
Material examined. Holotype: ♂, Holotype of Aulocera longanfua Lang, China: Sichuan, Pingwu, Huangtu-liang Pass, 3300 m, 30.VII.2018, leg. S. Y. Lang (CQMNH); paratypes: 3 ♂♂ 1 ♀, Paratypes of Aulocera longanfua Lang, same collecting data, leg. S. Y. Lang & J. Hou (LSY).
Diagnosis. Aulocera longanfua can be separated from the related A. sybillina by the combination of the following characters: 1) in the male, on the forewing underside, the white postdiscal spots are much smaller; 2) on the forewing upperside, the male brand is narrower and situated further separated from the white postdiscal spots in the spaces 1b, 2 and 3, whereas it is broader and nearly attached to the white spots in A. sybillina; 3) in the female, on the hindwing upperside, the white discal band is much narrower; 4) the lamina of the androconium (Fig. 31d) is obviously slenderer than those of A. sybillina (Figs. 31a–c); 5) in the male genitalia, the valva (Fig. 30d) is shorter and narrower than that of A. sybillina (Figs. 30e–h).
Aulocera longanfua is also very similar to the nominate subspecies of A. pygmaea but can be distinguished from it by the combination of the following characters: 1) in the female, the white discal spots on both sides are smaller; 2) on the hindwing upperside, the white discal band is discrete in the spaces 1, 2 and 3, whereas it is more continuous in A. pygmaea; 3) on the hindwing, the white discal band in the spaces 1b to 3 is curved on both sides, whereas it is nearly straight in A. pygmaea; 4) the base of the lamina of the androconium (Fig. 31d) is wider and the distal stalk is somewhat longer, whereas it is gradually narrowing towards the basal stalk in A. pygmaea (Fig. 31f); 5) in the male genitalia, the subdistal section of the valva (Fig. 30d) is somewhat narrower than that of A. pygmaea (Fig. 30a). From the sympatric A. pygmaea vadimi, it can be distinguished by further characters in addition to those mentioned above: 1) in the male, on the forewing upperside, the brand is present, whereas it is absent or vestigial in A. pygmaea vadimi; 2) on the forewing upperside, the discal spots are usually larger; 3) in the female, on the forewing upperside, the discal spots are smaller.
Remarks. Sakai et al. (2001) mentioned a record of Aulocera sybillina with the data as “Pingwu (Pingwu-Jiuzhaigou) (3,300 m), Sungqu (Songpan County), 16.VIII.1987 ” without any further comment. Although the information seems vague, the site “Pingwu-Jiuzhaigou, 3,300 m ” is clearly the same as Huangtu-liang Pass which is of the same altitude and is the type locality of A. longanfua and A. pygmaea vadimi. However, the collecting date is half a month later than that of A. longanfua and A. pygmaea vadimi. Since Sakai et al. (2001) did not illustrate any specimen with the above information, it is not known whether this record is the true sybillina or just a longanfua.
Distribution. China (N. Sichuan).
description: Published as part of Lang, Song-Yun & Huang, Si-Yao, 2023, Notes on Aulocera pygmaea (Holik, 1949) and its related taxa (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), pp. 555-572 in Zootaxa 5357 (4) on pages 566-570, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5357.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/10064792