Barsine defecta Walker 1854
Creators: name: Huang, Si-Yao
name: Volynkin, Anton V.
name: Černý, Karel
name: Wang, Min
name: Fan, Xiao-Ling
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Barsine
Barsine defecta

description: Barsine defecta Walker, 1854
(Figs 29–32, 69–70)
Barsine defecta Walker 1854: 546 (Type locality: [Nepal] “Nepaul”).
Barsine defecta defecta Walker: Volynkin & Černý 2017c: 19, figs 1–7, 27, 35.
Barsine defecta rubella Volynkin & Černý 2017c: 23, figs 8–9, 28, 36.
Material examined. Barsine defecta defecta: CHINA. 1 ♂, altitude 1390m, 27.IX.2010, 29°34′596″N, 95°28′026″E, 96K, Motuo County, Linzhi Division, Xizang Autonomous Prefecture, P. R. China, leg. Hai-ming Xu (SCAU); Additional material: 248 specimens of both sexes from Nepal, N and NE India and N Myanmar (MWM / ZSM; NHMUK, CKC). NEPAL. 1 ♂, Mechi, Taplejung area, Tamur valley, 2 km N. Sinwa, 1100 m, 87°43′E, 27°24′N, 23.X.1996, leg. Gy. M. László & G. Ronkay (MWM / ZSM). Barsine defecta rubella: Holotype: ♂, altitude 1390 m, 12–16. V.1999, 27°15′N, 98°55′E, 42 km N. of Fugong, Nujiang Lisu & Dulong Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, P. R. China, leg. Ronald Brechlin, slide MWM 31622 Volynkin (MWM / ZSM); Paratypes: 13 ♂, 42 ♀ listed by Volynkin & Černý (2017c) (MWM / ZSM); 3 ♂, 2 ♀, altitude 2130 m, 30.VII.2017, Pailong Village, Linzhi County, Linzhi Division, Xizang Autonomous Region, P. R. China, leg. Si-yao Huang, Shu-qing Ji, Fu-hong Wei & Shi-fang Mo (SCAU).
Diagnosis. Externally, ♂ of the nominate subspecies can be distinguished from those of B. d. rubella Volynkin & Černý, 2017 (Figs 20, 45) by the narrower forewing, narrower red pattern elements on forewing, and forewing and hindwing upperside ground color being pale yellow (in B. d. rubella the forewing is broader, red pattern elements of forewing are wider, ground color is deep yellow on forewing upperside and pinkish on hindwing upperside). The differences between B. defecta defecta and B. gratissima are listed by Volynkin & Černý (2017c) and additionally discussed in the ‘Diagnosis’ chapter under Barsine gratissima below.
Distribution. China * (SE Xizang, NW Yunnan), Nepal (Kishida 1993; 1994), N and NE India (Kirti & Singh 2016), N Myanmar (Volynkin & Černý 2017c).
Remarks. 1. Fang (2000) recorded B. defecta from Jinxiu County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Huaxi District, Guiyang City in Guizhou Province and Mangshi Town and Yunlong County in Yunnan Province, but nearly all these records are not true B. defecta. The first author has examined some specimens of “ B. defecta ” from these sites in the collection of IZCAS and a brief report is given below: The record from Jinxiu County and Huaxi District should be attributed to B. wangi Volynkin, Huang, Dubatolov & Kishida, 2019; the record from Yunlong County should be attributed to B. cacharensis Singh & Kirti, 2016 and the specimens from Mangshi Town were not located in the collection. Thus B. defecta defecta (figs 30, 69) is reliably recorded from China for the first time herein and its distribution range is restricted in southeastern Xizang. 2. B. defecta rubella is originally described from Nujiang Prefecture, Fugong County located in NW Yunnan province. The first author also collected this taxon in Pailong village (in the Yigong-Tongmai-Pailong area) (figs 32, 70) located in the north of the Great Himalaya, while B. defecta defecta is found in 96K (in the Motuo area) located in the south of the Great Himalaya. It might seem that these two subspecies are well isolated from each other by the Great Himalaya, but actually this mountain range does not form any geographic barrier, as the Yigong-Tongmai-Pailong area is connected with Motuo area by the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. These two areas usually share the same species of butterflies also (Huang 1998), but without subdivision into different subspecies. The similar situation is expectable in other groups of Lepidoptera including Lithosiini. Ranges of B. defecta defecta and B. defecta rubella may overlap somewhere in the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, what may support a specific or a synonymic status of rubella. To clarify this question, fresh materials on B. d. defecta for molecular studies are necessary.
description: Published as part of Huang, Si-Yao, Volynkin, Anton V., Černý, Karel, Wang, Min & Fan, Xiao-Ling, 2019, Contribution to the knowledge on the genus Barsine Walker, 1854 from mainland China and Indochina, with description of a new species (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini), pp. 495-516 in Zootaxa 4711 (3) on page 503, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4711.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/3586611