Pheosia liwangi Prozorov, Schintlmeister & Muller 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Prozorov, Alexey M.
name: Schintlmeister, Alexander
name: Morozov, Pavel S.
name: Yakovlev, Roman V.
name: Müller, Günter C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Notodontidae
Pheosia
Pheosia liwangi

description: Pheosia liwangi Prozorov, Schintlmeister & Müller sp. nov.
http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 80BCFA96-1901-481C-991B-5BC661E1A925
(Figs 11–13, 20–22, 29–31)
Holotype: ♂, China, East-Tibet, Taba, 3.900 m, 18.06.1996, leg. W. Fickler, GS 2023 0735 (CGM).
Paratypes (4♂♂, 4♀♀): ♂, same data as HT (CGM); 2♂, China, East-Tibet, Prov. Qamdo, Toba, 4000 m, 26.6.1991, leg. W. Fickler, GS 2024 0734 (CGM); ♀, China, East-Tibet, Prov. Bayi, Rawu, 4000 m, 17.6.1991, leg. W. Fickler, GS 2024 0736 (CGM); 2♀♀ East-Tibet, Rawu, 29°30.37 N, 96°45.19E, 3900 m, 19. vi. 2021, leg. S. Pfizmayer (CAS); ♀, Tibet, Nyingchi, 3000 m, viii. 1977 (CAS).
Description. Male (Figs 11–12). Flagellum covered with straw and brown scales. Head, meta- and mesothorax speckled brown; tegulae speckled straw and black. Abdomen orangish brown with darker sides and lighter colored tip. Forewing. Forewing length: 23–26 mm. Of blunt triangle shape, straight along costa, with rounded apex and wavy outer margin. Of dark brown and white shades: basal field divided by dark brown line into brown and basal straw areas; brown line heads towards tornal angle and interrupted with white stroke in the basis of blurred vague antemedial line; medial field dark brown with wavy borders; submarginal field brown with dark strokes on veins and light-colored speckles between them; light-colored costal and apical areas interrupted with dark strokes and sparsely covered with dark scales. Fringe speckled, scales of white and various brown shades, basally dark brown. Hindwing. Somewhat of triangle shape with convex and slightly wavy outer margin. Of brown shades; submarginal field lighter colored than medial field, both divided by more or less pronounced light colored blurred medial line; tornal angle covered with speckled dark brown and whitish scales with short transversal whitish stroke continued as medial line. Fringe speckled light and dark brown, almost evenly dark brown along tornal angle. Genitalia (Figs 20–22). Uncus of a ginkgo leaf shape with more or less pronounced mediodistal concavity and wide stem, laterobasally bears one pair of socii. Socii with broad base, long, finger-shaped, flat, apically rounded. Distal part of uncus and socii sparsely covered with setae. Tegumen and vinculum form ring connected ventrally to cup-like saccus. Valva semioval, sparsely covered with setae; costa distally bears short claw-like extension with blunt apex. Juxta a wide ring surrounding phallus. Phallus cone-like with pair of medioapical claw-like slightly c- or s-shaped extensions. Vesica compact bag-like. Ductus ejaculatoris slightly more sclerotised near exit from vesica. Female (Fig. 13). Nearly identical to male in coloration and shape of wings, but larger, and having shorter rami. Forewing length: 29.5 mm. Genitalia (Fig. 29). Papillae anales somewhat pyramidal, densely covered with setae. Apophyses anteriores very short with large base, while apophyses posteriores slender and about 6 times longer. Antevaginal plate reduced, thick soft membrane covers ostium instead, this membrane of semiround shape with long apical extension. Postvaginal plate somewhat rectangle with wrinkled posterior margin, has wrinkled bump-like protrusion near ostium. Ductus bursae c-shaped, elongated, about the same length with corpus bursae. Corpus bursae ovoid with barely pronounced medial signum. Signum of two nearly equal slightly sclerotized circular parts.
Diagnosis. Pheosia liwangi sp. nov. differs from:
1) Ph. gelupka with slightly broader fore wings, darker hind wings (compare Figs 11–13 and 1–3), smaller male genitalia, shorter uncus, shorter dents on valvae, thinner mediolateral extensions of phallus (compare Figs 20–22 and 14–15), the presence of apical extension of membrane covering ostium, less wrinkled postvaginal plate, distinct shape of protrusion near ostium, and a less pronounced signum (compare Figs 29 and 23–24);
2) Ph. buddhista with larger size (compare Figs 11–13 and 4–7), presence of apical extension of membrane covering ostium, distinct shape of protrusion near ostium (compare Figs 29 and 25–26), distribution in coniferous forests instead of alpine steppes, shrublands and meadows (Figs 18–19);
3) Ph. mayri with slightly lighter coloration and larger average size (compare Figs 11–13 and 8–10), presence of apical extension of membrane covering ostium, distinct shape of protrusion near ostium (compare Figs 29 and 27–28), is predominantly distributed in coniferous forests instead of alpine steppes, shrublands and meadows (Figs 18–19).
Biology and distribution. Pheosia liwangi was collected from altitudes of approximately 3000–4500 meters in Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests, Northeast Himalayan subalpine conifer forests, Hengduan Mountains subalpine conifer forests, and Southeast Tibet Shrublands and Meadows (Figs 18–19; Carpenter, 2024a, 2024b, 2024c, 2024d).
Etymology. The new species is named in honor to our colleague and friend, Prof. Dr. Liwang Cui (University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA), one of the world’s leading medical entomologists.
description: Published as part of Prozorov, Alexey M., Schintlmeister, Alexander, Morozov, Pavel S., Yakovlev, Roman V. & Müller, Günter C., 2024, Pheosia liwangi-a new species from coniferous forests of southeastern Tibet (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae, Notodontinae), pp. 169-176 in Zootaxa 5538 (2) on pages 170-175, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5538.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/14611636