Lethe sunglam Huang, Lang & Müller, 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Huang, Si-Yao
name: Lang, Song-Yun
name: Müller, Günter C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nymphalidae
Lethe
Lethe sunglam

description: Lethe sunglam sp. nov.
Figs 1–4, 31–33, 47, 57
Type material. Holotype (figs. 1, 31, 47a): male, printed white label “ VIETNAM (N), Provinz Lao Cai, Mt. Fan Si Pan, Sa Pa, Regenwald (Rainforest), 2200–2600 m, Mai–Juli 2004, leg. Einheimische Sammler (local collector)”, handwritten label “GMSa01” (genitalia & androconia preparation No.) (CGM, will be deposited in a public collection later). Paratype: 1 male, 1 female, Nordvietnam (North Vietnam), Prov. Lao Cai, Sa Pa, Mt. Fan Si Pan, 1700–2000 m, Juli August 2005, leg. einheimische Sammler (local collector), genitalia & androconia preparation No. GMSa02 (male) & specimen No. GMSa04 (female) (CGM); 1 male, same data as in holotype, genitalia & androconia prep. No. GMSa03 (CGM).
Diagnosis. Lethe sunglam sp. nov. is reminiscent of L. baoshana H. Huang, Wu & Yuan, 2003 from west Yunnan and southwest Sichuan (figs. 5, 34, 48, 58) and L. fasciata Seitz, 1907 from west and southwest Sichuan (figs. 6–8, 35, 36, 49, 50, 59) in sharing similar size, wing shape and coloration, but it can be readily distinguished from the congeners by the presence the black patches in spaces 4 and 5 as well as the broader male brand on the forewing upperside in male. In male genitalia, the new species can be distinguished from both congeners by the smoothly curved middle section of the uncus and the straight dorsal margin from the middle section to the distal end of the uncus, while in its congeners the middle section of the uncus is more or less protruded dorsally and formed a bulge, and the dorsal margin is concaved from the middle section to the distal end of the uncus. In addition, from dorsal view, the distal end of the uncus is broader in the new species. The androconia of the new species (fig. 46) are indistinguishable from those of L. fasciata and longer than those of L. baoshana.
Description. Male. Length of forewing 26–28 mm (n= 3, 28 mm in holotype). Antenna dorsally black with its tip dull yellow, ventrally dusted with white at the base of each segment in basal one third, ocherous brown in distal two thirds and subapically suffused with black. Head, thorax and abdomen brown dorsally. Upperside of forewing ground color brown and darker in basal section and the apex. Male brand well-developed, extending from veins 1b to 4 and continued by an obscure, pale black band from veins 4 to 7. Subapical spots present, obsolete. Cilia chequered with white and brown. Upperside of hindwing ground color as forewing, with an obsolete postdiscal band from costa to vein 2 and a series of black spots from spaces 3 to 7. Cilia as in forewing. Underside of forewing ground color yellowish brown. Cell crossed by two pale blackish brown streaks with the inner one much broader than the outer one. Postdiscal band pale blackish brown, outlined with an obsolete and diffused pale band. Subapical patch pale purplish white, well-developed, presented in spaces 6 and 7, sometimes also in space 8. Submarginal band slender, pale yellowish white and extended from vein 8 to space 1b. Hindwing underside ground color as in forewing. Several irregular and sinuated purplish white short lines presented from subbasal to medial area. Postdiscal band pale brown, convex at vein 4 and in space 2 and concave in space 3. A series of ocelli extending from spaces 2 to 7, all ringed with pale purplish white, and with the one in space 2 bipupilled. Submarginal line waved, pale purplish white. Marginal line brown. Female. Length of forewing 28.5 mm (n=1). Similar to male, but upperside ground color more yellowish, and the postmedial line presented in spaces 1b to 3. Underside ground color more yellowish, patterns same as in male.
Male genitalia. Tegumen simple. Uncus moderately long, about 1.5× the length of tegumen, bent downwards near its base and swollen in the middle section. Gnathos almost three fourths of the length of uncus, gradually narrowed towards the distal end. Saccus short, swollen at the distal end. Valva about twice the length of uncus, broad at base and gradually narrowed towards the tip. Tip of valva in dorsal view bent inwards, bearing small denticles distally. Aedeagus simple, about two thirds the length of valva, slightly S-like curved.
Distribution. Mt. Fansipan, northern Vietnam (Fig. 64).
Etymology. The specific epithet sunglam is derived from the ancient Vietnamese king Sùng Lãm, also known as Lạc Long Quân in Vietnamese mythology.
description: Published as part of Huang, Si-Yao, Lang, Song-Yun & Müller, Günter C., 2024, On the taxonomy of the genus Lethe Hübner (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea, Nymphalidae, Satyrinae) with description of a new species, pp. 59-73 in Zootaxa 5538 (1) on pages 60-62, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5538.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/14611457