Nemophora fuscomaculella Kozlov 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kozlov, Mikhail V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Adelidae
Nemophora
Nemophora fuscomaculella

description: Nemophora fuscomaculella Kozlov, sp. nov.
(Figs. 52‒54, 100, 131, 161)
LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 0E15B800-4773-4678-9C76-06FCE659EC5F
Holotype ♁: India, Meghalaya, Cherrapunji (25°16′ N, 91°42′ E); labeled: 8 mm circle with red border, print ‘Holo-│ type’; 4 × 17 mm, brown paper, black ink ‘ Cherrapunji’; 12 × 16 mm, print ‘ INDIA: │ Khasias Hills │ Doherty 1898–9 │ Walsingham │ collection │ B. M. 1910–427’; 7 × 13 mm, print ‘B. M. │ Genitalia slide │ No. 30664’; 8 × 22 mm, print ‘ HOLOTYPE ♁ │ Nemophora fusco- │ maculella Kozlov’. Paratypes. All paratypes (14 ♁ 6 ♀) bear the labels: 8 mm circle with yellow border, print ‘Para- │ type’; 8 × 22 mm, print ‘ PARATYPE ♁ [or ♀]│ Nemophora fusco- │ maculella Kozlov’. 1 ♁ 1 ♀, labeled: 12 × 16 mm, print ‘ INDIA: │ Khasias Hills │ Doherty 1898–9 │ Walsingham │ collection │ B. M. 1910–427’. 1 ♁, labelled: 9 × 13 mm, print ‘ INDIA; ASSAM: │ Khasias Hills │ Doherty 1898-9 │ Wlsm. Coll. │ B. M. 1910–427’; 7 × 13 mm, print ‘B. M. │ Genitalia slide │ No. 30665’. 1 ♁, labeled: 4 × 17 mm, brown paper, black ink ‘ Cherrapunji’; 12 × 16 mm, print ‘ INDIA: │ Khasias Hills │ Doherty 1898–9 │ Walsingham │ collection │ B. M. 1910–427’. 1 ♁, labeled: 9 × 16 mm, print ‘ Mao, N. Manipur │ Aug. 5000-7000ft. │ ASSAM │ Doherty, 1889. │ No. ’; 7 × 11 mm, print ‘ Walsingham │ Collection. │ B. M. 1910-427’; 8 × 18 mm, black ink + print ‘ Lychnites Typ │ aurocincta │W ♁ │ Named by Wlsm. ’; 7 × 13 mm, print ‘B. M. │ Genitalia slide │ No. 29455’. 2 ♁, labeled: 7 × 14 mm, print ‘ NEPAL: 1700m │ Kathmandu │ Godaveri │ vii.1982 ’; 3 × 12 mm, print ‘ M. G. Allen │ BM 1982–428’; 7 × 13 mm, print ‘B. M. │ Genitalia slide │ No. 29454 [or 31077]’ (all in NHM). 1 ♁, labeled: 6 × 4 mm, black ink ‘ Indes │ Mocq. ’. 1 ♁, labeled: 6 × 4 mm, black ink ‘Khas[i]. H[ills]. │ 7-8-[18]99’ (both in MNHN). 1 ♁, labeled: 7 × 18 mm, yellow paper, print ‘ Sikkim, Himalaya │ Mt. Kanchenjunga │ 1800m, vii.1995 │ leg. Siniaef & Afonin’; 8 × 15 mm, yellow paper, print ‘ Zool. Mus. │ Berlin’ (ZMHB). 1 ♀, 10 × 18 mm, print + black ink ‘ Staatsslg. │ München [along the left label margin] │ Nepal │ Prov.Nr. 2 East │ Jiri 2000m │ 11.VIII.1964 │ leg. W. Dierl’ (ZSMC). 1 ♁, 10 × 18 mm, print + black ink ‘ Staatsslg. │ München [along the left label margin] │ Nepal │ Prov.Nr. 2 East │ Jiri 2000m │ 12.VIII.1964 │ leg. W. Dierl’ (ZSMC). 1 ♁, 10 × 18 mm, print + black ink ‘ Staatsslg. │ München [along the left label margin] │ Nepal │ Kathmandu Valley │ Godavari 1600–1800m │ 1.VIII.1967 │ leg. W. Dierl’ (ZSMC). 1 ♀, 10 × 18 mm, print + black ink ‘ Staatsslg. │ München [along the left label margin] │ Nepal │ Kathmandu Valley │ Godavari 1600–1800m │ 4.VIII.1967 │ leg. W. Dierl’ (ZSMC). 1 ♁, 10 × 18 mm, print + black ink ‘ Staatsslg. │ München [along the left label margin] │ Nepal │ Prov.Nr. 3 East │ Junbesi 2750m │ 25.–31.VII.1964 │ leg. W. Dierl’. 1 ♁ 1 ♀, 8 × 18 mm, print ‘ NEPAL: BAGMATI │ Kathmandu Valley │ Godawari, 1500–2000m │ 14–16.ix.1983 │ Ent. Inst. Hokk. Univ. ’ (SEHU). 1 ♁ 1 ♀, 8 × 18 mm, print ‘ NEPAL: BAGMATI │ Kathmandu Valley │ Kakani, alt. 2000 m │ 30.vii.1983 │ Ent. Inst. Hokk. Univ. ’ (SEHU). 1 ♀, 6 × 11 mm, black frame, print ‘ Nepal Central │ 15 km SE Kathmandu │ 1800m mixed forest │ 28.8.1995 ad lucem │ A. Wikberg leg.’ (MZH).
Diagnosis. Nemophora fuscomaculella is closest to N. fletcherella (Fig. 57), from which it differs by the presence of the dark brown costal stripe in the apical part of the forewing, larger compound eyes in males and bifurcate apex of phallus.
Description. Male (Figs. 52, 53). FWL 7.0–8.0 mm, WLR 0.32–0.36. Vertex with raised ochreous piliform scales; frons yellow to light ochreous.PLB 0.55–0.75 × vertical eye diameter (0.9‒1.1 × length of scape), pale yellow, sometimes with a few dark brown piliform scales. Proboscis light brown, base covered with yellow scales. Eyes enlarged, but not touching each other; interocular index 1.15–1.40; occipital distance 0.08–0.28. Antenna 2.6–3.2 × FWL; pegs absent. Scape glossy bronze, internal surface pale ochreous to yellow; basal part of flagellum glossy bronze, in some specimens with coppery tint; proximal 10–12 flagellomeres with semi-erect dark bronze piliform scales on dorsal side; colour of flagellum gradually turns to white between 0.4 and 0.8 × FWL. Tegulae and thorax glossy golden to bronze. Forewing (Fig. 100) glossy bronze, in some specimens apically with coppery tint. Forewing base with relatively long dark brown costal stripe reaching 0.15–0.20 × FWL. Fascia consists of a wide bright yellow band bordered on both sides by thin dark brown lines usually reaching dorsal wing margin; internal margin of fascia at 0.40 × FWL. Costal margin at 0.65 × FWL with dark brown spot of variable size: from a large, distinct, expanding to 0.35 × forewing width from costa, to small, diffuse, almost indistinct. Termen between CuA1 and CuA2 veins suffused with dark brown scales. Fringe bronze. Hindwing brown with bronze or coppery lustre; costal area grey; fringe brown to grey. Legs brown to glossy bronze; tibiae yellow ventrally; tarsomeres 1 and 2 yellow, except for brown apices. Fore tibia with large tuft of dark brown to coppery scales; hind tibia with long piliform pale yellow scales. Epiphysis at 0.40–0.45, not reaching apex of tibia. Abdomen dorsally brown with slight bronze tint; ventrally glossy bronze.
Female (Fig. 54). FWL 6.2–6.8 mm. Antenna 1.35–1.75 × FWL, basal 0.4 densely covered with semi-erect dark brown, purplish shimmered scales; apex brown. Otherwise similar to male.
Male genitalia (Figs. 131, 161). Tegumen dome-shaped, with almost flat tip and weak to prominent medial ridge. Socii elongate, 1.2 × diameter of phallus. Vinculum 2.4–2.9 × length of valva, V-shaped, with slightly convex lateral margins; distal margin medially with distinct triangular protuberance. Tips of valvae substantially (for 0.15– 0.25 × valvar length) extend beyond tip of tegumen. Ventral margin of valva with prominent (0.70‒0.85 × valvar length) lobe; dorsal valvar margin almost straight; tip of valva rounded. Valvae fused basally to 0.1–0.2 × length of valva; their internal margins distinct.Anellus 0.30‒0.45 × length of valva. Transtilla with long medial process. Juxta 0.50‒0.55 × length of phallus; arrow head moderately wide (WLR 0.45–0.55), with pointed to narrowly rounded tip and short pointed lateral arms. Phallus 0.95–1.10 × length of vinculum, S-shaped, with two weakly sclerotized short carinae articulated at 0.65 × length of phallus (counting from its base); base of phallus narrowly funnel-shaped; tip bifurcate, right processes 0.6–0.7 × length of left process, directed posterolaterally.
Distribution. India (Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim), Nepal.
Etymology. The specific epithet is derived from fuscus (Latin: dark) and macula (Latin: spot) and refers to a characteristic trait of forewing pattern.
Comments. Although Walsingham labelled one of paratypes as a holotype of a new species ‘ Lychnites aurocincta ’, he never published the description of this genus and species. The species is variable in both wing pattern and male genitalia. In particular, males from Nepal differ from Indian specimens by larger occipital distance, smaller interocular index, longer PLB and bronze internal surface of scape, which is suffused with only a few yellow scales. However, I was unable to discover any consistent differences in male genitalia between males from Nepal and India.
description: Published as part of Kozlov, Mikhail V., 2023, Fairy moths of the genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg, 1798 (Lepidoptera: Adelidae) of India and Sri Lanka, pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 5300 (1) on pages 42-43, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5300.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8012772