Paragalope Huang, Horie, Fan, Wang & Espeland, 2023, gen. n.
Creators: name: Huang, Si-Yao
name: Horie, Kiyoshi
name: Fan, Xiao-Ling
name: Wang, Min
name: Espeland, Marianne
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Zygaenidae
Paragalope

description: Paragalope S.-Y. Huang & Horie, gen. n.
(Figs 15–44, 56–60, 76–87, 98–104, 112–118)
Type species: Chelura pica Wileman, 1910, by present designation.
Diagnosis. Small to large-sized moth with well-developed blackish markings on forewing. The combination of the following features is diagnostic: 1) Forewing veins M 2 and M 3 stalked. 2) In male genitalia, the posterior tegumenal projection is triangular or plate-like in ventral view, usually bears granulation or wrinkle on the surface and a pair of anterior processes extending anteriorly in lateral view. 3) In lateral view, the uncus bends ventroposteriorly at a nearly right angle. 4) Subscaphium is well-sclerotized, U-shaped in ventral view. 5) Valva slender (medially ca 0.5 × juxta length), the subapical section of the sacculus swollens dorsally and bears a spiniform process (an autapomorphy). 6) Juxta is tongue-shaped, with or without dorsal branches. 7) In female genitalia the ostial plate/ lamella postvaginalis presents, usually long-triangular shape, blunt arrow-shaped or band-like.
By the forewing venation as well as the general appearance Paragalope gen. n. is similar to the genus Agalope, but the new genus can be distinguished from the latter by the combination of following characters: 1) On forewing, the orange patch is restricted to the base of the costa in Paragalope, while the wing base bears a much larger orange patch extending from costa to the base of cell 1A+2A in Agalope. 2) On forewing usually two clear transverse bands or one large and clearly defined blackish band present, while only one narrow and blurry transverse band presents on forewing in Agalope, and sometimes this band can be totally absent. 3) In the male genitalia, in ventral view the posterior tegumenal projection is rod-like, narrow and elongated, while that in Paragalope is generally plate-like, relatively short. 4) In lateral view, the uncus strongly bends ventroposteriorly at a nearly right angle, while in Agalope the uncus is straight or gently curved distally downwards. 5) In lateral view, in Paragalope the posterior tegumenal projection bears a pair of anterior process (Figs 56–60), while such process is absent in Agalope. 6) The subscaphium is sclerotized and U-shaped in ventral view in Paragalope, while it is membranous in Agalope. 7) The juxta is tongue-shaped with or without the dorsal branch, while it is U-shaped in Agalope. 8) The valva is elongated and dilated subapically, the sacculus swollens subapically and forms a spiniform process (an autapomorphy), while in Agalope the valva is shorter and broader, dilated medially, and the sacculus bears a distal process of its own or fuses with the sclerotized distal section of the costa distally and together form different types of distal processes. 9) The female genitalia bear an ostial plate/lamella postvaginalis, while such sclerotized plate is not discernible in Agalope.
Description. Forewing length 18–29 mm in males and 16–31 mm in females. Antennae bipectinate in both sexes. Head, thorax and abdomen nearly glabrous, with abdomen sometimes covered by thin piliform scales dorsally. Both wings thinly scaled and translucent. Forewing upperside ground color varying from greyish to yellowish, with base of costa marked with a small orange patch. Forewing usually with one transverse band in antemedial area and another one in medial area (in glacialis species-group only one broad and large pale black band is present). Veins usually darkened especially in postmedial area. Cilia pale black or grey. Hindwing upperside usually darkened distally, in glacialis species-group a black spot at end of discal cell and a marginal band present, sometimes an additional medial band present. Veins usually darkened. Cilia as in forewing. Eighth tergite nearly trapezoid or rectangular, with rounded posterior margin.
Male genitalia. Uncus nearly same width of tegumen at its basal section, its distal section varying from short to long, rounded or tongue-shaped, with tip sometimes slightly bilobated. Anterior margin of uncus usually strongly concave and forms a window. Subscaphium sclerotized and U-shaped. Tegumen in ventral view rectangular with rounded margins. Posterior tegumenal projection at least with inner surface rough, plate-like or triangular. Vinculum slender. Saccus broad U-shaped and rounded distally. Juxta elongated, tongue-shaped, unilobed or bilobated distally, in some species distal part of lobes covered by spinules on surface and lateral margins. Valva slender and distally dilated, costa strongly sclerotized in outer half; sacculus strongly sclerotized thoroughly, subapical section swollen dorsally and forming a spiniform process. Phallus broader at base and slightly narrowed towards distal end.
Female genitalia. Papillae anales slender. Apophysis posteriores much longer than apophysis anteriores, both strongly sclerotized. Ostial plate/lamella postvaginalis present, narrowly band-like, triangular or blunt arrow-shaped. Ostium bursae rounded. Ductus bursae membranous. Corpus bursae pyriform, membranous. Signa paired, strongly or weakly sclerotized, covered by spinules or granulation on surface.
Etymology. The generic name Paragalope is the aggregate of the Greek prefix “Para” meaning “resembling” and the generic name Agalope, referring to its similarities with the genus Agalope. Gender is feminine.
Distribution. Northeastern India, southwestern mainland China, Taiwan Island, Thailand, Vietnam and the Greater Sunda Islands (Java).
Species-groups: dejeani, pica and glacialis.
Species composition
P. ardjuna (Roepke, 1936) comb. nov.
P. aurelia (Oberthür, 1923) comb. nov.
P. basiflava (Moore, 1879b) comb. nov.
P. bieti (Oberthür, 1886) comb. nov.
P. chayuensis (S.-Y. Huang & Pan, 2022) (in Huang et al. 2022) comb. nov.
P. dejeani (Oberthür, 1893) comb. nov.
P. glacialis glacialis (Moore, 1872) comb. nov.
P. glacialis parthenie (Jordan, 1907b) comb. nov.
P. glacialis angustifasciata (Hering, 1922) comb. nov.
P. glacialis postfasciata (Holloway, 2011) comb. nov.
P. haoi (S.-Y. Huang, 2022) (in Huang et al. 2022) comb. nov.
P. lucia (Oberthür, 1923) comb. nov.
P. owadai (S.-Y. Huang, 2022) (in Huang et al. 2022) comb. nov.
P. pica (Wileman, 1910) comb. nov. (Figs 25–28, 58, 78, 100, 115)
P. trimacula (Matsumura, 1927) comb. nov.
P. wangi (Owada, 1992) comb. nov.
Remarks. 1) The “8 th tergite” in the female genitalia of the pica species-group mentioned in Huang et al. (2022) and marked on figure 57 is actually the ostial plate/lamella postvaginalis. In the dejeani species-group the posterior end of the ductus bursae is sclerotized and forms an antrum (Figs 112–114), and the anterior end of the sclerite extends beyond it. In such circumstance this sclerite is better to be called “ostial plate” since it serves as one of the walls of the ostium bursae, although it is likely homologous with the lamella postvaginalis mentioned below. In pica and glacialis species-groups (Figs 115–118) the posterior end of the membranous ductus bursae is usually thickened and expanded, well-separated from the ostial plate and forms a funnel-shaped structure, and here this sclerotized plate meets the definition of a lamella postvaginalis, following the diagram of Klotz (1970). 2) After examining more female genitalia of different species in the genus Paragalope gen. n. as well as other closely related genera, we realized that the size and shape of the corpus bursae cannot serve as a specific character since it is totally membranous, which means its size and shape largely depends on the condition of each specimen as well as genitalia preparation procedure. We concluded that only the morphology of the ostial plate/ lamella postvaginalis, the structure around the ostium bursae and the morphology of the signa can be used to separate different species.
description: Published as part of Huang, Si-Yao, Horie, Kiyoshi, Fan, Xiao-Ling, Wang, Min & Espeland, Marianne, 2023, A review of the genus Agalope Walker (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae, Chalcosiinae) with taxonomic notes and descriptions of three new genera and three new species, pp. 291-321 in Zootaxa 5284 (2) on pages 300-303, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5284.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7923410