Pelagodes paraveraria Han & Xue, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Han, Hongxiang
name: Xue, Dayong
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Pelagodes
Pelagodes paraveraria

description: Pelagodes paraveraria Han & Xue, sp. nov.
Figs 14, 33, 51, 73
Description. Head: Antenna in male bipectinate for more than basal two-thirds, filiform terminally. Unknown in female. Frons green, rough-scaled. Labial palpus green, the third segment tinged with reddish brown, ventral surface white. Vertex with anterior half white, posterior half deep bluish green. Thorax: Dorsal side of thorax deep bluish green. Hind tibia with two pairs of spurs. Forewing length: 319 mm. Wings deep bluish green, diffused with white striations. Apex of forewing bluntly quadrate, that of hind wing protruding. Outer margin of forewing slightly curved, that of hind wing forming a distinct protrusion on M3 end. Forewing with antemedial line slightly curved from costa to inner margin, slightly bending inwards on anal fold; postmedial line almost straight, slightly sinuous, especially near vein M. Hind wing with postmedial line bending outwards below M3 and wavy to inner margin. Fringes of both wings yellow. Abdomen: Dorsal side of abdomen deep bluish green, yellow after discoloration. The male eighth segment modified, with tergite roundly protruding, and sternite bearing two large, strongly curved lateral processes, with a small diverging subapical branch; middle of posterior margin strongly sclerotized and protruding. Male genitalia: Uncus slender, tapering. Socii very broad, rounded. Gnathos with small basal protrusion and slender median process. Valva with basal half broad and distal half narrow, blunt terminally; costal extension subapical, slender, smooth, recurved, projecting beyond apex of valva. Juxta almost quadrate, a pair of blade-like processes medially on posterior margin, with ventral margin serrate. Aedeagus very short and broad; cornutus a slender process. Female genitalia: Unknown.
Material examined. Holotype 3, CHINA: Yunnan (IZCAS): Xishuangbanna, Bubeng, 700 m, 14.IX.1993, coll. Xu Huanli (Slide No. 619). Paratype: Yunnan (IZCAS): Xishuangbanna, Bubeng, 700 m, 14.IX.1993, coll. Yang Longlong, 13.
Diagnosis. In the male genitalia, the pair of the blade-like processes on the juxta are acute and similar to that of P. veraria (Guenée, 1858) (Java), but are blunt in P. waterstradti Holloway, 1996 (Borneo). The costal extensions of these three species are different. It is much longer and extends beyond the end of the valva in P. paraveraria and P. waterstradti, but is much shorter in P. veraria, broader in P. paraveraria and slender in P. waterstradti. The cornutus of P. paraveraria is identical to that of P. veraria, but it is much broader and shorter in P. waterstradti. The male eighth sternite is also different in these species: the lateral processes are bifurcate in P. paraveraria and P. veraria, but have three branches in P. waterstradti. However the longer branch is shorter in P. paraveraria, compared to the much longer branch in P. veraria.
Distribution. China (Yunnan).
Etymology. The specific name is from the Latin prefix para- and the species name veraria, which means similar to veraria.
description: Published as part of Han, Hongxiang & Xue, Dayong, 2011, Thalassodes and related taxa of emerald moths in China (Geometridae, Geometrinae), pp. 26-50 in Zootaxa 3019 on page 36, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.205134