Acronicta (Viminia) metaxantha Volynkin & Matov & Han 2017, stat. rev.
Creators: name: Volynkin, Anton V.
name: Matov, Alexej Yu.
name: Han, Hui-Lin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Acronicta
Acronicta metaxantha

description: Acronicta (Viminia) metaxantha (Hampson, 1909), stat. rev., bona sp.
(Figs 1–3, 13, 14, 16, 19)
Acronycta metaxantha Hampson 1909, Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum, 8: 139, Pl. 126, fig. 17 (Type
locality: [East China, Zhejiang] Chia-kou-ho).
Type material examined. Syntype (Fig. 1): ♂, printed label "Chia-Kou-Ho, 1700 ft., A.E. Pratt coll., July 1889 " / handwritten label " Acronycta metaxantha type male. Hmpsn." / printed label "Leech Coll. 1900–64 " / printed label with QR-code "BMNH(E) 1377134" / round white label with red ring "Type" (coll. NHMUK).
Other material examined. 1 ♂, China, Shaanxi, Taibai Shan, 33°53' N, 107°49' E, March 2000, 1500 m, leg. Local collector, ex coll. Victor Siniaev / Gen. 3027 / ex coll. A.V. Nekrasov (coll. ZISP); 1 ♀, China, Shaanxi, Taibai Shan, 33°53' N, 107°49' E, June, 1500–1800 m, leg. Siniaev & Plutenko / ex coll. A.V. Nekrasov (coll. ZISP); 2 ♂, 1 ♀, China, Shuangliu County, Sichuan Prov., 20.vii.2010, Acr-001, Acr-004, leg. GH Huang (coll. CGH); 2 ♂, same data (coll. NEFU).
Slides 0396 Matov, HGH089 Huang, hhl-3358, hhl-3359 Han (males); 0403 Matov (female)
Note. A. metaxantha has been erroneously synonymized with A. digna (Butler, 1881) by Han & Kononenko (2010) on the basis of examination of a type specimen picture. Both taxa have more or less similar forewing pattern, but A. digna has whitish (spring generation (Fig. 7)) or grayish brown (late summer generation (Figs. 4–6)) hindwings, whereas metaxantha (Figs. 1–3) has conspicuously yellow hindwings with dark border. Examination of genitalia of the specimens from China externally identical to metaxantha syntype (Fig. 1) showed differences in the genitalia of both sexes from those of digna. For this reason, A. metaxantha is revived here as a distinct species.
Diagnosis. A. metaxantha (Figs 1–3) is externally similar to A. lutea (Fig. 8) and A. digna (Figs. 4–7), but differs from the first one by the more brownish ground colour of forewings, the somewhat more distinct pattern, presence of dark narrow fields in hind parts of the medial and subterminal areas, and the more diffuse dark terminal band on hindwings; from A. digna it differs clearly by the somewhat narrower forewing with more rounded apex, the more brownish ground colour of forewings, the more diffuse pattern, the broader reniform stigma, the stronger dentate postmedial line with less whitish outer area, and the yellow ground colour of hindwings. The male genitalia of A. metaxantha (Figs 13, 14, 16) are very close to those of A. digna (Figs 9–12, 15), but differ by the aedeagus structure: in A. metaxantha the distal part of aedeagus is much broader than in A. digna, in A. digna the subbasal diverticulum has two large well developed lobes while the second lobe of A. metaxantha is very small or absent, distal cornuti on the vesica of A. metaxantha are much larger than those of A. digna. The female genitalia of the two taxa are very similar, but in A. metaxantha (Fig. 19) the apophyses anteriores are shorter, the anterior part of ductus bursae near the connection with corpus bursae is broader, the corpus bursae is somewhat smaller.
Distribution. The species is known from central and eastern parts of China.
description: Published as part of Volynkin, Anton V., Matov, Alexej Yu. & Han, Hui-Lin, 2017, On the taxonomy of the genus Acronicta (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). IV. Acronicta digna species-complex, pp. 189-194 in Zootaxa 4344 (1) on page 193, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4344.1.13, http://zenodo.org/record/1042247