Deltote melaleuca Hampson 1910, comb. n.
Creators: name: Han, H. L.
name: Kononenko, V. S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Deltote
Deltote melaleuca

description: Deltote melaleuca (Hampson, 1910) comb. n.
(Figs. 5–7, 15, 21)
Lithacodia melaleuca Hampson, 1910, Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum, 10: 508, Pl. 164: 3, (Holotype: female, Central China, Chusan Is. [BMNH, London]).
Synonymy: Lithacodia shansiensis Berio, 1977 syn. n. Annali del Museo Civico de Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria, 81: 229, fig. 14, (holotype: male: China, South Shaanxi, Tsinling, Ta-pei-shan, ZFMK, Bonn).
References. Draudt 1950: 136 (Lithacodia melaleuca); Warren 1914: 227, Pl. 52, row b (Maliattha melaleuca); Poole, 1989: 594 (Lithacodia shansiensis), ibid.: 616 (Maliattha melaleuca); Hua, 2005: 231 (Lithacodia shansiensis).
Material examined. Type series of Lithacodia shansiensis: 1 male, Typus / Tapaishan im Tsiling, Sued Shensi, ca 1700 m 2.vii.1936. H. Höne/ Lithacodia shansiensis Berio. Typ. Male. Det Berio. Holotype of Lithacodia shansiensis Berio, 1977; 1 female Mien-shan (Prov. Shansi) Obere Höhe ca. 2000 m. 28.vi.1937. H. Höne/ Paratypus / Lithacodia shansiensis Berio, Allot. Det Berio, female; 1 male, Paratypus / Tapaishan im Tsiling, Sued Shensi, ca 1700 m 23.vi.1936. H. Höne/ Lithacodia shansiensis Berio. Parat. Male. Det Berio [ZFMK]. Other material examined: 19 specimens from Tapaishan, Hoengshan, Mokanshan, West Tienmushan, Wenchow (Coll. Höne), 1 male Kuatung [Guangsi) (coll. Klapperich) [ZFMK]; 2 males, Beijing, Xiaolongmen, 17.vii.2008, Han H.L. & Qui M.J. leg.; 1 male?Prov. Liaoning, Anshan, Qianshan Beauty Spot, 12.viii.2007 (leg. QY Yang, HL Han), slide No. HHL 3067-1; 1 male, Prov. Liaoning, Anshan, Qianshan Beauty Spot, 12.viii.2007 (leg. Q.Y. Yang, H.L. Han). [NEFU]; genitalia prep. China, male HHL- 3067-1; female HHL-1226-2.
Diagnosis. No one species among Palaearctic Eustrotiinae similar to L. melaleuca (Figs 5–7). This small species (wingspan 17–18 mm) could be recognised by dark brownish-black coloration of thorax and forewing with two large clear white spots in costal and subtornal areas. Wing pattern formed by black tinged with brown subbasal line, indistinct black medial line and two large triangular white spots in costal and subtornal parts of wing, subtornal spots tinged outwardly with brownish, in some specimens white marks may connect by thin diffused or interrupted white line; orbicular and reniform hardly traceable, as group of diffused brown-black scales surrounded with black; antemedial line wide, black, with diffused brown line, which extended to inner part of white subtornal spot; subterminal line as interrupted row of black streaks; terminal line black, cilia black with dark-brown scales. Hindwing blackish-grey, cilia pale, whitish-grey.
Male genitalia (Fig. 15). Male genitalia are similar to those of other species of Deltote. Uncus rather long thin, slightly extended and hooked apically; tegumen broad, with large flattened penicular lobes; vinculum rather narrow, Vlike; juxta plate-like, trapezoid, and constricted apically; valva broad basally, with parallel margins, slightly extended apically and with rather deep excision in the costal part of the apex. Aedeagus straight, with long coecum; carina hooked apically; vesica membranous, without cornuti.
Female genitalia (Fig. 21). Ovipositor narrow, elongated, apophyses anteriores and posteriores thin, almost equal in length; antrum funnel-like, slightly sclerotised; ductus bursae moderate in length, flattened, sclerotised; corpus bursae long, narrow in caudal part, sack-like extended in proximal part.
Distribution. China (Beijing, Provinces Liaoning; Shaanxi, Zhejiang). Mesophilous species occurs in low montane broadleaved forest meadows.
Notes. The synonymy of Lithacodia shansiensis with Lithacodia melaleuca is established by comparing of the typeseries of L. shansiensis in the collection of ZFMK with colour illustration of the type of Lithacodia melaleuca Hampson 1910 and subsequent illustration by Warren (1914). The L. shansiensis described by Berio (1977) from China was omitted in the monographs of Chinese Noctuidae (Chen 1982, 1999), but referred in the checklist of China Insects (Hua 2001); Warren referred the species in the genus Maliattha; Poole (1989) included to the World Catalogue both names as valid as Lithacodia shansiensis and Maliattha melaleuca. Here we transfer the Lithacodia melaleuca to the genus Deltote.
description: Published as part of Han, H. L. & Kononenko, V. S., 2015, A review of the genus Deltote Reichenbah, Leipzig, 1817 with description of a new species from China (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae: Eustrotiinae), pp. 580-587 in Zootaxa 4007 (4) on pages 582-586, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4007.4.8, http://zenodo.org/record/235049