Gandhara (Cragandhara) riparia Volynkin & Cerny 2024, sp. n.
Creators: name: Volynkin, Anton V.
name: Černý, Karel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Gandhara
Gandhara riparia

description: Gandhara (Cragandhara) riparia Volynkin & Černý, sp. n.
https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: F55C00DF-8824-42CF-B878-9F95A6F30F17
(Figs 1–3, 13, 14, 22)
Type material. Holotype (Figs 1, 13): male, “N. Thailand | Mae Hong Son- prov. | 12km E Khun Yuam, 1200m | 18°48'10''N, 98°6'4''E, | Wald mit Ufervegetation [forest with riparian vegetation] | 2. V. 2006 leg. K. Cerný [recte: Černý]” / “Slide | AV8447 ♂ | A. Volynkin ” (MWM / ZSM, ex CKC).
Paratypes. THAILAND: 1 female, same data as holotype, gen. prep. No.: AV7377 ♀ (CKC); LAOS: 1 male, Phongsali Province, Maochaoluang, 21°37'57''N 102°3'30''E, 26.IV.2017, K. Černý leg., gen. prep. No.: AV7993 ♂ (CKC).
Note. The single male from Laos displays minor differences from the holotype in its ampulla, phallus and cornutus shapes but the evaluation of the stability and importance of these characters as diagnostic is currently impossible due to the lack of additional male specimens from both populations available for examination.
Diagnosis. The forewing length is 11.5–12.0 mm in males and 12.0 mm in the female. Gandhara riparia sp. n. is externally very similar to G. (C.) khasia and is distinguished by its genitalia structures. In the male genital capsule, the new species differs from G. (C.) khasia in the broader lateral plates of the anellus bearing larger clusters of spinules, the longer and narrower valvula, the triangular ampulla (it is elliptical in the congener), and the proximally narrower and somewhat longer distal saccular process with a denser dorsal cluster of setae. The phallus of G. (C.) riparia sp. n. is distally broader than in the similar congener. Compared to G. (C.) khasia, the vesica of G. (C.) riparia sp. n. has a narrower left diverticulum bearing a longer cornutus with a markedly broader base, a basally broader distal diverticulum directed distally (it is directed to the left in G. (C.) khasia), and finer scobination in the right diverticulum. In the female genitalia, G. (C.) riparia sp. n. differs clearly from G. (C.) khasia in the thicker and more plicate ventral gelatinous margin of the antrum, the considerably longer and broader postero-lateral sclerotised pocket of the corpus bursae, the broader medial constricted section of the corpus bursae, the markedly longer and broader signum bursae, and the somewhat broader and more globular appendix bursae.
Distribution. The new species is currently known from Northern Thailand (Mae Hong Son Province) and Northern Laos (Phongsali Province).
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the habitat of the new species with riparian vegetation. The name is a noun in the nominative singular in apposition.
description: Published as part of Volynkin, Anton V. & Černý, Karel, 2024, On the status of the genus-group name Cragandhara Volynkin with description of a new species from Thailand and Laos (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini), pp. 25-33 in Ecologica Montenegrina 78 on pages 27-29, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.78.4, http://zenodo.org/record/14654005