Dasypolia lama Staudinger 1896, stat. rev.
Creators: name: Volynkin, Anton V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Dasypolia
Dasypolia lama

description: Dasypolia lama Staudinger, 1896 stat. rev.
(Figs. 11–16, 36–39, 50, 55)
Dasypolia fani var. lama Staudinger, 1896, Entomologische Zeitschrift Iris 9: 266 (Type-locality: Mongolia, [Dzavhan aimak, Uliastay] "Uliassutai").
= Dasypolia templi var. asiatica Alphéraky, 1897, in Romanoff (ed.), Mémoires sur le Lépidoptéres 9: 19 (Type-locality: W. China, “Hy-ho”).
Material Examined. Photographs of the holotype of Dasypolia fani var. lama: male, Uliassatai 94 Led. / V/3 / Fani var.? Lama Stgr. / Dasyp. Templi v. asiatica Alph. / Origin. / Préparation № MB 229 Ch. Boursin [Coll. MNHU]; 1 male, 27.ix.2009, Altai Republic, Ulagan district, 3 km W Aktash village, Chibitka river valley, stony shrub-grown steppe, h = 1350 m. E. On light-trap. Nakonechny A.N. leg. [Coll. AVB]; 1 female, 18.x.2010, Altai Republic, Ulagan district, Aktash village, bottom of southern steppe stony slope, h = 1350 m. 50°19' N, 87°35' E. On light. Volynkin A.V. leg. [Coll. AVB]; 3 males, 18.x.2010, Altai Republic, Shebalino district, Shebalino village, 51°18' N, 85°41' E. Nakonechny A.N. leg. [Coll. AVB]; 1 male, 26.ix.2011, Altai Republic, Ongudai district, NW Tuekta env., 53º10'31'' N, 83º46'53'' E, h = 900 m. On light. Volynkin A.V. leg. [Coll. AVB]; 1 male, 25.ix.1987, Russia, Altai terr., Altaiskoe distr., Kazanda vill. Yu. Perunov leg. [Coll. YPB].
Diagnosis. Externally D. lama (Fig. 11–16) differs well from D. fani (Figs. 17–22) by absence of reddish tint in wing coloration: in D. lama ground colour of forewing varies from brownish to ochreous and greenish brown, but in D. fani it varies from red brown to pinkish or red ochreous. The male genitalia of D. lama (Figs. 36–39) differ from D. fani (Figs. 40–43) by somewhat longer and narrower uncus, by shape of claviform medio-apical process of juxta (in D. fani process not broadened laterally), by stronger sclerotised clavus, shape of harpe (in D. lama distal part of harpe together with its basal part form a right angle but acute angle in D. fani) and vesica shape: in D. lama vesica medially with two diverticuli – large ventral and small latero-ventral one, but in D. fani vesica with only one lateral diverticulum. The female genitalia of D. lama (Fig. 50) is very similar to D. fani (Figs. 51–53) and differs by much larger and wider corpus bursae, somewhat larger ventral plate of ostium bursae and longer gonapophyses.
Bionomics & Distribution. The species occurs in steppe bushed biotopes in mountains slopes of medium altitudes in Northern and Central Mongolia, mountains of Southern Siberia and Transbaikalia. D. fani is known from the Russian Far East, Korea, North China and Japan. The records for South Baikal area and Transbaikalia (Ronkay & Varga 1990; Kononenko 2003; 2005; Matov et al. 2008) probably are doubtful and require further confirmation.
Notes. Poole (1989) treated the taxa lama and asiatica as synonyms of D. fani Staudinger, 1892. Unfortunately the type specimen of D. asiatica is not found in the collection of ZISP (A. Matov, pers. comm.) and probably is lost or destroyed. The description of D. asiatica by Alphéraky (1897) is not informative enough for correct identification of the taxon. We can only agree with Poole’s treatment of this taxon, taking into account the specific validity of D. lama, known from Siberia and Central Asia. Members of D. fani species group, as well as the other members of Dasypolia, are characterized by a high variability of wing coloration and genitalic morphology in both sexes. Hence, Ronkay & Varga (1990) incorrectly identified a unicolorous form of D. fani from Nikolsk-Ussurijsk with rather narrow apical part of valva and narrow harpe as D. lama (Figs. 20, 43). Kononenko (2005) proposed that the taxa lama and fani were conspecific, but their CO1 sequences suggest this pair of taxa are distinct species (Fig. 29).
description: Published as part of Volynkin, Anton V., 2012, A review of the genus Dasypolia Guenée, 1852 from the Russian part of the Altai Mountain Country, with descriptions of two new species (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), pp. 416-428 in Zootaxa 3478 on pages 419-421, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.282297