Loxerebia zangkena Lang & Wang 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wang, Xue-Jian
name: Lang, Song-Yun
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Nymphalidae
Loxerebia
Loxerebia zangkena

description: Loxerebia zangkena Lang & Wang sp. nov.
(Figs. 4–6, 10–14, 21–23a)
Type material. Holotype ♂, CHINA: Guizhou, Guiyang, Wudang, Xiangzhi-gou, 1100 m, 23.IX.2024, leg. X. J. Wang (CMNH); Paratypes: 1 ♂♂ 6 ♀♀, CHINA: Guizhou, Guiyang, Wudang, Xiangzhi-gou, 1100 m, 30.IX– 3.X.2023, leg. X. J. Wang (LSY); 22 ♂♂ 1 ♀, CHINA: Guizhou, Guiyang, Wudang, Xiangzhi-gou, 1100 m, 18– 23.IX.2024, leg. X. J. Wang (LSY); 8 ♂♂, CHINA: Guizhou, Guiyang, Wudang, Balagu, 1200 m, 24.IX.2024, leg. X. J. Wang (LSY).
Diagnosis. The new species can be easily distinguished from its closely related species, viz. Loxerebia albipuncta (Figs. 1–3, 7–9, 15–16, 21–23b) and L. chouchuensis (Figs. 17–18, 21–23c), by the combination of the following characters: 1) On the forewing upperside, the subapical ocellus is placed more oblique inwards than that of L. albipuncta and L. chouchuensis, especially in males; 2) On the forewing upperside in male, the subapical ocellus is larger; 3) On the forewing upperside in male, the reddish area below the ocellus is much broader and tapering downwards, whereas it is nearly equal width throughout in L. albipuncta and L. chouchuensis; 4) On the forewing upperside in male, the androconial patch (Fig. 21a) is obviously smaller and restricted in the discal area; 5) On the hindwing underside, the discal fascia is obscure, whereas it is clear especially in female in L. albipuncta and L. chouchuensis; 6) On the hindwing underside in male, the discal area is greyish white as in L. albipuncta, whereas it is strongly tinged with earth yellow in L. chouchuensis; 7) On the hindwing underside in female, the anal ocellus in the space 2 is reduced as a white dot as in L. chouchuensis, whereas it is often well developed in L. albipuncta. The male genitalia and androconia (Figs. 22a, 23a) are indistinguishable from the two closely related congeners.
Description. Male (Figs. 4–6, 13, 21a). Forewing length (FWL): 26.5–27.5 mm. Upperside: ground colour dark blackish brown. Forewing: subapical ocellus black, oval and obliquely placed, bipupillate with two whitish spots in the spaces 4 and 5 respectively and encircled by an orange ring; its lower half surrounded by a wide reddish cloudy area extended down to the space 2; the androconial patch restricted in the discal area and extended from vein 1b up to vein 5, present as a grater like texture with dense minute striae. Hindwing: anal ocellus well present in the space 2, with a single whitish pupil encircled by a reddish ring. Underside: ground colour greyish white, thinly and densely striated with black. Forewing: subapical ocellus alike that on the upperside but with the ring yellow instead of orange; the area in cell and from upper half of space 1b to space 5 and below the ocellus deep red, traversed by an oblique deep reddish-brown fascia beyond the cell. Hindwing: the postdiscal series present as a series of tiny whitish dots in the spaces 1b to 6; the discal fascia deep brown, sharply protruding towards the termen, but often very obscure.
Androconia (Figs. 22a). The lamina long and narrow, nearly equally width throughout; the distal stalk short.
Male genitalia (Figs. 23a). Tegumen: small, normal helmet-shaped. Uncus: long and robust, its apical half weakly bent downwards. Gnathos: slender, weakly bent upwards. Saccus: present as a short tube. Valva: as long as the uncus, nearly parallelogram in shape, its dorsal ridge near the apex swollen and serrated; the apex weakly protruding forwards. Aedeagus: strongly bent upwards with almost a right angle, its surface smooth.
Female (Figs. 10–12, 14). FWL: 24.5–27.0 mm. Upperside: the ground colour blackish brown. Forewing: the subapical ocellus as in male but somewhat smaller and encircled with a paler orange ring; the reddish cloudy area as in male but often weakly extending inwards. Hindwing: anal ocellus as in male. Underside: the ground colour greyish and thinly stained with deep brown. Forewing: similar to male. Hindwing: similar to male but with the area outside the discal fascia more earth yellowish.
Etymology. The specific name zangkena is named after Zangke-Jun, which was an ancient county including most parts of nowadays Guizhou province and eastern Yunnan province in Han Dynasty about two thousand years ago.
Distribution. S.W. China (C. Guizhou) (Fig. 24).
description: Published as part of Wang, Xue-Jian & Lang, Song-Yun, 2024, Description of a new species of the Loxerebia saxicola (Oberthür, 1876) - complex from Guizhou, Southwest China (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae), pp. 391-400 in Zootaxa 5538 (4) on pages 392-397, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5538.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/14239623