Psalis securis Hubner 1823, stat. rev.
Creators: name: László, Gyula M.
name: Powell, Bethany
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Psalis
Psalis securis

description: Psalis securis Hübner, [1823] stat. rev.
(Figs 1, 18, 27, 40, 55)
Psalis securis Hübner, [1823], Zuträge zur Sammlung exotischer Schmettlinge, bestehend in Bekundigung einzelner Fliegmuster neuer oder rarer nichteuropäischer Gattungen 2: 19, figs 291, 292. Syntype, female, depository unknown, types probably lost. Type locality: [Indonesia] “ Ostindien von Java ”.
Arestha antica Walker, 1855, List of the specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum 4: 805. Holotype, male in coll. NHMUK. Type locality: [Indonesia] Java.
Rigema tacta Walker, 1865, List of the specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum 32: 438. Holotype, male in coll. NHMUK. Type locality: Australia. Remark. It cannot be ruled out that P. tacta is a bona species, due to its distribution and genetic divergence from Asian taxa (Balaji et al. 2021), nevertheless we retain its synonymy with P. securis until comparative material from Australia is studied and phylogenetic analyses sampling both Indomalayan (P. securis) and Australian (P. tacta) specimens, are completed.
Anchyneura praeusta Felder, 1861, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 43 (1): 33. Holotype, male in coll. NHMUK. Type locality: [Indonesia] Amboina [= Ambon Island].
Material examined.
Indonesia. 1 male, 1 female, E. Java, Nongkodjadjar, 4000 ft, ii.1934, leg. A.R. Wegner, QR code labels with unique ids: NHMUK010292336 (male), NHMUK010292340 (female), gen. slide Nos: NHMUK 014332605 (male), NHMUK 014332609 (female) (prepared by G.M. László) (NHMUK); 1 male, Java, leg. Horsfield, gen. slide No.: BP 050; 1 female, Java, gen. slide No.: BP 043 (OUMNH).
Taxonomic note. Although the rather variable specimens of P. pennatula (Indian subcontinent) and P. securis (Java) are indistinguishable based on their habitus and the male genitalia configuration, the comparison of the female genitalia of specimens from Java and the Indian subcontinent revealed several distinctive characters between the two Asiatic species. These characters are expressed by the noticeably longer papillae anales and pseudopapillae, the medially deeply notched distal margin of the ostium bursae and the very narrow and long, thread-like signum bursae of the Javan P. securis in contrast to the gently arched ostial margin and the shorter and markedly broader, elliptical plate of the signum bursae in the Indian P. pennatula (Figs 40–42). In spite of the fact that numerous online sources list P. securis as a valid taxon (e.g., www.afromoths.net, www.funet.fi), we could not trace the taxonomic act reviving P. securis from synonymy with P. pennatula and consider the former to remain in synonymy with the latter following Bryk (1934). The clarification of the identity of P. securis is rather problematic as the primary type of P. securis together with many other Hübner specimens was probably destroyed in a fire during the Vienna Revolution in 1848 (Gilligan & Wright 2013). Thus, the identity of this species cannot be confirmed with full certainty, although it is highly likely that Psalis specimens from such a welldefined type locality as Java, belong to P. securis. As it cannot be ruled out that primary type specimens of P. securis have survived the fire and currently reside in the immense collections of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, a neotype designation would be unsound; however, based on examinations of topotypical specimens we tentatively confirm the distinctness of P. securis stat. rev. and is treated as a valid species. Further questions that require answering include whether P. securis is confined to the island of Java or whether it has a more extensive range expanding into India and/or Australia, and, vice versa in the case of P. pennatula. In order to elucidate the accurate distributions of these Asiatic species and establish if P. pennatula and P. securis are indeed allopatric taxa, extensive morphological and genetic studies are required which are beyond the scope of this present paper.
description: Published as part of László, Gyula M. & Powell, Bethany, 2024, Review of the Afrotropical Psalis Hübner, [1823] with descriptions of two new species and notes on Asiatic taxa (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Lymantriinae, Orgyiini), pp. 77-96 in Ecologica Montenegrina 77 on page 80, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.77.7, http://zenodo.org/record/14654862