Dryadaula epischista
Creators: name: Park, Jinhyeong
name: Yagi, Sadahisa
name: Kobayashi, Shigeki
name: Hirowatari, Toshiya
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Dryadaulidae
Dryadaula
Dryadaula epischista

description: Dryadaula epischista (Meyrick, 1936)
Figs 2, 3, 12, 16, 18–29, 45–48
Thermocrates epischista Meyrick, 1936: 621.
Thermocrates epischista: Moriuti 1982, 1: 170, 2: pl. 233-2.
Dryadaula epischista: Robinson 1988: 70 (nec Meyrick 1936).
Dryadaula koreana Roh & Byun, 2020: Roh et al. 2020: 221. syn. nov.
Type material.
Holotype: Japan: • 1 ♂ (Fig. 2); Mozi [= Moji], Japan; 2. VII. 1934; S. Issiki leg.; THERMOCRATES Meyr.; epischista Meyr.; Thermocrates epischista 1 / 1 Meyr. E. Meyrick det. in Meyrick Coll.; abdomen missing; NHMUK 014045892; NHMUK.
Other material.
Japan: [Fukuoka] • 3 ♂; Kitakyushu, Moji, Mt. Tonoue-yama (33°54'00.2"N, 130°57'02.4"E); 153 m; LT (light trap); 22. VII. 2022; J.-H. Park leg. • 1 ♂ (Fig. 3 a); same data; genitalia slide No. JP-025; DNA sample JHP-005; Museum ID ELKU -I-L-000043 • 1 ♂; same data; genitalia slide No. JP-044 • 1 ♂; same data; genitalia slide No. JP-023 • 4 ♂ 1 ♀; same locality; LT; 6. VIII. 2022; J.-H. Park leg. • 1 ♀ (Fig. 3 b); same data; genitalia slide No. JP-051; DNA sample JHP-006; Museum ID ELKU -I-L-000044 • 1 ♂; same data; Museum ID ELKU -I-L-000042 • [Nagano] 5 ♂; Matsumoto, Arigase, Joyama Park (33°14'44.7"N, 137°57'15.2"E); LT; 5. IX. 2022; J.-H. Park leg. • 1 ♂; same data; DNA sample JHP-009; Museum ID ELKU -I-L-000045.
Diagnosis.
This species has an orange ground color on the forewing with a brown and white pattern and can be easily distinguished from other congeners by these characteristics. For the differences between D. orientalis sp. nov., which has a very similar color and forewing pattern, see Diagnosis of the latter species.
Redescription.
Male (Figs 2 a, 3 a): Forewing length 2.9 mm in holotype, 2.7–3.0 mm (N = 18); antenna length 1.6–2.1 mm (N = 9). Head small. Vertex and frons covered with yellowish-orange hair. Labial palpus spatulate, covered with cream yellow bristles; a few dark brown bristles arising laterally along second palpomere; third palpomere spatulate. Antenna filiform; scape and pedicel simple short columnar, flagellum dorsally covered with yellow scales, outer surface of flagellomere striped with blackish-brown and yellow, from the center to the tip, the blackish-brown parts fuse together to form four strips. Prothorax, mesothorax, and tegula covered with yellow and light-brown scales. Forewing costal and posterior margin straight, and gently curved toward apex. Forewing ground color orange, with brown and white pattern. Costa brown with three white lines at 1 / 4, 1 / 2 and apical part; the white line located at 1 / 2 of the costa connects to the tornal margin but is interrupted at center. Dorsum brown. Tornal area outer margin with brown line. Cilia orange, white basally; brown at tornus. Hind wing narrow trapezoidal, grayish brown. Abdomen covered with dark brown scales.
Male genitalia. (Figs 12, 18–29, 45–48) Asymmetrical (Fig. 12). Uncus elongated and weakly curved to tip, and weakly twisted at subapically. Tegumen twisted to the left and slightly wider in the center, fused with vinculum. Vinculum narrowly arched; saccus equipped with obtuse triangle lobe at middle (Figs 18, 19). Gnathos absent. Right and left valva clearly asymmetrical (Figs 20–23, 29). Right valva flat; basal half with broad triangular lobe; apical half densely covered with relatively long setae; basally with small setose rod-shaped projection (Figs 20, 21). Left valva thick, but slenderer than right valva, tip paddle-like shaped, with lobate process and three spines: spines at the base short; spines on the left side of the center twice as long as spines at the base; spines on the right side of the center about the same length as spines on the left side, but they curve ventrally in the middle, in some cases, a single spine protrudes from the curved part; lobate process near apical part bearing spinose setae on dorsal surface (Figs 22, 23, 29). Sternite VIII hollow and curved claw- shaped; apical spine long and slender; ventral margin with two projections: central projection protruding trapezoidal, basal projection slender, longer than central projection (Figs 24, 25). Juxta rounded triangle and connected to left valva and phallus (Figs 12, 26). Phallus asymmetrical elliptical with two thick and sharp spines apically; rounded projection attached to juxta; cornuti absent (Figs 27, 28). Intersegmental membrane between seventh and eight tergite with a pair of free sclerites laterally; right free sclerite broad U-shaped, sometimes wider (Figs 45, 46); left free sclerite V-shaped (Figs 47, 48).
Female (Fig. 3 b): Forewing length 2.8–3.2 mm (N = 3). Almost all same as male, but white spot of subapical part of costal margin narrowed and connected to white line of costal margin in female.
Female genitalia. (Fig. 16) Sternite VIII covered with bristles, strongly sclerotized, right side markedly swollen posterolateral; terminal swelling weakly sclerotized and does not reach the ventral edge; ostium bursae opening the posterior end of swelling. Right side of “ seventh segment ” with ball-shaped bulge. Right side of “ sixth segment ” with posteriorly protruded bulge. Median dent deeply concave between right side of sixth and seventh segments. Papillae analis slender and short, 1.1 × length of the apophyses posterioris. Apophysis posterioris relatively short, half the length of the eighth abdominal segment. Ductus bursae and corpus bursae membranous. Ductus bursae thin tubular, 5 × as long as apophysis posterioris. Corpus bursae elliptical, densely wrinkled throughout (Fig. 16 a).
Distribution.
Japan (Honshu, Kyushu), Korea.
Biology.
Unknown. Adults are observed from July to September.
DNA barcode.
Three DNA barcodes from two males and one female were generated and deposited in the International Nucleotide Sequence Database (INSD) and BOLD Systems (accession number / process ID): OR 554990 / JHP 001-23, OR 554989 / JHP 002-23, and OR 554988 / JHP 003-23 (Table 1).
Remarks.
Moriuti figured the “ female ” adult as the second specimen of this species; this specimen lacks the abdomen and the hindwings (Robinson 1988: 71). The specimen is not currently in OMU collection, missing.
The morphology of this species differs from that of the Hong Kong specimen identified as D. epischista by Robinson (1988) in the following characteristics: the left valva has three spines; the phallus has two apical spines; sternite VIII has longer elongated projections; and the basal half of the right valva is broadly triangular. However, we observed that D. koreana Roh & Byun, 2020 was identical to D. epischista based on its appearance and male genitalia. Therefore, here we synonymize D. koreana with D. epischista. We observed some variation in the apical spines protruding midway on the left valva occur in a few individuals within the same location.
description: Published as part of Park, Jinhyeong, Yagi, Sadahisa, Kobayashi, Shigeki & Hirowatari, Toshiya, 2024, A new species of the genus Dryadaula Meyrick (Lepidoptera, Dryadaulidae) from Japan, with a redescription of D. epischista (Meyrick, 1936), pp. 327-342 in ZooKeys 1217 on pages 327-342, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1217.122695