Promalactis biovata Wang, Kendrick & Sterling, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wang, Shuxia
name: Kendrick, Roger C.
name: Sterling, Philip
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Oecophoridae
Promalactis
Promalactis biovata

description: Promalactis biovata sp. nov.
(Figs. 5, 15, 23)
Promolactis [sic] sp. A; Kendrick (2003: 44; plate 3, fig 10).
Type material: CHINA: Holotype, 3, KARC, Hong Kong, 200 m, 10.v.1997, leg. R. C. Kendrick, genitalia slide No.W06102. Paratypes: 1 3, same data as for holotype except dated 2.iii.1999; 4 3, KARC, Hong Kong, 200 m, 11–16.iv.2007, leg. Houhun Li et al.; 8 3, 1 Ƥ, Magnolia Reservoir, KFBG, Hong Kong, 450 m, 14.iv.2007; 1 3, Nam Chung Valley, Hong Kong, 135 m, 18.iv.2007, leg. Houhun Li et al.
Description. Imago (Fig. 5). Wing expanse 8.5−12.0 mm. Head black. Antenna with scape black, flagellum white ringed with black. Labial palpus black except tip of second segment white dorsally. Thorax and tegula black. Forewing ground colour yellow, basal 1/6 and anterior half of basal half black, together forming a large longitudinally L-shaped pattern, which is tinged with deep ochreous brown below upper margin of cell from basal 1/3 to 2/3, and edged with white line along outer and ventral margins; small brown streak or spot formed by scales at tornus and at ventral 2/3 respectively; apex black; cilia yellow except ochreous at apex. Hindwing and cilia deep grey. Fore- and midlegs greyish black, with white rings on tarsi; hindleg grey, tarsus greyish black with white rings.
Male genitalia (Fig. 15). Uncus bell shaped, pointed at apex. Gnathos short and broad, greatly sclerotized, produced to short processes anterolaterally; lateral arms short and strong, about 2/3 as long as gnathos. Valva broad, nearly parallel-sided for basal 2/3, with three apical lobes: costal and median lobes large and bearing strong teeth and spines, ventral lobe being an extension of sacculus, small triangular, rounded at apex. Sacculus narrow, sclerotized, obviously shorter than costa. Saccus narrow, club-shaped, longer than uncus. Juxta irregularly rounded, with a slender anterior process and a pair of small posterolateral processes. Phallus slender and straight, longer than valva, with a slender apical spine and some small sub-distal teeth; cornutus absent.
Female genitalia (Fig. 23). Apophysis anterioris about half as long as apophysis posterioris. Lamella postvaginalis a large and sclerotized plate, with a small marginally sclerotized median groove on posterior margin. Lamella antevaginalis irregularly rounded, with a narrow band arising from its anterolateral side. Antrum short and sclerotized. Ductus bursae membranous. Corpus bursae small oval, membranous; signum being a pair of large oval plates with large and small teeth.
Diagnosis. This species can be distinguished from its congeners by the forewing having a large black longitudinally L-shaped pattern at basal half, the valva with three distal processes in the male genitalia, and the signa being a pair of large oval plates in the female genitalia. It is very close to P. fuscomaculella Lvovsky, 1988 from Vietnam, but differs in the longer phallus.
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin prefix bi - (two) and the word ovatus (oval), referring to the shape of signum.
Hong Kong distribution and status. Widespread, 28 records, including from Lamma and Po Toi islands; adults collected from secondary forest, coastal shrubland and feng shui woodlands from sea level to 550 m elevation; flight period: recorded from March through mid-October; probably multivoltine.
description: Published as part of Wang, Shuxia, Kendrick, Roger C. & Sterling, Philip, 2009, Microlepidoptera of Hong Kong: Oecophoridae I: the genus Promalactis Meyrick, pp. 31-44 in Zootaxa 2239 on pages 37-41, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.275204