Conilepia sikkima Strand 1922
Creators: name: Dubatolov, Vladimir V.
name: Zolotuhin, Vadim V.
name: Witt, Thomas J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Arctiidae
Conilepia
Conilepia sikkima

description: Conilepia sikkima (Strand, 1922), comb. & stat. nov.
(Figs 22–24)
Lithosia quadra sikkima Strand, 1922; Lep. Cat. 26: 623. TL: “A ♀ from Sikhim” [India, Sikkim]. Holotype: female (BMNH “in Coll. Elwes”).
Lithosia quadra Hampson, 1900; Cat. Lep. Phalaenae Br. Mus. 2: 221.
Type material. INDIA: 1 ♀ (holotype of sikkima), “ Type ” (on white ring framed with red), “Sikkim / 1–4000 ft. / Möller.”, “Rothschild / Bequest / B.M. 1939-I. ”, “Collectio / H. J. Elwes.”, “Like Lithosia / quadra ♀ but / F.W. vein 5 absent. / Wait ♂ to decide”, “ Lithosia / quadra / ab. sikkima / Holotype. Strand / Hampson Ab.”.
Material examined. INDIA: 2 ♂, gen. prep. 17.445, Sikkim, Mt. Kanchenjunga SE, 27° 30’ N, 88° 20’ E, 2000 m, 22–31.vii.1995, Afonin & Sinjaev leg. (MWM); 1 f, Indien, Sikkim, Legship, 500 m, 24–28.vii1990, leg. W. Thomas (MWM).
Description. Male. Forewing length 17–18 mm. Thorax, patagia and tegulae orange-yellow. Abdomen yellow with grey scales. Forewing ground colour light yellowish-grey, yellow at base, outer and external 2/3 of dorsal margin. Costa and apex black. Forewing cilia black. Hindwings yellow, with brown scales along the hind edge of discal cell. Hindwing cilia predominantly yellow but black at apex and costal margin. Male genitalia (Fig. 50): uncus moderate in width, downturned at apex, with a small spine at tip. Cucullus oval, extended dorsally, membranous, hairy. Sacculus sclerotized, roundly upturned at apical 1/3, rounded at apex. Juxta X-shaped. Saccus broadly oval. Aedeagus short, lacking spines. Vesica broad T-shaped, with a weak spinulose zone at base, and two strong spike-like cornuti at apex. Female. Forewing length of 21 mm. Head and thorax light yellow. Abdomen yellow. Forewing ground colour bright yellow with two black spots: one between costa and fore angle of discal cell, and the other, transversally elongated from discal cell beyond anal vein, at medial portion of the wing. Forewing cilia yellow, with some black scales at apex. Hindwings light yellow. Female genitalia (Fig. 54): characterized by broad ductus bursae with sclerotized appendix; the sclerotized distal part of ductus is expanded proximally.
Diagnosis. C. sikkima Strand can be identified by the lighter forewings and a broader black costa; in the male genitalia by the curved sacculus (not rectangular, as in C. nigricosta and C. cao) and two strong spike-like cornuti at the apex of vesica (in other species cornuti are small, but different in number). The female of the species can be diagnosed by transversally elongated dorsal black spot on forewings.
Distribution (Fig. 57). The species was known so far from North-Eastern India: Sikkim. Kishida (2011a) recorded C. nigricosta from Nepal; this determination should be corrected into C. sikkima. Ghosh & Majumdar (2007) and Singh, Singh & Joshi (2014) recorded Lithosia quadra from Mizoram. We consider these records belonging to C. sikkima, which appears to be the only species of the group in the Himalayas.
Bionomics. Mountain species, known from 2000 m and collected in late July. Hosts are unknown.
Taxonomic remarks. Despite of strong differences in male genitalia structure, C. sikkima differs externally from C. nigricosta and C. cao in few characters of wing pattern (see above and below). However, the COI analysis shows strong genetic differences between C. sikkima and C. nigricosta (about 3.5%), more than between C. sikkima and C. cao sp. nov. (about 0.33–0.5%); the last pair of species differing strongly both by wing pattern and male genitalia structure.
description: Published as part of Dubatolov, Vladimir V., Zolotuhin, Vadim V. & Witt, Thomas J., 2016, Revision of Lithosia Fabricius, 1798 and Conilepia Hampson, 1900 (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae), pp. 175-196 in Zootaxa 4107 (2) on pages 190-191, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4107.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/260857