Phlogophora meticulodina ( Draudt, 1950 )

Bandyopadhyay, Uttaran, Dey, Rushati, Bhattacharyya, Kamalika, Mallick, Kaushik, Mazumder, Arna, Gayen, Subrata, Das, Moumita, Raha, Angshuman, Sanyal, Abesh Kumar, Kumar, Vikas, Uniyal, Virendra Prasad & Chandra, Kailash, 2021, Taxonomy and ecology of genus Phlogophora Treitschke, 1825 (Lepidoptera Noctuidae) in Indian Himalaya with description of a new species, Zootaxa 5004 (2), pp. 311-342 : 323

Phlogophora meticulodina ( Draudt, 1950)

[ Fig. 6 , 29, 30 ]

Trigonophora meticulodina Draudt, 1950 , Mitt. Munchn. Ent. Ges., 40: 104.

Phlogophora meticulodina (Draudt) : Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998, in Haruta, Tinea , 15: 260.

Type locality: Li-kiang [ China, Yunnan]

Material examined: India: 1 ♀, Uttarakhand, Dist. Uttarkashi, Govind National Park , Har-Ki-Dun, 31.13592° N, 078.39939° E, 3400 m, 17. VI. 2012 ; 1 ♂, 31.04347° N, 078.26258° E, 3200 m, 22. VI. 2012; coll. A. K. Sanyal & team; 1 ♀, Dist. Chamoli, Valley of Flowers National Park, Ghangaria , 30.70120° N, 079.59398° E, 3103 m, 15. VI. 2017; coll. S. K. Sajan.

Diagnosis: Wing expanse: Male: 42–44 mm, Female: 40–42 mm. Forewing apically much elongated with pinkish tinge; differs from very similar South-Pacific species P. beatrix as forewing with dark brown apical streak instead of marginal dark lunules; submarginal line black filled below vein 7 which is pale in beatrix . Hindwing pale with ochreous submarginal line; a prominent black marginal line is present in beatrix which is lacking in meticulodina .

Male genitalia: Uncus long, beak-shaped; valva moderately developed with sclerotised costal area and membranous saccular margin, presence of long, slender harpe and less developed ampulla, the basal plate of harpe is highly sclerotised, broad with acute apex and fused with distal part of sacculus; aedeagus with long coiled vesica without any scobinations.

Distribution: India: Uttarakhand. Global: Pakistan, Nepal, China ( Draudt 1950; Hreblay and Ronkay 1998; Bálint et al. 2014).

Note: This species is being reported for the first time from India.

Bionomics: Probably the rarest among all the Indian Phlogophora , the species is altitudinally very restricted, never observed below 3000 m, upper range being 3800 m recorded in Nepal. Collected mostly from sub-alpine and alpine habitats composed of Birch-Fir- Rhododendron patches. The seasonality of the species is also very specific, always recorded in the month of June within a narrow range of annual mean temperature and annual precipitation of 4.6–7 ºC and 1300–1700 mm respectively.

NCBI GenBank accession No.: MT188152 .

Figures

FIGURES 3–10. Habitus images of Phlogophora spp. 3. Phlogophora nobilis Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998; 4. Phlogophora costalis (Moore, 1882); 5. Phlogophora humilis Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998; 6. Phlogophora meticulodina (Draudt, 1950)*; 7. Phlogophora conservuloides (Hampson, 1898); 8. Phlogophora distorta (Moore, 1881); 9. Phlogophora szecsenyii (Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998); 10. Phlogophora sinuata (Moore, 1882). *Image procured from Dr Péter Gyulai, Hungary, through personal correspondence.

FIGURES 23–30. Male genitalia images of Phlogophora spp. 23–24. Phlogophora nobilis Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998, West Bengal, Gen. prep. SN/MND21/1/29.X.18/60; 25–26. Phlogophora costalis (Moore, 1882), West Bengal, Gen. prep. SN/ GAR24_2/2/21.V.18/37; 27–28. Phlogophora humilis Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998, West Bengal, Gen. prep. SN/PAL19_1/1/03. XI.18/166; 29–30. Phlogophora meticulodina (Draudt, 1950), Sichuan, China, Gen. prep. GYP 5267*. *Image procured from Dr Péter Gyulai, Hungary, through personal correspondence.