Perinaenia nigrifascia Babics & Ronkay

Babics, János & Ronkay, László, 2011, On the taxonomy of the Exophyla-Isoura-Perinaenia generic-complex (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Catocalinae), Zootaxa 2733, pp. 16-30 : 23

Perinaenia nigrifascia Babics & Ronkay sp. n.

(Plate: fig. 5; gen. fig. 3)

Holotype: female, Vietnam, Prov. Lao Cai, 1800 m, Fan-si-pan Mts, 16 km NW Sa Pa, 16–17.III.1998, leg. L. Peregovits & T. Vásárhelyi; slide No. RL7664. The specimen is deposited in coll. HNHM (Budapest).

Paratype: male, Vietnam, Prov. Bac Kan, Ba Be NP., Na Mam, 240 m, 22, 418098˚N 105, 63365˚E, 14–16. IV. 2010., leg. L. Papp, L. Peregovits, Z. Soltész & G. Lengyel

Diagnosis. Perinaenia nigrifascia differs from Perinaenia accipiter by its smaller size, somewhat paler brown ground colour of both wings, and the prominent black basal dash in the submedian fold. The male genitalia of P. nigrifascia differ from those of P. accipiter by their characteristic rabbit-ear shaped valva and the lack of spinulose fields from the vesica. The female genitalia of P. nigrifascia differ from those of P. accipiter by its longer anal papillae and apophyses posteriores, more bow-shaped ostium bursae, shorter and medially more dilated ductus bursae, shorter and less helicoid distal part of corpus bursae, proportionally larger, discoidal proximal part and the weaker sclerotised signum.

Description. Wingspan 35–36 mm, length of forewing 17 mm. Head and collar pale brown, collar with creamy green basal band. Palpi short, ochreous; antenna pale brown, filiform. Thorax pale brown with fine greyish-white scales. Forewing ground colour ochreous-brown with fine dark brown irroration; with characteristic, sharply defined black medio-cellular stripe running from base of wing (or from orbicular stigma) to subterminal line. Subbasal and antemedial lines indistinct, latter darker brown with fine creamy green scales; basal field with dark suffusion; black basal streak of submedial fold well-developed, long, touching antemedial line. Medial line obsolete; postmedial line more or less diffuse, dark brown. Orbicular stigma small, beige; reniform stigma small but well discernible, filled by green scales. Subterminal line more or less interrupted, sinuous, dark brown, with conspicuous black spot at edge of tornus. Terminal line ochre, followed inside by brown line; cilia brown with a few black scales. Hindwing paler brown than forewing, transverse line distinct, discal spot more or less distinct, pale brown; marginal suffusion dark brown; cilia ochreous-brown. Underside of forewing ochreous-brown with darker brown irroration along costal margin and with dark marginal suffusion; termen as ground colour. Hindwing paler brown, irrorated with fine brown scales, marginal area with brown suffusion; discal spot more or less distinct, brown. Male genitalia. Uncus long and narrow, evenly curved, apically finely hooked. Tegumen symmetrical, without penicular lobes; fultura inferior sclerotised, more or less trapezoidal; vinculum well-developed, U-shaped, saccus wide but short. Valvae symmetrical with rabbit-ear shaped distal part; sacculus well developed, elongated with attenuation on its distal part; editum a small but heavily sclerotised plate. Ampulla sclerotised, basal plate narrow and elongated, erect process long, sabre-shaped with apex pointed; harpe reduced. Aedeagus long, cylindrical, carina membranous with fine, medium-long sclerotised bar. Vesica everted forward, then upturned dorsad; composed from four variably shaped basal diverticula and a very long, tubular terminal diverticulum; all parts membranous, without spiculi fields. Female genitalia. Ovipositor medium-long, conical; papillae anales long, tapering, moderately hairy; apophyses posteriores long and straight, apophyses anteriores relatively short, somewhat S-shaped. Ostium bursae sclerotised, bow-shaped with large but rather shallow postero-medial incision. Ductus bursae tubular, most parts strongly sclerotised, characteristically shorter than in the other members of the genus; anterior membranous section relatively long. Cervix bursae dorsal positioned; corpus bursae membranous, distal part helicoid; proximal part distended; signum helicoid, relatively short and weakly sclerotised and less spinulose.

Bionomics and distribution. The holotype specimen was found at the edge of the montane deciduous forest and the mossy forest belts, the second moth was collected in a low altitude rainforest habitat; both overwintering adults were collected at light at early spring.

Etymology. The new species is named after its characteristic black stripe on forewing, in Latin: “ nigri ” - black, “ fascia ” – stripe, band.