Moca austrasinensis Huang & Wang, 2019

Huang, Si-Yao, Yu, Tian-Tian, Fan, Xiao-Ling & Wang, Min, 2019, Description of Moca austrasinensis sp. nov., with the first record of Imma lathidora Meyrick, 1914 from mainland China (Lepidoptera, Immidae), Zootaxa 4674 (3), pp. 369-374 : 370-371

Moca austrasinensis Huang & Wang sp. nov.

Imma sp.: Jia & Yu, 2018: 5.

Type material. Holotype: male, altitude 550 m, 19–21. IX. 2015, Mt. Wutong , Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, P. R. China, leg. Bei-man Lin & Tian-tian Yu ( SCAU) . Paratype: 1 male, same locality and collectors, but 6. IX. 2015 ( SCAU) .

Diagnosis. Externally, Moca austrasinensis sp. nov. is closely related with M. chrysocosma ( Diakonoff, 1967) from Luzon, the Philippines and M. purpurascens ( Hampson, 1891) from Nilgiris, southern India, but it can be distinguished from both of them by the following combination of characters: 1) Ground color reddish brown on both wings in Moca austrasinensis sp. nov., without any metallic gloss, while dark fuscous with blue lilac gloss in M. chrysocosma and black with purple lilac gloss in M. purpurascens . 2) Triangular costal spots on the dorsal forewing are ochreous, while those in M. chrysocosma are bright yellow and in M. purpurascens are golden yellow. 3) Hindwing dorsal markings ochreous and ill-developed, while markings both well-developed and yellowish in M. chrysocosma and M. purpurascens . 4) In male genitalia Moca austrasinensis sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from M. chrysocosma by the longer uncus, longer lobes of the juxta and bifurcate tip of the cucullus ( M. purpurascens is only known from the female holotype).

Description. Male. Length of forewing 8–9 mm (8 mm in holotype). Antenna ciliate at basal half and filiform at distal half. Head and base of antenna covered by ochreous scales. Thorax brown. Patagium covered by ochreous scales. Tegula brown. Abdomen covered by brownish scales dorsally and ventrally. Dorsal forewing with ground color reddish brown, with ochreous patterns; costa with two large triangular ochreous spots, the inner one slightly larger than the outer one. Base of forewing connected to the first triangular spot by a narrow stripe extending along costa. Another obscure stripe extending along the basal part of vein Rs and ending before touching the first triangular spot. Pale ochreous scales dusted along veins from postmedian zone to apex. Cilia pale reddish brown. Dorsal hindwing with ground color same as forewing; costal area with basal two-thirds yellowish white. An ochreous streak extending from wing base along lower part of discoidal cell and ending at end of discoidal cell, sometimes partially extending along discocellular. Cilia pale brown.

Male genitalia. Uncus long, bending downwards near base with apex hooked. Tegumen ovoid. Vinculum narrow, V-shaped. Saccus trapezoid, truncate distally. Juxta sclerotized, V-shaped. Valva broad and sclerotized; costa sinuate, sclerotized; cucullus sclerotized and bifurcate distally, with the ventral lobe much larger than the dorsal lobe; sacculus rectangular. Coremata pale brown, moderately long. Aedeagus moderately long, with basal one third slightly curving downwards; vesica long, covered by granulation.

Female. Unknown at present.

Distribution. Currently this species is only known in Mt. Wutong in Shenzhen City, southern China.

Etymology. The specific name “ austrasinensis ” is a portmanteau of the Latin words australis and sinensis, referencing the fact that the holotype was collected in southern China.

Remarks. Although M. austrasinensis sp. nov. is only known from males and M. purpurascens is only known from the single female holotype, they are undoubtedly two distinct species because there exist great differences in coloration and pattern between them, and the wing pattern only varies slightly between different sexes of other species in the genus Moca . Moreover, Nilgiris, the type locality of M. purpurascens , is located in southern India, more than 4100 km away from Shenzhen, southern China, the type locality of M. austrasinensis sp. nov. ( Fig. 12 ), and the environment, climate, and vegetation are very different among these two localities, which can result in very different insect fauna as a common sense.

The genus Moca now contains 49 species distributed in Africa, Palaearctic and Oriental Asia, Oceania and South America ( Heppner 1982, the present study). Members of the genus possess very different valva morphology, which suggests that Moca is probably not a monophyletic group. We place M. austrasinensis in the genus Moca Walker, 1863 because the male genitalia also have a sclerotized and well-developed uncus and tegumen, similar to those of M. chrysocosma , and in contrast to species of the genus Imma , whose uncus and tegumen are usually absent and only an anal tube is present.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Distribution map of Immidae species in the present study. Records of distribution are taken from Hampson (1891), Meyrick (1914), Diakonoff (1967) and results of this work.