Dodona dipoea pseudokaterina Xue, 2020

Xue, Guo-Xi, Lai, Da-Kun & Xu, Ru-Yan, 2020, Description of a new subspecies of Dodona dipoea Hewitson, [1866] (Lycaenidae Riodininae) from S. W. Chongqing, China, Zootaxa 4895 (3), pp. 440-444 : 441-443

Dodona dipoea pseudokaterina Xue subsp. nov.

( Figs. 1–6 , 7 , 8 , 9 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE ³: Simian Mountain , Jiangjin, Chongqing, China, 16.VII.2017 [Dissection ID SMS 5], leg. Xue Guoxi.

PARATYPES: 2³ ³ 3♀♀, the same locality as the Holotype, 6.VII.2015, 8.VII.2015 [♀, Dissection ID SMS 4], 15.VIII.2016 [♀, Dissection ID SMS 7], 15.VII.2017 [³, Dissection ID SMS 6], 18.VII.2017, leg. Xue Guoxi.

Description. Male. ( Figs. 1–3 , 7 ) Antennae: 13 mm in length, dorsal side dark brown, ventral side checkered with white rings; apiculus flat. Labial palpi: second segment elongated, ventral side white, dorsal side black; third segment porrect, black, inner side white, with a sharp point. Thorax: dorsal side dark brown, ventral side covered with gray hairs; legs yellowish. Abdomen: dorsal side dark brown; ventral side gray, with a longitudinal dark brown stripe in middle. Forewing 19–20 mm in length, middle of termen slightly concave. Dorsal side: dark brown, basal area slightly paler; antediscal area with an oblique yellow stripe, broken in middle; discal area with a series of yellow spots from mid-costa to space CuA 2; dots and spots in apical and subapical area white, opaque. Ventral side: dark brown, costal and marginal area chocolate, markings well developed and sharply defined, white, but yellowish in basal and discal area; humeral angle with a spot, subbasal stripe and antediscal stripe almost parallel; discal spots same as on dorsal side except for an additional bar at cell end; submarginal area with a series of spots from costa to dorsum; marginal area with two small spots in spaces M 1 and M 2, followed by slender strips from space M 3 to CuA 2. Hindwing termen wavy. Dorsal side: dark brown, dorsumal area paler and covered with hairs; a semi-hyaline white spot in middle of costal area; faint traces of three pale strips from wing base, middle of basal half costa and mid-costa towards tornus; postdiscal area with three small yellow spots in spaces M 1 -M 3; submarginal area with two pale-ringed black spots in spaces M 1 and M 2, followed by an obscure yellowish pale line which is parallel with a same sized line in marginal area; tornal lobe black and unequally divided into two parts by pale vein. Ventral side: ground color chocolate, dorsumal area with two yellowish strips; discal area with three well developed silver white strips originated from wing base, middle of basal half costa and mid-costa separately, all directed to tornus, that from mid-costa with its middle part being yellowish; a short silver white band from vein M 1 to CuA 1; two black spots in apical area, decorated with white rings; two narrow yellowish strips in submarginal and marginal area; subtornal area with a gray patch, separated from black tornus by an inwardly black-bordered white bar. Cilia chequered, dark brown shorter than white except in upper half of forewing termen.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 8 ): In dorsal view, basal half of uncus wide, trapeziform, distal half tapered into a sharp point, beaklike in lateral view. Gnathos hooked in lateral view, ventral side widely separated, distal end pointed. Saccus short, pointing slightly downwards. In lateral view, valva nearly triangular, distal margin concave into a pointed dorsal arm and a blunt ventral plate. In dorsal view, transtilla fishtail shaped, basally merged with both valvae. Aedeagus thick and long, wavy; cornuti developed, bent in middle, sharply pointed. Juxta absent.

Female ( Fig. 4–6 ): Forewing 19–20.5 mm in length, termen convex; wing pattern similar to male, but spots on dorsal side and marginal line on ventral side of forewing more developed.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 9 ): Papillae anales nearly triangular. Lamella postvaginalis semi-sclerotized. Antrum short. Ductus bursae long, with longitudinal wrinkles. Bursa copulatrix bursiform, membranous, with a lateral signum and a distal signum, both composed of numerous tiny spines.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality.

Etymology. The new subspecies is named as pseudokaterina because its wing pattern is similar to that of Dodona katerina .

Remarks. Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2000: 488) pointed out that the most characteristic of Dodona katerina is a white spot on the ventral side at the origin of the forewing, whereas Callaghan (2009: 66) stated that a white spot on the costa of the hindwing is one of the differences between D. katerina and the similar species, such as D. dipoea . However, according to our observations on specimens and images in literature ( Nakamura & Wakahara 2012, Wu & Hsu 2017, Saito & Inayoshi 2018, Huang 2019, Inayoshi 2020, Kunte et al. 2020), these two white spots exist in both D. katerina and D. dipoea although always being covered in the photos of pinned specimens by the thorax and the forewing dorsum, respectively. Judging by appearance, the new subspecies described in the present paper resembles D. katerina , but characteristics of the male genitalia are identical to those of D. dipoea dipoea we examined ( Figs. 10–12 ) and the illustrations by Nakamura (2019: Fig. 4 ), conspicuously differing from those of D. katerina ( Monastyrskii & Devyatkin 2000: Fig. 6 , Nakamura 2019: Fig. 6 , Huang 2019: Fig. 199) by the long wavy aedeagus. Female genitalia of both the new subspecies and D. dipoea dipoea in our collection ( Fig. 13 ) are also identical. Another subspecies of D. dipoea , viz. D. dipoea nostia Fruhstorfer, 1912 is recorded from northern India ( Kunte et al. 2020). D. dipoea pseudokaterina can be easily distinguished from both known subspecies by the well-developed markings on the ventral side of both wings (especially the hindwing). The nominate subspecies is known from India, Myanmar, northern Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam and China ( Nakamura & Wakahara 2012, Monastyrskii & Devyatkin 2015, Wu & Hsu 2017, Saito & Inayoshi 2018, Inayoshi 2020, Kunte et al. 2020), but its detailed distribution range in China requires further study. Moreover, considering the extremely external resemblance of D. dipoea pseudokaterina and D. katerina , it is possible that some records of the latter species in literature are actually misidentifications of the former.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Dodona dipoea pseudokaterina in nature. Photographed by Xue Guoxi.

FIGURE 8. Male genitalia of Dodona dipoea pseudokaterina. A. genital capsule, right lateral view. B. tegumen and uncus, dorsal view. C. gnathos and uncus, ventral view. D. genital capsule, ventral view. E. transtilla and valvae, dorsal view. F. transtilla and valvae, dorsal view, aedeagus removed. G. aedeagus, left lateral view.

FIGURE 9. Female genitalia of Dodona dipoea pseudokaterina in ventral view. A. distal signum. A’. distal signum, enlarged. B. lateral signum. B’. lateral signum, enlarged.

FIGURES 1–6. Adults of Dodona dipoea pseudokaterina. 1–3. male. 4–6. female. 1. holotype. 2–6. paratypes. A. dorsal side. B. ventral side. Scale bar = 1 cm.

FIGURES 10–13. Adults of Dodona dipoea dipoea. 10–12. male. 13. female. A. dorsal side. B. ventral side. Scale bar = 1 cm.