Isochlora flora ( Alphéraky, 1892 )

Volynkin, Anton V., Titov, Sergey V., Matov, Alexey Yu., Tóth, Balázs, Saldaitis, Aidas, Rakhimov, Ruslan D. & Egorov, Petr V., 2023, On the taxonomy of the genus Isochlora Staudinger with descriptions of two new species from Mongolia and Qinghai, China (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Noctuinae), Zootaxa 5374 (3), pp. 409-423 : 417-421

Isochlora flora ( Alphéraky, 1892)

( Figs 15–17, 19 )

Grumia flora Alphéraky, 1892 , Horae Societatis entomologicae Rossicae, 26(3–4): 453 (Type locality: [ China, Qinghai, ca. 40 km SW of Xining, Khun-yo-tszy Watershed] “montibus Sinin-schan ( Amdo )”).

Type material. Lectotype (hereby designated): male, “Sinin | alpes | 15000 ’ ” / “Khun-itsy” [Khun-yo-tszy] / “17. VII.[18]90” / “ Grumia | Alph. | Flora Alph. ” / “ Coll. Gr. [and] Dk.[Duke] | Nikolay | Mikhailovich” (in Russian) / “Slide | AV7371³ | A. Volynkin ” ( ZISP) . Paralectotype: male, same data as lectotype ( ZISP) .

Additional material examined. CHINA: 1 male, 1 female, [Qinghai, Qinghai Lake ] Kukunoor, Coll. Gr. [eat] Pr. [ince] Nikolay Mikhailovich, gen. prep. Nos.: RL9873 (male) and RL9874 (female) (prepared by L. Ronkay) ( ZISP) .

Note on the type locality. Besides S. Alpheraky’s handwritten label “Sinin alpes 15000 ’ ”, the syntypes of I. flora are also supplemented with G.E. Grum-Grshimailo’s original labels containing the locality and date of collecting. In the second volume of his comprehensive book devoted to the journey in Western China, G.E. Grum-Grshimailo (1899) described the mountains south of Xining, which he called ‘Sinin [=Xining] Alps’ (also mentioning the local name ‘Shi-nyu-shan’) in detail, and wrote that most Lepidoptera species collected by the expedition in the ‘meadow oases’ in the alpine zone were new to science. ‘ Grummia flora Alph. ’ was also included in the list of those species. The locality described apparently belongs to the Mount Yeniushan, the highest peak of the Lajishan Mountains (Si-yao Huang, pers. comm.). However, the described stage of the expedition took place in June 1890 whereas the original label contains the date July 17, 1890. The events of mid-July are described in the third volume of the book ( Grum-Grshimailo 1907). On July 16–17, on the way from Chan-khu [Qianucun] to Kukunor [Qinghai] Lake, the expedition was crossing the watershed called ‘Khun-yo-tszy’, the locality clearly matching Grum-Grshimailo’s original label, which should be considered as the place of origin of the syntypes. This confusion in localities apparently came from S. Alphéraky, who assigned the specimens with quite illegibly handwritten labels with the place called ‘Sinin Alps’, where Grum-Grshimailo’s expedition was collecting a lot. Subsequently, while preparing his book, G.E. Grum-Grshimailo used the wrong data contained in the paper by Alphéraky (1892) and therefore erroneously included I. flora in the list of species he collected in ‘Sinin Alps’.

Remark. Alphéraky (1892) described the species based on an unspecified number of males. Two male specimens with the label “Sinin alps 15000 ’ ” matching the type locality cited in the original description are considered as syntypes. In order to stabilise the nomenclature, the syntype dissected is hereby designated as the lectotype.

Diagnosis. The forewing length is 10.0–10.5 mm in the males and 12.0 mm in the female. The comparison with the similar I. kozlovi sp. n. is provided above in the diagnosis of the latter species.

Distribution. Western China (eastern Qinghai Province) ( Fig. 34 ).

Figures

FIGURE 34. Distribution map of Isochlora spp. in Qinghai, China.

FIGURES 13–19. Isochlora spp.: adults. The specimens are deposited in ZISP.