Phlogophora albovittata ( Moore, 1867 )

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 : 326-327

Phlogophora albovittata ( Moore, 1867)

[ Fig. 11 , 37, 38 ]

Euplexia albovittata Moore, 1867 , Proc. Zool. Soc.: 57.

Euplexia albovittata Moore : Hampson, 1908, Cat. Lepid. Phalaenae Br. Mus., 7: 226.

Phlogophora albovittata (Moore) : Holloway, 1989, Malay. Nat. J., 42 (2–3): 57–225.

Phlogophora albovittata (Moore) : Kononenko & Pinratana, 2013, Moths of Thailand, 3 (2): 327.

Type locality: Darjeeling [ India, West Bengal]

Material examined: India: 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Sikkim, Dist. West Sikkim, Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Yuksom , 27.37864° N, 088.22087° E, 1879 m, 19. XI. 2019 ; 1 ♀, 22. XI. 2019; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 23. XI. 2019; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Khoyngtey , 27.37947° N, 088.22678° E, 1950 m, 28. XI. 2019 ; 1 ♀, Begha , 27.25722° N, 088.60463° E, 1596 m, 07. XII. 2019 ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Dist. North Sikkim, Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Rabum , 27.65842° N, 088.60463° E, 2000 m, 13. XII. 2019; coll. A. K. Sanyal & team.

1 ♂, West Bengal, Dist. Darjeeling, Singalila National Park, Sirikhola , 27.13034° N, 088.07441° E, 1914 m, 12. VIII. 2016 ; 2 ♂♂, 17. X. 2018; 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Chitre , 26.99126° N, 088.11189° E, 2295 m, 15. V. 2018 ; 1 ♂, Meghma , 27.03270° N, 088.08314° E, 2971 m, 19. V. 2018 ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, Gairibas , 27.05090° N, 088.03360° E, 2494 m, 21. V. 2018 ; 2 ♀♀, Molley Camp , 27.16998° N, 088.0202° E, 3510 m, 26. V. 2018 ; 1 ♂, Kalpokhri , 27.07387° N, 088.01698° E, 3000 m, 24. V. 2018; coll. K. Bhattacharyya & team; 1 ♀, Manebhanjan , 26.9877° N, 088.1194° E, 1975 m, 16. X. 2018 ; 1 ♂, Manedara , 27.1147° N, 088.1° E, 2168 m, 27. X. 2018 ; 1 ♂, 29. X. 2018; 2 ♂♂, 30. X. 2018; 1 ♂, 31. X. 2018; 1 ♂, 04. XI. 2018; 1 ♀, 07. XI. 2018; coll. A. K. Sanyal & team; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Palamajua , 27.07071° N, 088.09071° E, 1909 m, 03. XI. 2018 ; 1 ♂, Khopidara , 27.00525° N, 088.1189° E, 2054 m, 06. XI. 2018; coll. K. Bhattacharyya & team.

1 ♂, Arunachal Pradesh, Dist. Dibang Valley, Dihang Dibang Biosphere Reserve, Malini Camp , 28.68275° N, 095.15980° E, 1870 m, 28. X. 2017 ; 1 ♂, 29. X. 2017; 1 ♂, Mipi , 28.96387° N, 095.80807° E, 1552 m, 31. X. 2017; coll. N. Singh ; 1 ♂, Brango , 28.93824° N, 095.81697° E, 1467 m, 09. IV. 2018 ; coll. R. Ranjan .

Diagnosis: Wing expanse: Male: 38–40 mm, female: 34–36 mm. The species has distinct white tipped palpi, ciliated antenna with white basal tufts and completely blackish-brown thorax. It is characterized by typical silverywhite forewing with chocolate-brown suffusion; basal area irregularly black-brown; a broad antemedial irregular white band dentate inwardly below cell; medial band broad, chocolate-brown; orbicular blackish and reniform white. The species is almost similar to Bornean P. nigroplumbea (Warren, 1912) which differs from it by having a continuous dark grey forewing costa extended up to the distal edge of reniform, whereas in albovittata , the area is broken above reniform with the extension of white colour of the reniform, leaving only a few dark speckling.

Male genitalia: The male genitalia of the species is characterized by spindle shaped valva with relatively short but strong harpe and less sclerotised digitus; the aedeagus vesica is characterized by one circular ridge of upwardly directed spines. The notable difference with nigroplumbea can be observed in the scobinated patch of vesica being present in opposite direction ( Holloway 1989).

Distribution: India: Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu ( Moore 1867; Cotes & Swinhoe 1888; Hampson 1894; Kirti et al. 2014). Global: Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java), Japan, Korea ( Cotes & Swinhoe 1888; Leech 1900; Dudgeon 1905; Hampson 1908; Roepke 1948; Lin 1993; Kononenko & Pinratana 2013).

Bionomics: Most widely distributed among all the Indian Phlogophora , ranging throughout the Himalayas (except Trans-Himalaya), North-Eastern Hills and Western Ghats, in wide habitat types ranging from Evergreen, Temperate and Coniferous forests. In Himalaya, the species is recorded in the altitudinal zone of 1450–3500 m, receiving annual precipitation of 1300–2700 mm and annual mean temperature of 8–16 ºC. The species was recorded in all three major seasons of the year with maximum abundance in October–November.

NCBI GenBank accession No.: MT219962 , MT219963 , MT219964 , MT219967 , MT219969

Figures

FIGURES 11–18. Habitus images of Phlogophora spp. 11. Phlogophora albovittata (Moore, 1867); 12. Phlogophora pectinata (Warren, 1888); 13. Phlogophora subpurpurea Leech, 1900 (dorsal); 14. Phlogophora subpurpurea Leech, 1900 (ventral); 15. Phlogophora calamistrata (Moore, 1882); 16. Phlogophora plumbeola (Hampson, 1894); 17. Phlogophora striatovirens (Moore, 1867); 18. Phlogophora discisignata (Moore, 1867)*. *Image procured from Dr Péter Gyulai, Hungary, through personal correspondence.

FIGURES 31–38. Male genitalia images of Phlogophora spp. 31–32. Phlogophora conservuloides (Hampson, 1898), Uttarakhand, Gen. prep. AS/CK26/3/18.VI.18/7; 33–34. Phlogophora distorta (Moore, 1881), Uttarakhand, Gen. prep. AS/ CK22/3/14.V.18/4; 35–36. Phlogophora szecsenyii (Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998), Sikkim, Gen. prep. KB/DZ19/1/23.XI.19/203; 37–38. Phlogophora albovittata (Moore, 1867), West Bengal, Gen. prep. SN/CH22/2/15.V.18/190.