Dysaethria illotata (Christoph)

Beljaev, Еvgeniy A. & Titova, Olga L., 2023, New data on geometroid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometroidea: Uraniidae and Geometridae) from Sakhalin and Moneron islands with notes on their taxonomy distribution and ecology, Zootaxa 5369 (1), pp. 1-41 : 5-6

Dysaethria illotata (Christoph)

( Fig. 2 )

Material examined. 1 ♀, S Kholmsk, 06.VII.2022 .

Distribution. Russia (S RFE: S * Sakhalin, S Kurils— * Kunashir, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Primorskii Krai), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku).

Remarks. The specimen from Kunashir, referred as “ Dysaethria moza (Butler) ” by Dubatolov et al. (1994: 19, a female collected on 16.VII.1989), actually is misidentification of D. illotata , judging from the photo of this specimen on the website of Siberian Zoological Museum ( Dubatolov 2022a). In the same site on another page, the same photo is posted as “ Dysaethria cretacea (Butler) ” ( Dubatolov 2022b), what led to an erroneous indication of D. cretacea for the Kuril Islands ( Sinev 2008: 189; Beljaev 2016: 517; Sinev 2019: 234; Sinev 2021; Zolotuhin & Nedoshivina 2021: 348). Thus, here D. illotata is first reported from the Kuril Islands, and D. cretacea is excluded from the fauna of Russia. These findings of D. illotata in Sakhalin and the Kurils significantly expand its distribution range to the Northeast.

Regarding the general distribution of this species, it should be noted that distribution of D. illotata abroad of Russia, given as " China ( Hong Kong, Sichuan, Taiwan), Korea, Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Tsushima, Yakushima, Amami, Okinawa, Ishigaki, Iriomote), India, Nepal, Malaya" in Zolotuhin & Nedoshivina (2021: 348), does not correspond to currently known data. The cited text fragment coincides with text on the distribution of Dysaethria flavistriga (Warren) printed on the previous page (loc. cit.: 347). Thus, obviously, the cited distribution of D. illotata is the result of a misprint.

The hostplants of the larvae of D. illotata are unknown. In Primorskii Krai the moths of this species were collected near the thickets of Viburnum burejaeticum , and in Sakhalin —near the planting of Viburnum wrightii ( Adoxaceae ), the two possible hosts.

Figures

FIGURES 2–21. Epipleminae, Ennominae, Desmobathrinae and Geometrinae from Sakhalin. 2—Dysaethria illotata, ♀, S Kholmsk; 3—D. moza, ♀, Sokhonda mount.; 4—Eversmannia exornata, ♀, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; 5—Eilicrinia wehrlii, ♂, “Chertov most”, photo in nature by O.L. Titova; 6—Lomographa simplicior, ♂, Sokhonda mount.; 7—Platycerota incertaria, ♂, Pionery, photo in nature by O.L. Titova; 8—Aethalura ignobilis, ♀, S Kholmsk; 9—Gigantalcis flavolinearia, ♂, S Kholmsk; 10—Pachyerannis obliquaria ♂, central Kholmsk, photo in nature by O.L. Titova; 11—Cusiala stipitaria, ♂, S Kholmsk; 12—Larerannis orthogrammaria, ♂, S Kholmsk; 13—Lassaba nikkonis, ♀, S Kholmsk; 14— Zanclidia testacea, ♀, Sokhonda mount.; 15—Abraxas niphonibia, ♀, Moneron (a—upper side; b—underside); 16—Macaria continuaria, ♂, Nysh; 17–18—Alsophila japonensis, S Kholmsk: 17—♂, 18—♀, photo in nature by O.L. Titova; 18—Inurois asahinai, S Kholmsk; 20—Geometra dieckmanni, ♀, S Kholmsk; 21—Comibaena amoenaria, ♂, S Kholmsk. Scale—10 mm.