Notocrypta ariannae, Gallo & Bozano, 2017

Gallo, Enrico & Bozano, Gian Cristoforo, 2017, A new skipper from China: Notocrypta ariannae n. sp. (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), Zootaxa 4341 (4) : -

Notocrypta ariannae n. sp.

Description. Male: Antennae: length 10–11 mm, slender, greyish inferiorly at base of club and white between the terminal club and the apiculus, as usual in most Notocrypta species.

Palpi: covered with dense scaling, dark brown superiorly and whitish laterally.

Wings: ground colour dark brown, almost black, paler on underside.

Forewing: length 19.5–21 mm; white median band very wide, reaching the costal margin on the underside; in space 4 a white thin spot, 2–3 mm long, starting from the white band and projecting distally; white subapical dots in spaces 6 to 8 absent; in the basal area of the underside three evident linear patches of dark androconial scales, in spaces 1b, 2 and the cell (see Fig. 6 ).

Hindwing: underside, three small whitish spots in the discal area, one in space 3 and two in space 4.

Genitalia: typical of the genus; uncus ( Fig. 3) with two long distal projections, as long as in N. feisthamelii and in N. curvifascia , longer than in N. paralysos ; valva ( Fig. 4) wide, cullier (sensu Reverdin, 1910) with distal projection long, covered with large teeth and inner projection shorter.

Female unknown.

Type material. Holotype ( Fig. 1 ): ♂ China, Sichuan Prov., Dayi, Xilin Mts., 1200 m, 30°40’13” N 103°15’22” E, 28–29.VII.2006, A. Floriani leg., deposited at Museo Civico di Storia Naturale " Giacomo Doria ", Genova , Italy; Paratypes ( Fig. 2 ): the same locality and date as the Holotype, 4 ♂ leg. et coll. A. Floriani ( Milano ), 2 ♂ leg. A. Floriani in coll . G. C. Bozano (Milano), 1 ♂ leg. et coll. E. Gallo (Genova), 1 ♂ leg. et coll. C. Della Bruna ( Milano ).

Diagnosis. The Notocrypta species have a very similar phenotype and can be distinguished only by subtle external characters; among them are especially relevant the shape of the forewing white median band and the presence or absence of white subapical small spots on the forewing.

Notocrypta ariannae is easily recognizable by two features not found in any of the congeneric species known so far from China:

- the forewing white thin spot projecting distally from the white band ( Fig. 5 and 6 ) - three minute light spots on hindwing underside discal area ( Fig. 6 )

Additional diagnostic characters are:

1) smaller than sympatric N. feisthamelii ( Fig. 2 ) whose forewing length is 23.2–24.3 mm; 2) forewing white band wider and more rounded than in N. feisthamelii and in N. curvifascia , wider than in N. clavata ;

3) forewing white subapical spots always absent (usually present or at least vestigial in N. curvifascia and in N. feisthamelii ).

Etymology. The new species is named after Arianna Chierici Bozano, granddaughter of the second author.

Habitat: All nine specimens of the new species have been found in a small isolated valley in the Xilin Mts., not far from the town of Huashuiwan in the Dayi County: noteworthy is the fact that they were sympatric with the congeneric N. feisthamelii . No other Notocrypta specimen had been ever spotted before by the authors in many years of investigation of the butterfly fauna of Sichuan and northern Yunnan Provinces. The collecting place was the valley bottom, between 1200 and 1400 m, in a mostly wooded environment ( Fig. 7), where a rich butterfly fauna was present. Among the many observed species, the following were the most interesting: Capila pieridoides Moore, 1878 , Notocrypta feisthamelii (Boisduval, 1832) , Ochlodes crataeis (Leech, 1894) , Graphium cloanthus (Westwood, 1845), G. mandarinus (Oberthür, 1879), Aporia kanekoi Koiwaya, 1989 , A. gigantea Koiwaya, 1993 , Cyrestis thyodamas Doyère, 1840 , Euthalia guangdongensis Wu, 1994 , E. alpherakyi Oberthür, 1907 , Limenitis recurva (Leech, 1892), Athyma jina Moore, 1857 , Neptis clinia Moore, 1872 , N. namba Tytler, 1915 , N. antilope Leech, 1890 , Phaedyma aspasia (Leech, 1890) , Stichophthalma suffusa Leech, 1892 , Neope pulahoides (Moore, 1892) , Neorina patria Leech, 1891 , Curetis acuta Moore, 1877 , Udara albocaerulea (Moore, 1879) , Abisara fylloides (Moore, 1902) .

Distribution: China, Sichuan Prov., known only from the type locality

Figures

FIGURE 1. N. ariannae n. sp. male Holotype. Scale 1,5: 1

FIGURE 2. N. ariannae n. sp. male Holotype and three Paratypes, all from the type locality (row one and two), N. feisthamelii male, same locality and same date as above (row 3). Scale 1: 1

FIGURE 5. N. ariannae n. sp. male Paratype, upperside. Scale 2: 1

FIGURE 6. N. ariannae n. sp. male Paratype, underside. Scale 2: 1