Scoliokona jailolo O. Gorbunov, 2022

Gorbunov, O. G., 2022, A new species of the genus Scoliokona Kallies et Arita, 1998 (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) from Halmahera, Indonesia, Russian Entomological Journal 31 (2), pp. 182-187 : 184-187

Scoliokona jailolo O. Gorbunov , sp.n.

Figs 1–16 .

MATERIAL. Holotype ♂ ( Figs 1–2 ) with labels: “ Indonesia, N Maluku E, / Halmahera , 17 km SE Subaim, / 01°00.94´N, 128°18.2´E, / 510 m, 17.II.2017, / O. Gorbunov leg.”; “ SESIIDAE / Pictures Nos / 0019-0020–2017 / Photo by O. Gorbunov ”; “ HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Scoliokona jailolo / O. Gorbunov, 2022 / O. Gorbunov des., 2020”.

Paratypes 3 ♂♂, with same locality and date as in holotype, O. Gorbunov leg. ( Sesiidae pictures Nos 0017-0018–2017, 0021- 0024–2017) ; 1 ♂, with genitalia preparation No OG–053-2018 ( Figs 13–16 ); 2 ♂♂, with same locality as in holotype, 18.II.2017, O. Gorbunov leg. ( Sesiidae pictures Nos 0013-0016–2017) .

DESCRIPTION. Male (holotype) ( Figs 1–2 ). Alar expanse 33.0 mm; body length 20.0 mm; forewing length 14.8 mm; antenna length 7.8 mm.

Head: antenna completely black with dark violet shine; frons dark brown to black with blue-violet shine and a few white scales with electric blue luster laterally; labial palpus dark brown to black with dark violet shine, a few dirty yellow scales on basal joint dorsally and individual yellow scales on mid joint ventrally; vertex black with anthracitic shine; pericephalic hairs dark brown to black with a few dirty yellow scales dorsally and completely dirty yellow laterally; neck plate dark brown to black with greenish shine and a few yellow scales.

Thorax: patagia dark brown to black with greenish-violet shine; tegula and mesothorax black with dark greenish shine; metathorax black with dark violet shine; laterally thorax black with bright greenish-violet shine and a few yellow scales at base of forewing; posteriorly both metepimeron and metameron black with bright greenish-violet shine, densely covered with silvery-white hair-like scales.

Legs: fore coxa black with bright greenish-violet shine and a small yellow spot basally; fore femur black with greenish-shine, externally covered with elongated, hair-like, black with dark violet shine scales; fore tibia black with greenish-violet shine with elongated, hairy-like scales both anteriorly and posteriorly; fore tarsus dark brown to black with greenish-violet shine dorsally and dark brown with bronze shine ventrally; mid coxa dark grey-brown with greenish-violet shine and a few yellow-orange scales; mid femur black with violet shine and elongated, hairy-like, silvery-white scales at posterior margin; mid tibia and spurs entirely black with dark violet shine; mid tarsus dark brown to black with greenish-violet shine dorsally and dark brown with bronze shine ventrally; hind coxa black with greenish shine and large yellow spot with golden luster internally; hind femur black with violet shine and elongated, hairy-like, silvery-white scales at posterior margin; hind tibia black with dark violet shine and tuft of elongated, hair-like, yellow-orange scales distally of base of mid spurs, spurs black with dark violet shine; hind tarsus dark brown to black with greenish-violet shine dorsally and dark brown with bronze shine ventrally.

Forewing completely opaque, dorsally black with bright shine gradually changing from base of wing to apex from green through greenish-blue to purple; ventrally dark brown to black with bright purple-violet shine and a large, triangular, brick-red spot in basal half; cilia dark brown with bronze-purple shine.

Hindwing transparent; discal spot narrow, but gradually broadened to opaque surface between veins CuA 1 and CuA 2; outer margin broad, wider between veins CuA 1 and CuP; veins scaled narrowly; dorsally opaque parts black with greenish-blue shine in basal half and bronze-purple shine in distal half; ventrally dark brown to black with bright purple-violet shine; cilia dark brown with bronze-purple shine.

Abdomen dorsally black with dark greenish shine; tergite 2 with few yellow scales distally; ventrally abdomen dark brown with greenish-blue shine; sternites 1+2–4 each with few pale yellow to yellow scales medially; each sternite medially with short yellow stripe distally; anal tuft black with dark purple-violet shine.

Male genitalia (paratype) (genital preparation No OG– 053-2018) ( Figs 13–16 ). Uncus long, narrow, slightly broadened distally, with simple setae and scales in distal third; tegumen short; gnathos narrow, without teeth; tuba analis with subscaphium narrowly sclerotized ( Fig. 13 ); valva ( Fig. 14 ) broad, semi-oval, oblique basally, covered with strong hand-shaped setae dorso-basally; medial crista low, with few simple setae; crista sacculi low and narrow, covered with simple setae, strong basally and soft towards apex; saccus ( Fig. 15 ) about 0.5 times as broad as vinculum, narrow, somewhat rounded basally; aedeagus ( Fig. 16 ) rather broad, about 1.35 as long as length of valva, distally with small carina penis situated dorso-apically; vesica with numerous minute cornuti.

Female. Unknown.

INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY ( Figs 3–12 ). The number of white scales with electric-blue shine on the frons laterally, yellow scales on the neck plate, brick-red scales on the forewing from below, and yellow scales on the abdomen vary slightly. In addition, the color of the pericephalic hairs varies from white to yellow. There is a male with a narrow yellow distal stripe on the forth abdominal tergite ( Fig. 5 ) and another male without yellow scales on the dorsal side of the abdomen ( Fig. 11 ). Besides, opaque part of the hindwing is variable in size. Moreover, this new species is somewhat variable in individual size: alar expanse 30.0– 34.3 mm; body length 17.5–20.6 mm; forewing length 13.4–14.8 mm; antenna length 7.2–8.7 mm.

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS. Both externally and in the structure of the male genitalia, this new species looks very much like S. nanlingensis Kallies et Arita, 2014 (type locality: China: Guangdong Province, Shaoguang, Nanling Mountains), but it differs in the colouration of the labial palpus (black, mid joint white laterally, ventrally scales black with white tips in S. nanlingensis , vs. dark brown to black with dark violet shine, a few dirty yellow scales on basal joint dorsally and individual yellow scales on mid joint ventrally in S. jailolo sp.n.), thorax (“black, with few yellow scales dorsal posteriorly” [ Kallies et al., 2014: 195] in the species compared, vs. tegula and mesothorax black with dark greenish shine; metathorax black with dark violet shine in S. jailolo sp.n.), forewing (“opaque, black with a bluish shine; covered with indistinct reddish brown scales between cubital stem and anal margin, and in the area of the cell; ventrally similar but reddish brown scales more extensive, covering about 2/3 of the wing” [ Kallies et al., 2014: 195] in S. nanlingensis , vs. opaque, dorsally black with bright shine gradually changing from base of wing to apex from green through greenish-blue to purple; ventrally dark brown to black with bright purple-violet shine and a large, triangular, brick-red spot in basal half; cilia dark brown with bronze-purple shine in the new species) and abdomen (“tergite 2 with very narrow yellow line at distal edge; sternites with small yellow wedge-shaped marks in distal part” [ Kallies et al., 2014: 195] in the species compared, vs. abdomen dorsally black with dark greenish shine; tergite 2 (sometimes also tergite 4) with a few yellow scales distally; ventrally abdomen dark brown with greenish-blue shine; sternites 12–4 each with a few pale yellow to yellow scales medially; each sternite medially with a short yellow stripe distally in S. jailolo sp.n.; cf. Figs 1, 3, 5 , 7, 9 , and 11 in this article with figs 21 and 22 in Kallies et al. [2014]. The male genitalia of these two species are very similar. They differ from each other in minute details of the uncus (somewhat broadened subdistally and more pointed apically in S. nanlingensis ) and shape of the valva (dorso-distal margin straight and tip turned up in the species compared; cf. Figs 13–16 in this article with fig. 36 in Kallies et al. [2014]).

From S. zygophora ( Hampson 1919) (type locality: Malaysia: Sarawak, Kuching), this new species is clearly distinguishable by the colouration of the wings (forewing and opaque parts of the hindwing dark brown to black with a strong brilliant-blue metallic shine in S. zygophora , vs. forewing dorsally black with bright shine gradually changing from base of wing to apex from green through greenish-blue to purple; opaque part of hindwing black with greenish-blue shine in basal half and bronze-purple shine in distal half in S. jailolo sp.n.; cf. Figs 1, 3, 5 , 7, 9 , and 11 in this article with fig. 165 in Arita et al. [2021]).

From all other congeners [ Gorbunov, 2021], S. jailolo sp.n. differs clearly by both the colouration of the different parts of the body and the conformation of the opaque part of the hindwing.

From N. palawana , this new species can be separated by the colouration of the forewing (dorsally “blackish-brown, basal 1/3 light brown, with a yellow spot on base; costal margin blackish” [ Kallies, Arita, 1998: 267] in the species compared, vs. forewing dorsally black with bright shine gradually changing from base of wing to apex from green through greenish-blue to purple in S. jailolo sp.n.) and by the completely transparent hindwing; cf. Figs 1, 3, 5 , 7, 9 , and 11 in this article with fig. 18 in Kallies and Arita [1998]. In addition, these two species can be distinguished from each other by the shape of the uncus and valva in the male genitalia; compare Figs 13–16 in this article with figs 27a–d in Kallies and Arita [1998].

BIONOMICS. The larval host plant is unknown. The type series was collected in the second half of February with help of unspecific artificial sex pheromones.

HABITAT. The new species was collected in a clearing in a primary tropical evergreen forest at an altitude of about 500 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 17 ).

DISTRIBUTION. The new species is known only from the type locality in the eastern region of the island of Halmahera in North Maluku province in Indonesia .

ETHYMOLOGY. The new species is named after “Jailolo”, which is one of the old names for Halmahera Island, where it was collected.

Acknowledgements. I would like to express my cordial thanks to Mr. Maxim B. Markhasyov, Dr. Vasily K. Tuzov and Prof. Dmitry G. Zamolodchikov (all from Moscow, Russia) for the company and help during our successful trip to North Maluku, Indonesia in 2017. I am indebted to Dr. Anatoliy V. Krupitsky (Moscow, Russia) for carefully checking the English of an advanced draft .

The study was conducted using the equipment of the Joint Usage Center “Instrumental methods in ecology” at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia). The investigation was fulfilled within the State research projects Nos. AAAA-A18- 118042490060 - 1 and 0089-2021-0007 .

Figures

Figs 1–6. Variability of Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n.: 1–2 — holotype, alar expanse 33.0 mm, Sesiidae picture Nos 0019-0020–2017; 3– 4 — paratype, alar expanse 30.0 mm, Sesiidae picture Nos 0015-0016–2017; 5–6 — paratype, alar expanse 34.3 mm, Sesiidae picture Nos 0023-0024–2017; 1, 3, 5 — dorsal view; 2, 4, 6 — ventral view. Рис. 1–6. ИЗменчивость Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n.: 1–2 — голотип, раЗмах крыльев 33,0 мм, Sesiidae снимки №№ 0019-0020–2017; 3–4 — паратипы, раЗмах крыльев 30,0 мм, Sesiidae снимки №№ 0015-0016–2017; 5–6 — паратипы, раЗмах крыльев 34,3 мм, Sesiidae снимки №№ 0023-0024–2017; 1, 3, 5 — сверху; 2, 4, 6 — сниЗу.

Figs 7–12. Variability of Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n.: 7–8 — paratype, alar expanse 34.0 mm, Sesiidae picture Nos 0013-0014–2017; 9– 10 — paratype, alar expanse 33.9 mm, Sesiidae picture Nos 0017-0018–2017; 11–12 — paratype, alar expanse 33.4 mm, Sesiidae picture Nos 0021-0022–2017; 7, 9, 11 — dorsal view; 8, 10, 12 — ventral view. Рис. 7–12. ИЗменчивость Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n.: 1–2 — голотип, раЗмах крыльев 34,0 мм, Sesiidae снимки №№ 0013-0014– 2017; 3–4 — паратипы, раЗмах крыльев 33,9 мм, Sesiidae снимки №№ 0017-0018–2017; 5–6 — паратипы, раЗмах крыльев 33,4 мм, Sesiidae снимки №№ 0021-0022–2017; 7, 9, 11 — сверху; 8, 10, 12 — сниЗу.

Figs 13–16. Male genitalia of Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n., genital preparation No OG–053-2018: 13 — tegumen-uncus complex; 14 — valva; 15 — saccus; 16 — aedeagus. Scale bar 0.5 mm. Рис. 13–16. Гениталии самца Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n., препарат гениталий № OG–053-2018: 13 — тегумен-ункус комплекс; 14 — вальва; 15 — саккус; 16 — Эдеагус. Масштаб: 0,5 мм.

Fig. 17. Habitat of Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n. Indonesia, North Maluku, East Halmahera, 17 km SE Subaim, 01°00.94´N, 128°18.2´E, 510 m, 17.II.2017. Photo by O. Gorbunov. Рис. 17.Биотоп Scoliokona jailolo, sp.n. ИндонеЗиЯ, Северное Малуку, ВосточнаЯ Хальмахера, 3 км ЮЗ Субаима, 01°00.94´N, 128°18.2´E, 510 m, 17.II.2017. Фото О. Горбунова.