Hoplodrina implacata ( Wileman & West, 1929 )

Wu, Shipher & Owada, Mamoru, 2018, Revision of the Hoplodrina implacata group (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Noctuinae: Caradrinini) of Taiwan, with descriptions of four new species, Zootaxa 4455 (3), pp. 571-581 : 573-574

Hoplodrina implacata ( Wileman & West, 1929)

( Figs 1 – 3, 6 , 16 , 24, 25 )

Athetis implacata Wileman & West, 1929 , Novitates Zoologicae 35: 6.

Hoplodrina implacata: Sugi, 1982 , 1: 769 (part), 2: 371, pl. 355: 15 (holotype); Poole, 1989: 513; Sugi, 1992: 195; Wang, 1996: 69, fig; Kononenko, 1997: 291 (part), figs 1, 6, 11.

Hoplodrina euryptera: Sugi, 1960: 26 (part), nec Boursin, 1937.

Type examined. Holotype, ♀, “ Type [red circle label]/ ♀ Arizan, Formosa. 7,500 ft. 23. VIII. 1908, A. E. Wileman/ 1480 F/Wileman Coll. B. M. 1929 – 261/ Athetis implacata W & W Holotype ♀ / Noctuidae Brit. Mus. slide No. 16050 ♀ / BMNH (E) 1689129” ( NHMUK; photo examined).

Additional material examined. TAIWAN. 1♂, Taichung Ci., Mt. Shueshan, Chika-shanchuang , 2460 m, 13 – VIII – 1990, leg. M. Owada, slide VK3 ( NSMT) ; 1♂, Nantou Co., Meifeng , 2100 m, 21 – VII – 2015, leg. S. Wu, slide TFRI182429 ( TFRI) ; 1♂, [Ilan Co.], Taiheizan [= Taipingshan ], 10 – VIII – 1936, leg. E. & S. Asahina, slide NSMT – SW1334 ( NSMT) ; 1♂, same collecting locality, 9 – VIII – 1936, leg. E. & S. Asahina (NSMT); 1♂, [Taichung Ci.], Kunugiga-oka [= Lishan area ?], 18-VIII-1936, leg. E. & S. Asahina, slide NSMT3065 ( NSMT) ; 1♂, Hualien Co., Ci’en , 1950 m, 13 – VIII – 2012, leg. S. Wu & W. C. Chang, slide TFRI163412 ( TFRI) ; 1♂ (slide SS-559♂), 1♀ (slide SS-6051 ♀), Formosa [ Taiwan], leg. T. Kano, ex Sugi Collection ( NIAES; photo examined).

Diagnosis. This species represents its close affinity to the Chinese H. minimalis Kononenko, 1997 ( Figs 9 , 22 ) and the present described new species H. cienensis sp. nov. and H. obscura sp. nov. based on the genitalia. In the male genitalia, H. implacata differs from other three species by the more protruded valval apex; the prominent saccus as V-shaped with acute apex; the curved harpe rather than straight; the less developed cornutus. In Taiwan, judging on the wing patterns, H. obscura (undistinguished orbicular and reniform stigmas) and H. persequora (black orbicular and reniform stigmas) are unique, respectively, the characters for separating the remain species are as follows: Hoplodrina implacata has longer forewing length (15-16 mm) and silver brown coloration rather than shorter forewing length (13–15 mm) and greyish coloration in H. cienensis . Hoplodrina implacata and H. bunun sp. nov. are roughly similar in appearance, but can be easily distinguished by the separated orbicular and reniform stigmata rather than closely adjacent maculae. H. kononenkoi sp. nov. can also be distinguished well by its unique, nearly straight forewing submarginal line. It should be stressed that H. implacata appears in July and August and the other species of this group appear from September to November.

Bionomics. Endemic to Taiwan. The species is distributed in mid-elevation broad-leaved forests of central Taiwan. The adults infrequently occur from July to August.

Notes. The female holotype of Hoplodrina implacata is examined by photo ( Figs 1, 2 ) taken by Shen-Horn Yen (National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, NSYSU), the holotype genitalia is examined by photo ( Fig. 24 ) taken by Alberto Zilli (NHMUK). Sugi (1960) incorrectly recorded H. euryptera from Taiwan. Sugi (1982) illustrated the holotype of H. implacata and synonymized H. euryptera with it. Kononenko (1997) elucidated the taxonomic problems of these two distinct species and confirmed H. implacata occurring only in Taiwan according to four specimens. Among the specimens, two are in NSMT and two are in Shigero Sugi’s collection. The two NSMT specimens have been examined, one of them is actually H. kononenkoi sp. nov. (see the paratype designation part of that species), and another is true H. implacata . Through a courtesy of Shin-ichi Yoshimatsu (NIAES) and Daisuke Watabiki (Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Atsugi, TUAA), we were able to examine photographs of genitalia slides of a pair of “ H. implacata ” ex Sugi Collection in NIAES, and confirmed that they are true H. implacata . The slide of female genitalia, SS-6051♀, is illustrated in this paper ( Fig. 25 ). According to S. Yoshimatsu (personal communication), there is a species label of H. implacata in the Sugi Collection box, but a pair of moths are absent, and only the genitalia slides are available. The collector, T. Kano [Tadao Kano], is a so famous pioneering scientist studying on Taiwan natural history, therefore Sugi might separate the two specimens in a special box. The different shape of corpus bursae in holotype and Sugi’s specimen might probably come from copulation or not. Besides, the ductus bursae, the appendix bursae and the transversal signum are similar.

Figures

FIGURES 1–15. Habitus of species of Hoplodrina implacata group. 1. H. implacata (Wileman & West, 1929), female, holotype, Taiwan (©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London); 2. Ditto, labels (©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London); 3, 6. H. implacata, male, Taiwan; 4. H. cienensis sp. nov., male, holotype, Taiwan (TFRI); 5. Ditto, paratype, female, Taiwan (TFRI); 7. H. obscura sp. nov., male, holotype, Taiwan (TFRI); 8. Ditto, paratype, male, Taiwan (TFRI); 9. H. minimalis Kononenko, 1997, male, China (NSMT); 10. H. kononenkoi sp. nov., male, holotype, Taiwan (TFRI); 11. Ditto, paratype, female, Taiwan (TFRI); 12. H. euryptera Boursin, 1937, male, Japan (NSMT); 13. H. bunun sp. nov., male, holotype, Taiwan (NMNS); 14. Ditto, male, paratype, Taiwan (NSMT); 15. Ditto, paratype, female, Taiwan (NSMT). Scale bar= 10 mm. Photo by Shen-Horn Yen (1, 2); Shipher Wu (3–15).

FIGURES 16–23. The male genitalia of the genus Hoplodrina species. 16. H. implacata (Wileman & West, 1929), Taiwan (NSMT); 17. H. cienensis sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (TFRI); 18. H. obscura sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (TFRI); 19. H. kononenkoi sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (TFRI); 20. H. bunun sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (NMNS); 21. H. persequora Ronkay, Ronkay, Fu & Wu, 2013, Taiwan (TFRI); 22. H. minimalis Kononenko, 1997, China (NSMT); 23. H. euryptera Boursin, 1937, Japan (NSMT). Photo by Shipher Wu.

FIGURES 24–30. The female genitalia of Hoplodrina species 24. H. implacata (Wileman & West, 1929), Taiwan, holotype (©The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London); 25. Ditto, Taiwan (NIAES); 26. H. cienensis sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (TFRI); 27. H. kononenkoi sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (TFRI); 28. H. bunun sp. nov., paratype, Taiwan (NSMT); 29. H. persequora Ronkay, Ronkay, Fu & Wu, 2013, Taiwan (TFRI); 30. H. euryptera Boursin, 1937, Japan (NSMT). Photo by Alberto Zilli (24); Daisuke Watabiki (25); Shipher Wu (26–30).