Taikona extraordinaria Yu, Kallies & Arita, 2024

Yu, Tiantian, Kallies, Axel, Arita, Yutaka, He, Jinfu, Li, Haijun, Yata, Naoki & Li, Xueyan, 2024, Two new species of the genus Taikona Arita & Gorbunov, 2001 (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae) from Yunnan, China, Zootaxa 5443 (1), pp. 135-140 : 138-139

Taikona extraordinaria Yu, Kallies & Arita sp. nov.

异台ṸMď

( Figs 5–8 , 10 )

Type material. Holotype, ♂, Dulongjiang Village , Gongshan County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Prov., China, 27°46′30″N, 98°35′49″E ， 2270 m, 22.VII.2023, Tiantian Yu leg., No. KIZ 0135569 ( KIZ) . Paratypes, 1♂, Bingzhongluo town , Gongshan County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Prov., China, 27°53′46″N, 98°39′53″E, 1500 m, 18. VI .2023, Tiantian Yu leg., No. KIZ 0135570 ( KIZ) ; 1♂, Weixi Lisu Autonomous County, Diqing Zang Autonomous Prefecture , Yunnan Prov., China, 19.VII.2014, 2875m, in SCAU .

Description. Holotype ( Figs 5–6 ). Alar expanse 35.9 mm; body length 18.7 mm; forewing 16.2 mm; antenna 8 mm.

Head: antenna red-brown, dorsally covered with black scales; frons black; vertex brick-brown with dark orange scales laterally; basal joint of labial palps orange-red, mixed with few yellow scales ventrally; mid and apical joint of labial yellow with a few black hair-like scales laterally; occipital fringe white, with a few yellowish scales medially; pericephalic scales dark brown; proboscis present.

Thorax: brownish black; patagia dark red-orange, mixed with a few black scales dorsally; tegula densely covered with pale brown hair-like scales medially, interior margin brown, posterior margin red orange, and with a large red-orange spot at the base of the forewing; metathorax with pale brown hair-like scales medially and red-orange hair-like scales laterally and posteriorly.

Leg black; distal half of fore femur and basal half of tibia orange ventrally, distal half of fore tibia covered with dirty yellow scales ventrally; basal half of fore tarsus with orange hair-like scales dorsally, mixed with black long scales interiorly and pale brown laterally, apical half of fore tarsus pale yellow; mid and hind coxae orange; mid tibia dorsally covered with pale orange long scales medially, laterally with a few orange scales, ventrally pale yellowish white; mid tarsus and spurs pale yellow; hind tibia densely covered with pale yellowish white long hair-like scales dorsally, ventrally black, with pale yellowish white tufts at the base of mid and distal spurs. Forewing transparent yellowish, with bronzed blue sheen; veins and cilia dark brownish black; R4 and R5 long stalked; discal spot cuneiform; distal position of PTA and the cell between veins Cu1 and Cu2 basally scattered with dark brown scales. Hindwing transparent with pale yellowish, with bronzed blue sheen; discal spot narrow and filiform, veins and outer margin dark brownish black; cilia dark brownish black, and dark orange anally.

Abdomen: black with bronzed purple sheen; tergite 2 densely covered with pale yellowish white long hair-like scales anteriorly; anal tuft black, with pale yellowish scales ventrally.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 10 ). Uncus slender and somewhat straight, apical blunt; gnathos relatively broad; tuba analis narrow and sclerotized; valva triangular-oval, dorsal half of ventral side densely covered with hand-shaped setae, ventral half of ventral side covered with long simple setae; crista sacculi low, densely covered with strongly sclerotized setae; saccus long, finger-shaped; phallus slightly bent, with a small dentate process subapically; vesica with numerous, small spicules.

Diagnosis. This new species appears to mimic true wasps (Vespinae) and is distinctly different from the rest of the members of Taikona , which mimic scoliid wasps (Scoliinae) ( T. polevoyi , T. gaoligongshana ) or potter wasp (Eumeninae) ( T. matsumurai , T. actinidiae , T. ikedai ). By the coloration of the head, thorax, leg and abdomen, this new species cannot be confused with any species of Taikona . There are no similar Paranthrenini species known from China ( Kallies et al. 2014)

Distribution. China (Yunnan Province).

Etymology. The scientific name is derived from an adjective of Latin origin, extraordinarius = unique, corresponding to the special external features of the species.

Molecular data. The barcode sequence of Taikona extraordinaria Yu, Kallies & Arita sp. nov. (658 bp fragment of COI) was deposited in GenBank (accession number: PP436720.1)

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Taikona species, adults. 1–4. Taikona gaoligongshana sp. nov. 1–2. Holotype, ♂, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135567. 3–4. Paratype, ♂, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135568. 5–8. Taikona extraordinaria sp. nov. 5–6. Holotype, Dulongjiang Village, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135569. 7–8. Paratype, ♂, Bingzhongluo Town, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135570.

FIGURES 9–10. Taikona species, male genitalia. Scale bar: 1 mm. 9. Taikona gaoligongshana sp. nov. Male (Gen. prep. No. KIZ 0135568) (KIZ). 10. Taikona extraordinaria sp. nov. Male (SCAU).