Paradoxecia beibengensis Yu & Kallies, 2019

Yu, Tiantian, Arita, Yutaka, Kallies, Axel & Wang, Min, 2019, Three new species of the genus Paradoxecia Hampson, 1919 (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) from China, Zootaxa 4691 (3), pp. 261-269 : 264-267

Paradoxecia beibengensis Yu & Kallies sp. nov.

( Figs 5, 6 , 9 )

Type Material. Holotype: ♂, China, Tibet autonomous region, Medog county, Beibeng , 29°14’11.28” N, 95°09’51.52” E, 25–VII–2017, 1731 m, Tiantian Yu leg. ( SCAU).

Description. Holotype ( Figs 5, 6 ). Alar expanse 22 mm; body length 11.5 mm; forewing 10 mm; antenna 4.5 mm.

Head: antenna black with bronze sheen; front and vertex black with dark brown sheen; basal and mid segment of labial palpus covered with white hairs, apical segment of labial palpus yellow; proboscis small; eyes with a row of pale orange scales anteriorly; pericephalic scales orange dorsally, white laterally.

Thorax: patagia and tegula black with dark brown sheen; mesothorax with a narrow orange submedial lines on each side. Forewing almost opaque, brownish black, with purple sheen; ETA with two semi-transparent cells between M 2 and Cu 1. Hindwing covered with yellow semi-transparent scales, with pale violet sheen; discal spot not developed; veins and outer margin brownish black; cilia dark brown with brown sheen. Legs with fore femur covered with orange scales ventrally; fore tibia brick-orange, mixed with a few dark brown scales both dorsally and ventrally; fore tarsus dark brown; mid and hind coxae cream white; mid femur ventrally with a large orange-red spot at distal end; medial half of mid tibia covered with orange-red scales dorsally, with a large orange-red spot externalventrally; mid tarsus mixed with orange-red scales ventrally; hind tibia with white spot medial-dorsally and with a large orange-red spot at distal end; spurs black; hind tarsus brick-orange to yellow ventrally.

Abdomen: black with dark brown sheen; tergites 2, 4 and 5 each with an orange-red stripe posteriorly; tergite 3 with a narrow white posterior margin; sternite 4 with a pale yellowish stripe posteriorly.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 9 ). Uncus finger shaped, well-developed, curved; tegumen relatively slender; valva evenly rounded, clothed with hair-like scales; saccus large and broad; phallus with a blunt process apically; coecum penis relatively slender; vesica with numerous sclerotized spines.

Female unknown.

Diagnosis. By external appearance P. beibengensis sp. nov. is similar to P. taiwana but can be separated by the tegula (entirely black in P. beibengensis sp. nov., dark brown with a few orange scales both distally and laterally in P. taiwana ), the coloration of the meso- and metathorax (mesothorax black, with narrow orange-red submedial lines and metathorax without spots in P. beibengensis sp. nov., mesothorax dark brown, without submedial lines and metathorax with two small yellow-orange spots submedial-posteriorly in P. taiwana ), as well as the abdomen (tergite 3 with a narrow white posterior margin in P. beibengensis sp. nov., tergite 3 dark brown entirely in P. taiwana ).

P. beibengensis sp. nov. also shows superficial similarities to P. fukiensis from which it can be distinguished by the vertex (entirely black in P. beibengensis sp. nov., dark brown with golden-green sheen in P. fukiensis ), the coloration of the pericephalic scales (dorsally black with brown sheen, white laterally in P. polyzona sp. nov., dorsally dirty-yellow, laterally pale yellow in P. fukiensis ), and the coloration of the abdomen (base color of all segments black with dark brown sheen, tergites 2, 4 and 5 each with an orange-red stripe, tergite 3 with a narrow white posterior margin, sternite 4 with a pale yellow stripe in P. beibengensis sp. nov., base color of segments 1–3 black, of all other segments dark brown, tergite 4 with a narrow yellow stripe and tergites 5 and 6 each with a narrow orange stripe, sternite 4 with a broad yellow stripe at anterior margin in P. fukiensis ). In addition, this new species is close to P. polyzona sp. nov. but differs from its smaller size (alar expanse 30 mm in P. polyzona sp. nov., 22 mm in P. beibengensis sp. nov.), fore femur (ventrally covered with yellow scales in P. polyzona sp. nov., dark orange ventrally in P. beibengensis sp. nov.), the coloration of the pericephalic scales (orange dorsally and white laterally in P. beibengensis sp. nov., dorsally black with brown sheen, white laterally in P. polyzona sp. nov.), the abdomen (tergites 2, 4 and 5 each with an orange-red stripe, tergite 3 with a narrow white stripe, only sternite 4 with a pale yellowish stripe in P. beibengensis sp. nov., tergites 3–7 each with a dark yellow stripe, sternites 3–7 with yellowish white stripes in P. polyzona sp. nov.) and the anal tuft (entirely black in P. beibengensis sp. nov., yellow dorsally and pale yellow ventrally in P. polyzona sp. nov.).

Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Tibet.

Remark. This species was collected in late July at the edge of mountain forest. The specimen was attracted to pheromone lures in the afternoon. The pheromone lures were produced by Anglian Lepidopterist Supplies Company (Station Road, Hindolveston, Norfolk, UK).

Etymology. This new species is named after Beibeng, a village in Medog county where the holotype of the species was collected.

Molecular data. The barcode of Paradoxecia beibengensis sp. nov. (658 bp fragment of COI; accession number: MN 121706 ) was deposited in GenBank.

DNA sequence analysis. A Neighbor-joining tree derived from COI sequences (658bp) is shown in Fig. 10 . The COI sequences of the three new Paradoxecia species were clustered and formed a strongly supported monophyletic clade (100%). The genetic divergence based on the Kimura-2-parameter distance between P. kishidai sp. nov. and P. beibengensis sp. nov. was 5.47%, whereas distances between P. kishidai sp. nov. and P. polyzona sp. nov. and between P. beibengensis sp. nov. and P. polyzona sp. nov. were 7.75% and 8.21%, respectively.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Neighbor-joining (NJ) tree of genetic distances (Kimura-2-parameter model) of COI sequences for three new Paradoxecia species, rooted with Trichocerota proxima Le Cerf, 1916 (Genbank: MN121710) and Negotinthia myrmosaeformis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1846) (Genbank: GU171611) as outgroups. Branch lengths represent the number of substitutions per site as percentage.

FIGURES 1–6. Adults. 1–2. Paradoxecia kishidai Yu & Arita, sp. nov., Holotype ♂. 1, dorsal side, alar expanse 25 mm (SCAU); 2, ventral side. 3–4. Paradoxecia polyzona Yu & Kallies sp. nov., Holotype ♂. 3, dorsal side, alar expanse 30 mm (SCAU); 4, ventral side. 5–6. Paradoxecia beibengensis Yu & Kallies sp. nov., Holotype ♂. 5, dorsal side, alar expanse 22 mm (SCAU); 6. ventral side.

FIGURES 7–9. Male genitalia of Paradoxecia species. 7. Paradoxecia kishidai Yu & Arita, sp. nov., Holotype (SCAU). Gen. prep. LS1–0204; a, saccus. b, phallus. Scale bar: 1 mm. 8. Paradoxecia polyzona Yu & Kallies sp. nov., Holotype (SCAU). Gen. prep. LS1–0202; a, saccus. b, phallus. Scale bar: 1 mm. 9. Paradoxecia beibengensis Yu & Kallies sp. nov., Holotype (SCAU). Gen. prep. LS1–0203; a, saccus. b, phallus. Scale bar: 1 mm.