Acronicta cinerea (Hufnagel, 1766)

Han, H. L. & Kononenko, V. S., 2010, New species of the genera Acronicta Ochsenheimer, 1816 and Craniophora Snellen, 1867 from China with notes on synonymy and checklist (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae: Acronictinae), Zootaxa 2678 (1), pp. 48-68 : 56

Acronicta cinerea (Hufnagel, 1766)

( Figs. 31, 32 )

Phalaena cinerea Hufnagel, 1766 , Berlinisches Magazin 3: 416 (Type-locality: Germany, Berlin)

Synonymy: abscondida Treitschke, 1835; myricae Guenée, 1814; korlana Draudt, 1931 , syn. n.; artobowskii Wojitusiak & Nesilovski, 1946; cinerascens Kozhanchikov, 1950 , syn. n.

Acronicta cinerascens Kozhanchikov, 1950 , Fauna SSSR 12: 533 (Holotype: North China, Beitsegou [ZISP, St.Peterburg]), syn. n

Notes. During the present study, through the courtesy of A. Matov (ZISP), we examined the holotype and the genitalic preparation of Acronicta cinerascens preserved in the collection of ZISP ( Figs. 31, 32 ). The species was described by Kozhanchikov (1950) on the basis of a single specimen from North China. The holotype is supplemented by labels: “North China Beitsegou Putjata 4-viii-[18]91” (in Russian), “ Acronicta cinerascens sp. n. Kozh” and a golden circular label, denoting the holotype. The specimen was not dissected by Kozhanchikov during description. The genitalic preparation was made by A. Matov by our request. After examination of the photographs of the holotype and genitalic slide we concluded that Acronicta cinerascens was conspecific with A. cinerea . Acronicta cinerea is reported for China for the first time, while its sister species A. euphorbiae was reported for China by Draudt (1931) who described subspecies A. euphorbiae korlana ( Draudt, 1931) from northwest China (Xinjiang). This record, however, apparently belongs to A. cinerea . According to Fibiger et al (2009) A. euphorbiae has an Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution, while A. cinerea is Euro-Asiatic. Our studyies ( Kononenko 2005, 2010) indicate that only A. cinerea occurs in the Asian part of Russia, near China. Consequently, A. korlana should be treated as a synonym of cinerea , not euphorbiae .

Figures

FIGURES 31–32. 31. Acronicta cinerea (holotype of A. cinerascens, ZISP), adult, North China; 32. A. cinerea (holotype of A. cinerascens, ZISP), male genitalia, prep. 0266 AM; 33, 34, Distribution maps. 31. Acronicta alni and A. naxi; 32. Craniophora pacifica, C. draudti, C. tapaishana and C. simillima.