Aschistophleps ignisquamulata, Kallies & Štolc, 2018

Kallies, Axel & Štolc, Vladimír, 2018, A new species of Aschistophleps from Thailand and Laos, with a new generic synonymy (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae), Zootaxa 4446 (4), pp. 596-600 : 596-597

Aschistophleps ignisquamulata spec. nov.

( Figs 1, 3 )

Material examined. Holotype: ♂ ( Fig. 1 ), North Thailand, Prov. Nan, 450 m, Nam Om (broken bridge), 18°56.060’N 100°27.335’E, 29.v.–3.vi.2013, leg. B. Vodrlind & Z . Weidenhoffer (coll. A. Kallies, will be deposited in Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany). Paratypes (3 ♂) : 1 ♂, same data as holotype (coll. Vladimír Štolc) ; 1 ♂, N Laos, Luang-Namtha , 4.v.1994, leg. T. Yoshida (National Science Museum Tokyo, Japan) ; 1♂, N Laos, Luang Prabang, Kiew Mak Nao , 900 m, 27.ii.2016, local collector / genitalia examined by A. Kallies, slide AK859 ( Fig. 3 , coll. A. Kallies) .

Description. Male (holotype): wingspan 17 mm; forewing length 7 mm; body length 9 mm. Most parts of the body, wing margins and veins and legs bright deep crimson red.

Head. Frons black in dorsal half, white in ventral portion; labial palps white, third segment with some brown scales dorsally; antennae black to dark brown dorsally, light brown ventrally; pericephalic scales white.

Thorax. Patagia black; tegula red; metathorax red, ventrally black. Legs: black, coxae white, each tarsomere white in basal portion, hind tibia red dorsally, with a blade of long red scales internally and a ridge of red scales dorsally, mixed with a few white scales.

Forewing. All veins, costal and anal margins red in basal half and black in distal half, discal spot wide and black; external transparent area large, consisting of 5 large transparent cells, each with a well-defined line running from the outer margin through most of the cell, and a vestigial transparent cell between Cu1 and Cu2.

Hindwing. Most veins red in basal third, except first anal vein mostly black, outer 2/3 of wing with a smoky appearance, with broad black outer margin, very wide and distinctive black discal spot.

Abdomen. Dorsally covered by a layer of crimson red scales, black scales underneath, tergite 1 with a black posterior margin, terga 2 to 7 with silver-white bands along the posterior margins that show a bluish reflection; sterna 1+2 covered with white scales, sterna 2 to 7 black with broad and bright white posterior margins; anal tuft red with a black tip.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 3 ). Distal margin of uncus with a row of short well-sclerotized setae, lateral margins with short and soft setae; gnathos wide and rounded; valva relatively long and of equal width over its entire length, subapically distinctively inward folded and with a short row of short well-sclerotized setae, inner surface of the valva with a large field of soft setae in the dorsal portion and a small area of such setae in the ventral section near the apex; saccus triangular, blunt ending; phallus simple, shorter than valva.

Diagnosis. This species cannot be confused with any of the known species in Aschistophleps , including the species formerly assigned to Pyrophleps . It is somewhat similar and probably most closely related to Aschistophleps cruentata (Swinhoe, 1896) comb. rev. from north-eastern India (figured in Arita & Gorbunov, 1995). However, this species can be differentiated by the color of the hindwing discal spot (largely red in A. cruentata , completely black in A. ignisquamulata ) and hind legs (dorsal portion of the scale tufts black in A. cruentata , completely red in A. ignisquamulata ). It also shows some similarities with Aschistophleps cucphuonganae (Arita & Gorbunov, 2000) comb. nov. ( Fig. 2 ) from Northern Vietnam and the closely related Aschistophleps bicella ( Xu & Arita, 2015) comb. nov. from southern China. However, in both species the discal spots are fused to the outer margins, leaving only two or three transparent cells in the distal portion of the hindwing and three large and one narrow transparent cells in the basal portion of the hindwing. The new species differs from all other species of the genus Aschistophleps , including A. lampropoda Hampson , [1893], A. longipoda Arita & Gorbunov, 2000 , A. metachryseis Hampson, 1895 , A. murzini Gorbunov & Arita, 2002 , A. xanthocrista Gorbunov & Arita, 1995 , A. haematochrodes Le Cerf, 1912 comb. rev., A. nigripennis (Arita & Gorbunov, 2000) comb. nov., A. ruficrista (Rothschild, 1912) , A. vitripennis (Arita & Gorbunov, 2000) comb. nov., A. ellawi (Skowron Volponi, 2017) comb. nov. and A. argentifasciata Skowron Volponi & Volponi, 2017 by external appearance (very large discal spot in hindwing that is not linked to the outer margins) and its distinctly different genitalia (very short wellsclerotized setae along margins of the uncus and distinct inwards folded apical margin of the valva with wellsclerotized setae).

Variability. One of the specimen from Laos is somewhat smaller and has a slightly larger transparent cell between forewing Cu1 and Cu2. It also lacks the lines of scales extending from the outer margin of the forewing termen into each of the cells. However, we believe that these small differences reflect intraspecific variation.

Habitat and Biology. The holotype and one paratype were collected on the banks of a small river surrounded by secondary tropical rainforest ( Fig. 4 ). One specimen was attracted to artificial pheromone lures between 9 and 11.30 am. Another specimen was found sucking moisture from damp sand near the river. This ‘mud-puddling’ behaviour has been described for several species of the genera Aschistophleps, Heterospecia Le Cerf, 1916 and Akaisphecia Gorbunov & Arita, 1995 ( Gorbunov 2015, Skowron 2015, Skowron Volponi & Volponi 2017a – c, 2018) and may be a trait typical of Oriental Osminiini . The hostplant of A. ignisquamulata is unknown.

Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin ignis (fire) and squamula (scale).

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Aschistophleps species and habitat. 1. A. ignisquamulata spec. nov., holotype, Thailand. 2. A. cucphuonganae comb. nov., Vietnam. 3. A. ignisquamulata spec. nov., paratype, male genitalia. 4. Type locality of A. ignisquamulata spec. nov. in Thailand.