Locastra muscosalis ( Walker, 1866 )

Ranjan, Rahul, Singh, Navneet & Kirti, Jagbir Singh, 2022, Review of the genus Locastra Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Epipaschiinae) from India, with a new species and a new species record, Zootaxa 5169 (1), pp. 71-78 : 73

Locastra muscosalis ( Walker, 1866) : 1268

( Figs 1 , 7 )

Type locality: North China

= Locastra cristalis Hampson, 1893: 42

Type locality: Wattegama , Ceylon [ Sri Lanka]

= Taurica sikkima Moore, 1888: 202

Type locality: Darjeeling [ India]

Diagnosis: Locastra muscosalis ( Fig. 1 ) and L. viridis ( Fig. 2 ) are two very similar species, but the former is distinct from L. viridis in the antemedial dark line bent only on vein R 3 and a parallel white line running along with, whereas in L. viridis , the antemedial line is bent on vein R 3 and also on M 3, and the white parallel line is absent. Furthermore, L. muscosalis and L. viridis are distinct in the male genitalia: in L. muscosalis ( Fig. 7 ), the uncus is inverted subtrapezoidal, and the juxta is of a concave U-shape at the posterior margin, whereas in L. viridis ( Fig. 8 ) the uncus is sub-rectangular, and the juxta is concave V-shaped on the posterior margin.

Material examined: India, Mizoram, Mamit , 1 ♂, 07.ix.2016, 2 ♂, 08.ix.2016, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 09.ix.2016, Kawarthah, 2 ♀, 10.ix.2016, Kolasib, 2 ♂, 16.ix.2016, Vairengte, 1 ♂, 18.ix.2016 ; Meghalaya, Umtasor , 6 ♂, 15.ix.2014, 6 ♂, 16.ix.2014, R. Ranjan leg. (NZCZSI)

Distribution: Indian records: Sikhim [Sikkim], Nagas [Nagaland], N[orth] E[ast] India ( Hampson 1896a, b), Darjeeling ( Sevastopulo 1948), Andaman Islands (South Andaman) ( Chandra & Rajan 2004), India ( Rong & Li 2017), Sikkim, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Island ( Chandra et al. 2019), Meghalaya (present study).

Global records: N[orth] China, Ceylon [ Sri Lanka], Rangoon, Burma [ Myanmar] ( Hampson 1896a, b), Nepal ( Yamanaka 1998), Korea ( Bae et al. 2008), China, Japan, Sri Lanka ( Rong & Li 2017), Malaysia, Indonesia ( Chandra et al. 2019).

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Adults. Locastra spp.: 1, L. muscosalis, male; 2, L. viridis, male; 3, L. mizo sp. nov., male; 4, L. crassipennis, male.

FIGURES 7–10. Male genitalia. Locastra spp.: 7, L. muscosalis, male; 8, L. viridis, male; 9, L. mizo sp. nov., male; 10, L. crassipennis, male.