Pyrophleps ellawi Skowron Volponi

Volponi, Marta Agnieszka Skowron & Volponi, Paolo, 2017, A new species of wasp-mimicking clearwing moth from Peninsular Malaysia with DNA barcode and behavioural notes (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae), ZooKeys 692, pp. 129-139 : 130-135

Pyrophleps ellawi Skowron Volponi sp. n. Figs 1, 2, 3, 4

Type material.

Holotype ♂ (Fig. 3): "Malaysia: Pahang, Merapoh, 04°39.04'N, 102°01.80'E, 21 III 2017, Skowron Volponi M.A." / "Holotype, Pyrophleps ellawi sp. n., des. Skowron Vol poni M.A. 2017". Paratype ♂: "Malaysia: Pahang, Kuala Tahan, 04°22.98'N 102°23.98'E, 07 VIII 2014, Skowron Volponi M.A." / "Paratype, Pyrophleps ellawi sp. n., des. Skowron Volponi M.A. 2017". In coll. Marta Skowron Volponi (Gdansk).

Description.

Alar expanse: 16-19.5 mm. Body length: 9.5-12 mm.

Head: antenna 6-6.5 mm, clavate, black dorsally, admixture of brick orange scales ventrally, several pale yellow or white scales at base, acuminate seta at apex; frons smoothly scaled, black with silver sheen; vertex covered with elongated, hair-like scales, bright orange mixed with pale yellow and several black scales between ocelli; smooth white scales adjacent to compound eye; ocelli brown; eyes red; proboscis orange, well-developed, functional; labial palpus long, upturned, with elongated black, orange and white scales dorsally and apically, shorter white scales ventrally; pericephalic hairs white with several orange ones dorsally, black ventrally.

Thorax: smoothly scaled, black with blue sheen, narrow longitudinal orange stripes (solid or dashed) dorsally; patch of white and individual orange scales laterally; elongated hair-like scales at wing insertion, white mixed with black; patagia black. Legs: fore coxa white with several orange scales ventrally; fore- and mid-femora smoothly scaled, black; fore tibia orange dorsally and black ventrally, tufted with hair-like scales (Fig. 2), smooth white scales dorsally at base; 1st tarsomere black with orange and yellow scales basally, tarsomeres 2-3 black with white scales dorsally at base, tarsomeres 4-5 black; mid tibia smooth-scaled ventrally, black with admixture of white scales, dorsally elongated scales white basally, orange medially and black distally; spurs black away from body and white towards body; tarsomeres black dorsally and white proximally but black distally on ventral side; hind femur black; hind tibia smooth-scaled, black in proximal half, tuft of hair-like scales covering distal half of tibia away from body and towards body and 1st and 2nd tarsomere only towards body: tibia with outer scale vestiture black with admixture of white, inner scale vestiture black and brick orange, on 1st tarsomere orange and black, on 2nd tarsomere shorter black scales; tarsomeres black with several white scales at base of 1st and 2nd tarsomere or only 1st. Spurs black away from body, white towards body. All legs with metallic sheen in sunlight. Forewing: hyaline; transparent areas covered with semi-hyaline scales with strong blue sheen (Fig. 1); veins, margins and fringe black; discal spot broad, black, with black extensions into anterior transparent area (ATA) along discal cell boundary and into external transparent area (ETA) between middle of cell M2-M3 and vein R3. ETA divided into nine cells, of which the two between veins R4-R3 and M3-CuA1 are additionally divided by narrow longitudinal stripes. Hindwing: transparent with semi-hyaline scales with blue sheen in distal half between veins 1A and M1, and at base. Discal spot narrow.

Abdomen: black with blue sheen, brighter strongly light-reflecting bands on margin of each tergite; admixture of white scales ventrally; anal tuft very small, black. Male genitalia (Fig. 4): tegumen broad proximally, gradually tapered towards uncus; saccus short with broad, slightly bifurcate base; valva broadening from 1/3 length, margins densely covered with long setae, sparser hair-like setae medially; uncus with ring of brown setae; gnathos narrow, long, pointed distally; aedeagus about 1.5 length of valva.

Variability.

The new species varies in the number of orange scales on thorax which form two, either dashed or solid, longitudinal stripes (Figs 1-2, Suppl. material 1 video TC: 00:40-00:57). On the hind legs white scales are present on the 2nd tarsomere in the holotype, in the paratype 2nd tarsomere is entirely black. It also differs in size.

Diagnosis.

The new species is superficially most similar to Pyrophleps vitripennis , from which it can easily be distinguished by the configuration of male genitalia (compare Fig. 4 herein with Arita and Gorbunov 2000, fig. 6), presence of hair-like scales on labial palpi (smoothly scaled in species compared), presence of orange hair-like scales on fore- and mid tibiae and lack of orange scales on wings, broader external transparent area of forewing. Apart from morphological features, P. ellawi shows 8% COI sequence divergence from P. vitripennis (Table 1). Based on genitalia configuration, this species is most similar to P. nigripennis . However, it differs in the shape of the valva and gnathos. Besides that, it can immediately be distinguished by the well-developed transparent areas of forewing (compare Fig. 3 herein with Arita and Gorbunov 2000, fig. 8), narrow discal spot on hindwing and by the colouration of the hind leg tuft (extensive red both externally, on tibia, and internally, on tibiae and tarsi, in P. nigripennis ). From P. ruficrista it differs in more developed forewing ATA and PTA and less developed ETA and in the hind leg tuft (cinnabar red with two black spots and patches of blue scales in P. ruficrista ). From P. cruentata , P. haematochrodes , P. cucphuonganae and P. bicella , it can be distinguished by the entirely transparent hindwings and absence of red scales on wings and abdomen.

Etymology.

The species is named after our dear friend El Law, a dedicated conservation activist with sincere sensibility for Malaysian nature who, over the years of our studies on Malaysian Sesiidae , offered us his help in countless aspects.

Distribution and habitat.

In addition to the type locality, the species is known also from the Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia, where it was observed and filmed in two locations approx. 50 km from each other. All observations were done on sandy and pebble river banks exposed to sunlight, in a lowland dipterocarp forest (Fig. 5)

Behaviour.

Pyrophleps ellawi was observed flying around sandy and pebble beaches on a river bank and stopping now and again to mud-puddle (Suppl. material 1 video TC: 00:12-00:32). The flight is rapid, very similar to that of Eumeninae wasps. Many individuals of the wasp Coeleumenes burmanicus Bingham, 1897 were seen puddling in the same area. When flying, the wasp and the sesiid were impossible to distinguish. Both the flight path and velocity were very similar. When on land, P. ellawi moved around frantically, searching for moisture with its long proboscis (Suppl. material 1 video TC: 00:33-01:04). It usually landed for a moment only and never stayed for more than a few minutes on the same beach. When puddling, it keeps its wings folded back (Figs 1-2) and uses its fore and mid legs for locomotion (Suppl. material 1 video). The long hind legs do not seem to be fully functional in terms of locomotion. Pyrophleps ellawi keeps the hind tarsi curled upwards (Fig. 2) and occasionally it makes flapping movements which sometimes end in tapping the ground (Suppl. material 1 video TC: 00:48-00:54; 01:05-01:24). Pyrophleps ellawi was first seen in August 2014 (one observation), then in May 2016 (three observations 2 and 5 days apart) and in March 2017 app. one week after an extended period of heavy rains associated with the Northeast Monsoon (3 observations 3 days in a row and 1 in a different location approx. 50 km away). It flies in the afternoon, between 1:30 and 4:00 pm with temperature 30-32°C and air humidity 60-80%. Each observation was of a single individual.