Plutodes lamisca Swinhoe, 1894: 196

Singh, Manpreet, Raha, Angshuman, Mallick, Kaushik, Kirti, Jagbir Singh & Singh, Navneet, 2023, A review of the genus Plutodes Guenée (Geometridae: Ennominae) from India with description of one new species, Zootaxa 5323 (4), pp. 499-523 : 508-509

Plutodes lamisca Swinhoe, 1894: 196

( Figs 8–9 , 35–36 )

TL: Cherra Punji [Cherrapunji] (Meghalya, India)

= Plutodes digitata Kirti & Saxena, 2019: 48 , syn. nov. (TL: Gangtok, Sikkim ( India))

Material examined: India, Sikkim, South Sikkim dist.:1 ♂, Namchi , 9.vii.2019, leg. R. Lenka & party (13657/ H10, NZCZSI) .

Diagnosis: Forewing length: ♂ 15 mm. Externally, P. lamisca is readily separable from its other congeners by the much-reduced distal rufous patch of hindwing which instead possesses two dark spots (one roundish and another elongated) surrounded by numerous pale rufous spots. The forewing has conjoined or sometimes separate dark rufous, basal areas and distal patches, the latter partly paler inside, lined by irregular pale rufous margins and concolorous streaks scattered within the yellow zones. The male genitalia have a characteristic broad and strong uncus with slightly spatulate and setose apex; the valva is short, basally broad and apically narrowly rounded; sacculus basally broad and distally extended into a pair of short, slender spines having a row of short, tooth-like spines at the inner side and a larger spine perpendicularly set at the outer side. The aedeagus is broad and stout, distally slightly arcuate with vesica having distal con-joined patches of minute spines and a neighbouring group of large cornuti.

Distribution: India: Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal ( Swinhoe 1894, Chettri & Yonle 2021). Global: Nepal ( Yazaki 1992).

Remarks: The illustration of the habitus of P. digitata provided by Kirti et al. (2019) matches exactly with that of the original description and the one discussed by Hampson (1895). Also, after careful comparison of the genitalia and the habitus of P. lamisca with that of P. digitata , we could not find any significant difference to consider both taxa as separate species. So, herein we synonymize P. digitata with P. lamisca .

Figures

FIGURES 2–9. Habitus of Plutodes spp. 2–3, P. costatus, female, Old Ziro; 4–5, P. warreni, male, Jang; 6–7, P. cf. warreni, male, Lama Camp, Eaglenest WLS; 8–9, P. lamisca, male, Namchi. Ventral sides: 3, 5, 7, 9.

FIGURES 29–36. Genitalia of Plutodes spp. 29–30, P. costatus, male, Sitong: 29, ventral view, 30, aedeagus (vesica not everted); 31–32, P. warreni, male, Jang: 31, ventral view, 32, aedeagus; 33–34, P. cf. warreni, male, Lama Camp, Eaglenest WLS: 33, ventral view, 34, aedeagus; 35–36, P. lamisca, male, Namchi: 35, ventral view, 36, aedeagus. (diagnostic characters indicated by black lines).