Sarbanissa yunnana ( Mell, 1936 )

Wei, Fu-Hong, Kishida, Yasunori & Wang, Min, 2019, A review of the genus Sarbanissa Walker, 1865 in China, with description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Agaristinae), Zootaxa 4648 (2), pp. 354-370 : 362

Sarbanissa yunnana ( Mell, 1936)

( Figs. 12 , 27 )

Sarbanissa venusta ssp. yunnana Mell, 1936 , Stett. ent. Z. 97: 183. TL: China (Yunnan).

Sarbanissa yunnana: Sugi 1991: 216–219 .

Sarbanissa venusta yunnana: Chen 1999: 133 .

Material examined. 1 male. CHINA, Yunnan province, Meili Snow-Mountain, Deqin county , altitude 3600 m, 23- VII-2016, leg. Hou-shuai Wang ( SCAU) .

Identification notes. Wingspan about 37 mm. Forewing reddish brown with numerous white scales, orbicular and reniform stigma brownish black with white edge. Hindwing with the discal spot big and terminal band discontinuous with the inner edge as a zigzag, anal angle with a quadrate speckle, submedial area with a black, longitudinal stripe.

Diagnosis. The forewing pattern of adult moth is similar to S. venusta (Leech) , but can be distinguished from it by the combination of characters in hindwing pattern: black hair along the inner margin; the larger, truly round discal spot and the separated speckle square in shape in S. yunnana . The host plants of these two species are different, S. yunnana feed on Impatiens spp. (Family Balsaminaceae ), but S. venusta feed on Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata (Maxim.) Momiy (Family Vitaceae ); S. venusta on the wing only from the end of July to the end of August. S. yunnana is probably represented by two generations, flying from the end of May to the beginning of July, and from the end of July to the end of August; the larvae of both species show the habit to live in aggregations, but in S. venusta the size of the group is larger than in S. yunnana ( Sugi 1991; Miyata 2005).

Distribution. China (Yunnan), Japan ( Chen 1999; Sugi 1991).

Figures

FIGURES 9–17. Sarbanissa spp.: 9, S. subflava (Moore), male, Zhejiang (SCAU); 10, S. venusta (Leech), male, Sichuan (SCAU); 11, S. assimilis Orhant, male, Guangxi (SCAU); 12, S. yunnana (Mell), male, Yunnan (SCAU); 13, S. pseudassimilis sp. nov., male, Yunnan (SCAU); 14, S.cirrha Jordan, male, Taiwan (photograph by Mr. Shipher Wu); 15, S. gentilis Kishida, Eda & Wang, male, Yunnan (SCAU); 16, S. catacoloides (Walker) (from Holloway's “The Moths of Borneo” 1989); 17, S. interposita Hampson, male, Sichuan (SCAU). Scale bar=1 cm.

FIGIRES 24–29. Genitalia of Sarbanissa spp.: 24–28, male; 29, male and female. 24, S. bala (Moore); 25, S. subflava (Moore); 26, S. venusta (Leech); 27, S. yunnana (Mell); 28, S.cirrha Jordan (©Mr. Shipher Wu); 29, S. catacoloides (Walker) (from Holloway's “The Moths of Borneo” 1989).