A new species, Lymantria (Nyctria) furvinis H. Wang, Kishida and M. Wang sp. nov., is described from Guangdong Nanling National Nature Reserve, South China. The new species can be distinguished from all previously described species by the basal area on the forewing yellow with black spots, valve with a transverse sclerite connecting a long digitate process medially. Illustrations of the adults, wing venation and genitalia are provided.
Lymantria is a worldwide distributed genus with high diversity in the Indo-Australia and Eastern Asian regions (Ferguson 1978; Holloway 1999). The genus can be clearly defined by the telescopic female ovipositor and the eighth segment structures being as long or longer than the ductus bursae and corpus bursae combined (Holloway 1999). Schintlmeister (2004) reviewed the genus including 167 species and divided it into 12 subgenera. Pogue and Schaefer (2007) revised selected Lymantria species of subtropical and temperate regions of Asia, with 3 new species. In China, 53 species of the genus have been reported to date (Chao 2003; Xu et al. 2010). In this paper, we describe a new Lymantria species collected in Guangdong Nanling National Nature Reserve, South China during our Lepidoptera field survey.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The specimens examined were collected by light trapping from Nanling National Nature Reserve, Guangdong province, China, and were deposited in the Insect Collection, Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China, and National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan. Adults, wing venation and genitalia were treated and photographed following Wang et al. (2010).
Lymantria (Nyctria) furvinis H. Wang, Kishida and M. Wang sp. nov. (Figs. 1–5)
Diagnosis
The new species is very close to Lymantria (Nyctria) murzini Schintlmeister in male genitalia structure, but can be easily separated from the latter by the base of forewing yellow with black spots and a shorter and wider valve.
Description
Male and Female (Figs. 1–3). Forewing length 24–30 mm. Frons dark brown. Vertex yellow with a black spot. Labial palpus short, upturned, yellow on ventral surface, fuscous on dorsal and lateral surface. Thorax yellow, with 3 pairs of black dots. Tegula dark brown, with a white marking. Forewing pattern brown, basal area yellow, with black spots, ground color white, forming a prominent costal patch at basal ⅓, a broad postmedial band, crossed by a dumbbell-shaped band from below discal cell to anal angle, spot at apex and between M1 and M3; venation with R2, R3, R4 and R5 stalked, R5 diverging from stem after R2, M1 arising from upper angle of discal cell, M2 and M3 arising from under angle of discal cell, CuA1 parallel to CuA2. Hind wing white with a broad brown marginal band, discal spot brown, fringe white; venation with Rs and M1 branching from upper angle of discal cell, M3 arising from under angle of discal cell, M2, M3 and CuA1 free, nearly parallel. Abdomen yellow, with a row of black dorsal spots medially.
Male Genitalia (Fig. 4): Tegumen wide on both sides, concave medially; uncus long, digitate, apically with small acute hook; valve broad, transvere sclerite connecting long digitate process at middle; cucullus with two digitate processes, dorsal one short, ventral one long, slightly bent medially; saccus relatively small; aedeagus straight, almost twice as long as valve, slender at base.
Female Genitalia (Fig. 5): Papillae anales tougue-shaped; ostium bursae oval, membranous, with 2 sclerotized lobes; posterior apophysis longer than anterior apophysis; ductus bursae shorter than corpus bursae, slightly sclerotized; corpus bursae oblong, with a signum.
Type Data
Holotype: ♂, Nanling National Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province, China, 8-VI-2008, leg. Min Wang. Paratypes: 1♀, same locality as holotype, 18-VI-2003, leg. Yasunori Kishida; 11♂, 3♀, same locality as holotype, 18-22-VI-2004, leg. Yasunori Kishida; 2♂, 6♀, same locality as holotype, 11-15-VI-2005, leg. Yasunori Kishida; 1♂, 2 ♀, same locality as holotype, 5-VI-2011, leg. Houshuai Wang.
Distribution: China (Guangdong Province).
Etymology
The specific name is derived from Latin prefix, “furv-” (black) and suffix “-inis”, referring to the color of dorsal spots on the abdomen.
DISCUSSION
Due to no suitable subgenus for it, the new species is temporarily assigned into Nyctria based on the similarity of its male genitalia characters with Lymantria (Nyctria) murzini Schintlmeister. However, the new species lacks sexual dimorphism and has a signum on the female genitalia, and is greatly different from the other members of the subgenus, especially the type species L. (Nyctria) mathura illustrated by Schintlmeister (2004). Further study is therefore required to reconsider the taxonomic position of the new species within the genus Lymantria.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We greatly appreciate Dr. Alexander Schintlmeister (Dresden, Germany) for helping us identify the species. We also thank Dr. Mamoru Owada (National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan) and Dr. Guohua Huang (Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China) for providing relevant references.
