The
hitherto undescribed male of Orthozona quadrilineata (Moore, 1882) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae)
Peter Smetacek1 & I.J. Kitching 2
1Butterfly Research Centre, Jones Estate, Bhimtal, Uttarakhand 263136,
India
2Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, U.K.
Email:1 petersmetacek@rediffmail.com (corresponding author), 2 i.kitching@nhm.ac.uk>
Date of
publication (online): 26 November 2012
Date of
publication (print): 26 November 2012
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor:George
Mathew
Manuscript
details:
Ms #
o2749
Received
05 April 2011
Final
revised received 28 August 2012
Finally
accepted 13 October 2012
Citation:Smetacek, P. & I.J. Kitching (2012). The hitherto undescribed male of Orthozona quadrilineata (Moore, 1882) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae). Journal
of Threatened Taxa 4(14): 3366–3368.
Copyright: © PeterSmetacek& I.J. Kitching2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 UnportedLicense. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article
in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: PS is
indebted to the Rufford Small Grant Foundation, U.K.,
for financial support during the period when this work was undertaken.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FEE22F4B-2AC3-402E-BBE6-1DBF5BE5785E
Madopa quadrilineataMoore, 1882 (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) was originally
described from “Darjiling” (= Darjeeling, West
Bengal, India) from an unstated number of specimens, which Moore (1882) stated were
both in his own collection and that of Otto Staudinger. Both sexes were apparently represented
among the syntypes, for Moore (1882) noted that the
moth was “pale purplish-brownish-ochreous, brighter
in female…”
Hampson(1895) later erected the genus Orthozona with M. quadrilineata as the only included species and
the type species by original designation. However, he described only the female and diagnosed the genus on female
characters: “Female: Palpi with the second joint porrect, of moderate length, and fringed with hair above,
the third upturned and naked; a short sharp frontal tuft; antennae minutely
ciliated; thorax and abdomen smoothly scaled, tibiae not hairy. Forewing with the apex
nearly rectangular; vein 3 [Cu1a] from before angle of cell. Hind wing
with veins 4 [M3] and 5 [M2] from angle of cell; 3 [Cu1a] from before angle of
cell.”
We found only a single female syntype in the
collection of the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH) (Images 1 & 2) thus
it appears that Moore had only this female in his personal collection, which
was subsequently passed on to the BMNH in 1894. It may be that this is the sole specimen
upon which Hampson based his diagnosis of the genus Orthozona. However, there may be male syntype(s) in
Staudinger’s collection (and
which may now be in the Museum für Naturkunde, Leibnitz-Institut für Evolutions-und Biodiversitätsförschung an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany) but we have not yet been able to confirm this. A label attached to
the BMNH syntype states, “Agrees exactly with type in
coll. Stdgr. [in Tams’ handwriting] W.H.T. Tams det.
[printed]”. If Tams’ statement that the agreement is exact is
correct, then it would appear that the “type” in coll. Staudinger is also a female. It may therefore be that Moore mis-sexed one of the syntypes. However, there may also be other, male
(and as yet unrecognized) syntypes in coll.
Staudinger, or perhaps Tams did not notice differences in palpusstructure.
In the present paper, we illustrate and describe more fully the male of Orthozona quadrilineata (Images 3 & 4), add male characters to the generic diagnosis of Orthozona and extend the range of the genus and
species northwest to Gagar (2400m) in Nainital District of the KumaonHimalaya, Uttarakhand, India.
Material
examined
23.vii.2007, 1 male, Gagar, Nainital District, Uttarakhand,
India, 2400m, 29024’47”N & 79032’39”E, leg. & coll. P. Smetacek, Butterfly
Research Centre, Jones Estate, Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, India; det. I.J. Kitching.
Reference no.: PSTYPE 131; Forewing length: 17mm.
1 female (syntype): Darjeeling, 1864, Moore Coll, [18] 94–106 [BMNH accession number]. Forewing
length: 15.5mm.
Male generic characters: Palpi recurved,
third segment half the length of the second, antennae minutely ciliated; thorax
and abdomen smoothly scaled; tibiae not hairy; forewing apex as in the female,
nearly square; vein Cu1a from before angle of cell; hindwingM2 and M3 from angle of cell, vein Cu1a from before the angle.
Description of male: Head, thorax and abdomen fuscous brown. Forewing upperside pale reddish grey-brown, with a rufous speck in the discal cell;
a well-defined reniform stigma present, outlined in rufous; prominent oblique medial and submarginal rufous lines. Hindwing upperside pale fuscous, with an indistinctantemedial line and prominent submarginal rufous line from below costa to near anal angle. Forewing underside
uniform grey with the costal area above cell pale cream. Hindwingunderside grey, with dark antemedial and medial lines
and crenulated pale postmedial band edged with
fuscous.
Discussion
Currently, five species are recognized in Orthozona:O. quadrilineata, O. bilineata Wileman, 1915, O. curvilineata Wileman, 1915, O. karapinaStrand, 1920 and O. rufilineata (Hampson, 1895) (Beccaloni et al. 2003). In the original description of Orthozona curvilineatafrom Taiwan, Wileman (1915) stated
that “The palpi of the sexes differ in
structure, but as regards this character the female agrees exactly with female O.quadrilineata, Moore, upon which the genus Orthozona, Hampson, was
founded.” A male syntype of O. curvilineata Wileman and its palpi are
shown in Image 5 and a female in Image 6, where the sexually dimorphic nature
of these structures is clearly visible. A further male and the female syntype in the
BMNH show the same dimorphism. However, as O. quadrilineata is the
type species and the condition of the palpi in the
male was undescribed, there was an element of
uncertainty whether sexual dimorphism in the structure of palpiwas indeed a generic feature, rather than just a species-specific feature of O.curvilineata. After examining the present male
specimen of O. quadrilineata, it appears more
likely that sexual dimorphism in palpus structure is
indeed a generic feature of Orthozona. Certainly, the male holotypeof O. bilineata is consistent in having
upturned palpi, but no female of this species is
known. There are no specimens of O.karapina or O. rufilineatain the BMNH, but a painting of the type of the latter appears to show a female
(the abdomen is rather plump and has is rounded posteriorly) with porrect palpi, so this specimen
is also consistent although examination of the specimen itself is required for
confirmation.
Orthozona quadrilineataseems to be restricted to the higher parts of the subtropical evergreen forests
of the Himalaya between Kumaon and Darjeeling. In the western Himalaya, this forest
type consists mainly of Quercus leucotrichophora A Camus and Q. floribundaLindley ex A. Camus (Fagaceae). The moth’s range probably extends
further east, through Bhutan and into Arunachal Pradesh, and possibly even
further. However, it seems to be a
rare species; in addition to the few (maybe only two) syntypes,
only a single further specimen was captured at the mercury vapour lamp run at Gagar throughout 2007 and part of 2008.
REFERENCES
Beccaloni, G.W., M.J. Scoble, G.S. Robinson & B.
Pitkin (Editors) (2003). The Global Lepidoptera
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[accessed 31 March 2011]
Hampson, G.F. (1895). The Fauna of British India including
Ceylon and Burma—Moths Vol. 3. Taylor &
Francis, London, 28+546pp.
Moore, F. (1882). Descriptions of Indian
Lepidoptera Heterocera from the collection of the
late Mr. W.S. Atkinson [Part 2]. pp. 89–198, in: Hewitson, W.C. & F. Moore (1879–1888). Descriptions of New Indian LepidopterousInsects from the Collection of the Late Mr. W.S. Atkinson. M.A., F.L.S., &c. Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta,
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Wileman, A.E. (1915). New species of Heterocera from Taiwan. The Entomologist 48: 39.