Poecilocampa deqina Saldaitis & Pekarsky, 2015

Krupitsky, Anatoly V. & Marusov, Anatoly A., 2018, Description of the female of Poecilocampa deqina Saldaitis & Pekarsky, 2015 (Lepidoptera, Lasiocampidae), with notes on the biology of the species, Zootaxa 4524 (5), pp. 595-599 : 596-599

Poecilocampa deqina Saldaitis & Pekarsky, 2015

( Figs. 1–4 )

Poecilocampa deqina Saldaitis & Pekarsky, 2015 , Zootaxa 3925 (4), 597–599, figs. 1, 2, 5. Type locality: China, NW Yunnan, Zhongdian Mt., 3350 m, N27°24' 800'', E99°40' 500''.

Material examined: 1 ♀, ex larva, CHINA, Yunnan Prov., 15 km SSW Deqen, Baima Yak La , N 28°23'07" E 99°00'05", 4200 m, 10.VII.2017 , pupa 10.VII.2017, imago 17.XI.2017, A. Marusov leg. ( AMM) .

Description of female (fig. 1–3).

Head brown, antenna brown, collar olive brown; middle of thorax black, tegula dark brown, legs dark brown; abdomen brown.

Forewing brown basally, antemedial line indistinct, whitish; median field greyish, translucent, with poorly discernible small dark discal spot; postmedial field light, brownish proximally, whitish distally, with admixture of brown scales and darkened subterminal area; postmedial line distinct, whitish, mesially nearly merged with postmedial field, slightly wavy, more straight compared with that of male; veins brown; fringe brown, slightly checkered in basal part as in male.

Hindwing brown, translucent, somewhat lighter towards outer margin, with faint rounded medial line; fringe brown, slightly checkered; veins brown.

Wingspan 53.0 mm, forewing length 27.0 mm, right antenna length 10.5 mm (left antenna underdeveloped).

Female genitalia are unknown in the related species ( P. morandinii Zolotuhin & Saldaitis, 2010 ). As stated by Zolotuhin et al. (2010), female genitalia are not diagnostic among species of the genus Poecilocampa , and therefore they were not examined in the single known specimen of P. deqina .

Larva. Brief examination in the field revealed no significant differences of the last instar larva of Poecilocampa deqina from that of the widely distributed Poecilocampa populi (Linnaeus) except for the larger size, about 65 mm, compared with up to 40–45 mm in the latter species. The larva was not photographed because it pupated soon after it was collected (see below).

Pupa (figs. 2, 6, 7). Length 25.0 mm, width 11.0 mm. Dark brown, barrel-shaped, with poorly developed cremaster bearing several short very thin spines.

Pupal case (fig. 2). Length 30.0 mm, width 18.0 mm. Sand-coloured, tuberous, very tight, thick-walled, compounded of clayey particles, lined with silk on inside.

Diagnosis. The female in question was unambiguously determined as P. deqina on a base of external diagnostic characters mentioned in the description of the species ( Saldaitis & Pekarsky 2015) and, additionally, collecting locality situated very close to the place where the paratypes of P. deqina were collected in environs of Baima Mountain, far from the all known Chinese members of Poecilocampa . It is also unlikely that the female represents an undescribed species co-occurring with P. deqina : most of the known Poecilocampa are distributed allopatrically ( Zolotuhin 2015).

P. deqina is the closest species to P. morandinii Zolotuhin & Saldaitis, 2010 (type locality: China, W Sichuan Prov., Kangding, road to Zheduo Pass) based on male wing pattern and male genitalia ( Saldaitis & Pekarsky 2015). Only one female (paratype) of P. morandinii is known to date ( Zolotuhin et al. 2010: 90, fig. 1, I). It was collected in the Anemaqen (Amne Machin) Mountains, Qinghai Prov., China, rather far from the type locality of the species in question. Compared with the latter, the female of P. deqina differs in the larger wingspan, 53.0 mm (43.0 mm in P. morandinii ). Apart from colour saturation, which may vary between specimens, the female of P. deqina differs from P. morandinii in the less contrasted pattern, nearly straight postmedial line of the forewing (irregularly lunate in morandinii ), less checkered fringe of the forewing, and rounded medial line of hindwing (nearly straight in morandinii ). Moreover, P. deqina has a longer pecten of antenna. On the whole, the diagnostic characters in pattern of the female are the same as those of the male.

All other known Chinese Poecilocampa species differ from P. deqina in morphology and distribution pattern. P. nilsinjaevi Zolotuhin, 2005 was described from the Qinling Mts. in the southwestern Shaanxi Province, far from the type locality of P. deqina , and still known only from males strongly differing from P. deqina in appearance. Another Poecilocampa species known from China (Heilongjiang Province) is P. tenera O. Bang-Haas treated as an eastern relative of transpalaearctic P. populi (Linnaeus) ( Zolotuhin 2015) . Female of P. deqina differs from the latter in very large size, wings pattern and colouration.

The members of Poecilocampa , unlike most species of the family Lasiocampidae , have a well-developed pupal cremaster ( Zolotuhin 2015). This was previously demonstrated on a widely distributed species P. populi . In P. deqina , characters of cremaster probably have taxonomic value: compared with P. populi , it has poorly developed cremaster bearing only several very short thin curved spines (enlarged cremaster with numerous rather long dense spines in P. populi ) (figs. 6–9).

Biology. The larva was collected on July 10 at an altitude of 4200 m above sea level, in the foggy upper forest zone, just below the Baima pass, on the ground under a rowan tree ( Sorbus cf. rehderiana) growing on a stony mountain slope densely covered with different species of Primula , Rhododendron and coniferous trees (fig 5). Sorbus cf. rehderiana is the most probably a host-plant of the species, as the larva was found just beneath the tree, and other plants suitable for the species were not found nearby. Sorbus aucuparia is reported as a host-plant of Poecilocampa populi in northern Europe ( Seppänen 1970; Robinson et al. 2010). The larva was very agile, so we suspected that it would pupate very soon. It was collected and placed in a plastic box with the bottom covered by soil and supplied with branches of rowan. Four hours later, when we arrived at our base in Deqen town, the larva had pupated; the pupa was covered by a thick-walled pupal case. As a result, we were unable to make a photo of the larva. Then it was transferred to a private laboratory of the second author in Moscow and stored at a temperature of about 20°C and moderate humidity for the next three months. On November 3 the tegument of the pupa became translucent, and the pupa was transferred to a cold room with a temperature of about 10C. Ten days later the temperature decreased to 0°C, and humidity was artificially increased by frequent water spraying. Finally, on November 17 the imago emerged (figs. 3–4).

Note. In the section «Biology and distribution» of the original description of P. deqina ( Saldaitis & Pekarsky 2015: 599) is stated that all type specimens were collected near Baima Yak La, while the holotype (page 597, fig. 1) actually bears label « China, NW Yunnan, Zhongdian Mt., 3350 m, N27°24' 800'', E99°40' 500''». This locality is situated ca. 100 km southeast of the Baima Mt.

Figures

FIGURES 1–5. fig 1. Poecilocampa deqina Saldaitis & Pekarsky, 2015, female, ex larva, CHINA, Yunnan Prov., 15 km SSW Deqen, Baima Yak La, N 28°23'07" E 99°00'05", 4200 m, 10.VII.2017, pupa 10.VII.2017, imago 17.XI.2017, A. Marusov leg. (AMM). fig 2. Id., pupa and pupal case (photo by A. Marusov) (AMM). figs 3–4. P. deqina, female freshly emerged from pupa (photo by A. Marusov). fig 5. P. deqina, habitat (photo by A. Krupitsky)