Ghoria albocinerea, Moore, 1878

Volynkin, Anton V., Saldaitis, Aidas & Černý, Karel, 2020, Four new species and one new subspecies of the Ghoria albocinerea Moore, 1878 species-group from northern Indochina and China (Lepidoptera, Erebidae Arctiinae, Lithosiini), Zootaxa 4789 (2), pp. 575-588 : 576-577

The Ghoria albocinerea species-group

Diagnosis. Members of the species-group can be easily distinguished from other congeners by the characteristic silver whitish forewing coloration and pattern presented mostly by a broad longitudinal shade along the anal wing margin. Such a type of forewing pattern is characteristic for some species of the genus Hesudra Moore, 1878 (e.g., Hesudra divisa Moore, 1878 and Hesudra bisecta Rothschild, 1912 ) (illustrated by Holloway (2001)), but in the Ghoria albocinerea species-group the forewing ground color is silver whitish and not yellowish, and male antenna is weakly ciliate (whereas in Hesudra that is serrate). Members of the species-group are similar externally, but usually can be separated from each other geographically and by the coloration of frons, collar and hindwing. Male and female genitalia ground plan of the species-group is similar to that of other, externally dissimilar congeners such as Ghoria gigantea (Oberthür) , Ghoria collitoides (Butler) , Ghoria nigripars (Walker) , Ghoria tecta (Wileman) (illustrated by Dubatolov et al. 2012a) and Ghoria postfusca (Hampson) (illustrated by Kirti & Singh 2015).

Description. External morphology of adults. Medium-sized moths with forewing length 16.5– 20 mm in males and 17.5– 21 mm in females. Body slender, brownish grey; head pale yellow, orange or grey; collar pale yellow or orange. Antennae of both sexes weakly ciliate, with longer ciliation in males. Forewing elongate with silver whitish ground color, sometimes with slight grey suffusion. Forewing pattern consists of broad ash grey or brownish grey longitudinal shade, black costa in subbasal area, yellowish suffusion on costa medially and distally and, sometimes, grey suffusion along the R vein in subbasal area (in G. nanlingica ). Hindwing ground color whitish, with intense grey suffusion along the costal margin and at apex ( G. nanlingica , G. dammay sp. n. and G. longivesica sp. n.), fine grey suffusion on whole wing ( G. albocinerea ), or evenly brownish grey ( G. sinotibetica , G. mubupa sp. n. and G. synnefo sp. n.). Females have paler hindwing than males.

Male genitalia. Uncus narrow, elongate, moderately curved, tapered distally and pointed apically. Tegumen shorter than valva, strongly broadened anteriorly. Vinculum shorter than tegumen, narrowly V-shaped. Juxta shieldlike with shallow medial concavity posteriorly, weakly sclerotized. Valva elongate, lobe-like with almost parallel margins, rounded apically. Sacculus narrow, weakly setose; distal saccular process short, do not extend beyond valva apex, with claw-like curved tip and, in some species, with small additional dorsal trigonal lobe. Aedeagus elongate, narrow, slightly broadened basally, nearly straight, with short and apically rounded carina, which may be dentate (in G. synnefo sp. n.). Vesica membranous, slightly curved dorsally or twisted (in G. albocinerea ), with or without a subbasal diverticulum, broadened subbasal section bearing broad field of short spinules, more or less tubular medial section, and short apical diverticulum bearing cluster of short but robust cornuti.

Female genitalia. Papilla analis broad, trapezoidal. Apophyses anteriores and posteriores long and thin, of more or less equal length. Ostium bursae short and narrow, V-shaped. Antrum short, wineglass-shaped or nearly rectangular, slightly broader than ductus bursae, weakly sclerotized. Ductus bursae short, membranous, in some species its anterior end with spinulose scobination as continuation of that of corpus bursae. Corpus bursae sack-like or elliptical, its medial and lateral parts with dense spinulose scobination, while one lateral side (usually left) not scobinated, thick-walled and slightly rugose, bearing a long and broad, densely dentate signum consisting of two symmetrical parts separated longitudinally (signum is absent in G. synnefo sp. n. only). Appendix bursae absent. Ductus seminalis originates from anterior end of corpus bursae latero-apically.

Distribution. Members of the species-group are known from the central and eastern Himalayas, Southwest and South Central China and northern Indochina.