Anoba rigida ( Swinhoe, 1895: 11 ) (Baniana)

Singh, Navneet, Ahmad, Jalil & Raha, Angshuman, 2022, Contribution to the Erebidae fauna of the Great Nicobar Island, India with description of two new species (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea), Zootaxa 5165 (1), pp. 79-94 : 81

Anoba rigida ( Swinhoe, 1895: 11) (Baniana)

( Figs 1 , 11–12 )

Type locality: Gilolo [Halmahera, North Maluku Province, Indonesia]

= Bessacta columnaris Warren, 1912 , 19: 52.

Material examined: India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Great Nicobar Island: South West Road, 1 ♂, 07.xi.2018 (NZCZSI, 6761/H10); East-West Road, 1 ♂, 08.xi.2018 (NZCZSI, 6758/H10); 4 km South of Vijay Nagar, 2 ♂, 12.xi.2018 (NZCZSI, 6760/H10); Steel Bridge, East West Road , 1 ♂, 13.xi.2018 (NZCZSI, 6762/H10), K.C. Gopi & party leg .

Diagnosis: Forewing length: ♂ 17–18 mm. Along with Anoba rigida , A. pectinata and A. polyspila have typical mosaics of archipelagic dark greenish-brown patches on pale brown forewings which readily separate these three species from the other congeners. Externally, A. rigida differs from A. pectinata by the presence of fasciculate antennae in male (narrowly bipectinate in A. pectinata ), forewing with the basal dark patch more broken, and the medial patch well separated from the submarginal and apical patches (more or less contiguous in A. pectinata ) and paler hindwing. In male genitalia A. rigida is conspicuously distinct from A. pectinata by the upwardly curved rectangular valva with a thumb like distal costal process on well sclerotized costa, shorter and stouter aedeagus, and vesica with several diverticula and a cluster of many strong cornuti distally. In comparison to other two species, A. polyspila is darker, with slightly smaller dark green patches on forewing, and the medial patch, in particular, does not touch the inner margin completely (which is well extended up to the inner margin in A. rigida and A. pectinata ). Moreover, the hindwing in A. polyspila is darker towards the outer margin.

Distribution: Indonesia (Java, Riau, Sumatra), Malaysia (Malay Peninsula, Borneo) ( Holloway 2005), India (the Great Nicobar Island) (present study).

Remarks: The present record is the seventh Anoba species from India and first from any Indian island. Anoba rigida is exclusively a Sundanian species preferring lowland open habitats in secondary, coastal and riverine forests with altitude ranging below 200 m ( Holloway 2005).

Figures

FIGURES 1–10. Adults of new species and new records of Erebidae from the Great Nicobar Island. 1, Anoba rigida, male, dorsal side; 2, Garudinia shompen sp. nov., male (Holotype), dorsal side; 3, Nishada sambara, male, dorsal side; 4, Teulisna chiloides, male, dorsal side; 5, ditto, female, dorsal side; 6, Plusiodonta nicobarensis sp. nov., male (Holotype), dorsal side; 7, ditto, ventral side; 8, Tamba cosmoloma, male, dorsal side; 9, T. occidinawa, male, dorsal side; 10, Anereuthina renosa, female, dorsal side.

FIGURES 11–19. Genitalia of Erebidae species from the Great Nicobar Island. 11–12, Anoba rigida, male: 11, ventral view, 12, aedeagus; 13–15, Garudinia shompen sp. nov., male (Holotype): 13, ventral view, 14, lateral view, 15, aedeagus; 16–17, Nishada sambara, male: 16, ventral view, 17, aedeagus; 18–19, Teulisna chiloides, male: 18, ventral view, 19, aedeagus. Diagnostic characters indicated with black lines.