Description of the female of Poecilocampa deqina Saldaitis & Pekarsky, 2015 (Lepidoptera, Lasiocampidae), with notes on the biology of the species
Author
Krupitsky, Anatoly V.
Author
Marusov, Anatoly A.
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-11-26
4524
5
595
599
journal article
27907
10.11646/zootaxa.4524.5.6
77e56377-beb6-4828-941a-3a411430125c
1175-5326
2610799
2A1A1A05-DE8C-4054-A405-EEAD43039886
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.
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)
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).
FIGURES 1–9. fig 6.
P
.
deqina
, apex of female pupa with cremaster, ventral view.
fig 7.
Id., lateral view.
fig 8.
P. populi
, apex of female pupa with cremaster, Russia, Moscow region, Stupino distr., Maryinka vill., N 55°24' E 38°31', A. Skrobotov leg. and coll., ventral view (photo by A. Skrobotov).
fig 9.
P. populi
, apex of female pupa with cremaster, lateral view, drawing from Zolotuhin (2015)
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.