Alychna Grishin, 2019

Cong, Qian, Zhang, Jing, Shen, Jinhui & Grishin, Nick V., 2019, Fifty new genera of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), Insecta Mundi 731 (731), pp. 1-56 : 36

Alychna Grishin , new genus

http://zoobank.org/ D9C177B1-6CE7-4A1E-9B76-BD7D29AE18E6

Type species. Pamphila exclamationis Mabille, 1898 .

Definition. A sister genus of Zalomes Bell, 1947 (type species Zalomes colobus Bell, 1947 , considered to be a junior subjective synonym of Hesperia biforis Weymer, 1890 ) and in a different clade from both Psoralis Mabille, 1904 (type species Psoralis sabaeus Mabille, 1904 , which is a junior subjective synonym of Pamphila idee Weeks, 1901 ) and from Lychnuchus Hübner, [1831] (type species Lychnuchus olenus Hübner, [1831] considered to be a junior subjective synonym of Hesperia celsus Fabricius, 1793 ), where species of this genus were placed previously ( Fig. 11–12 ). Keys to J.43.3d, J.43.6, or K. 12.1 in Evans (1955). Morphologically, distinguished from its relatives by a combination of the following characters: uncus broad, the same width and length, if divided, arms very short, spike-like; gnathos not shorter than uncus, close to it in lateral view; valva broad, harpe not well-separated from ampulla, varying in shape depending on species, mostly rectangular with irregular margins, in the type species with a hook-like projections narrowly separated from harpe; stigma black, di- or tripartite; pale scales or hyaline spot distad of stigma on forewing; frequently a curved line of small pale spots in discal area of hindwing below. In DNA, a combination of the following base pairs is diagnostic: aly4645.10.1: T700 C, aly4645.10.1:G701T, aly1877.13.1: T1118 A, aly1877.13.1:G1159A, aly274.43.1:C170A.

Etymology. The name is a feminine noun in the nominative singular, formed from the first five letters of Lychnuchus (where one species was formerly placed) with “a” added on both sides to stress that it is not that genus.

Species included. The type species, Lychnuchus victa Evans, 1955 , Oeonus zenus Bell, 1942 , Psoralis mirnae Siewert, Nakamura and Mielke, 2014 , Psoralis darienensis Gaviria, Siewert, Mielke and Casagrande, 2018 , Hesperia degener Plötz, 1882 , and Psoralis venta Evans, 1955 .

Parent taxon. Subtribe Moncina A. Warren, 2008.

Comments. The two species Lychnuchus celsus and Alychna victa are so close to each other in wing patterns that their placement in two distantly related genera is totally unexpected. This is probably the most surprising discovery in our analysis. Retrospective analysis of genitalia reveals significant differences between these two species that agree with the DNA-guided placement ( Fig. 11–12 ).

Figures

Figure 11. Nuclear genome and Z chromosome trees of Moncina and relatives. See Fig. 2 legend for notations.

Figure 12. Mitochondrial genome and COI barcode trees of Moncina and relatives. See Fig. 2 legend for notations.