Meganola tetrodon (de Joannis, 1928)

Cha, Yeong-Bin, László, Gyula M., Bayarsaikhan, Ulziijargal, Ko, Jae-Ho, Lee, Tak-Gi, Jang, Chang-Moon, Kim, Hanul, Kim, Jeong-Nam & Bae, Yang-Seop, 2021, Two new species and a new record of the genus Meganola Dyar, 1898 (Lepidoptera, Nolidae, Nolinae) from Laos, Zootaxa 5032 (3), pp. 423-430 : 426

Meganola tetrodon (de Joannis, 1928)

( Figures 5 , 10 )

Nola tetrodon de Joannis, 1928 , Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 97: 250. TL: [North Vietnam] Tonkin, Hoàng Su Phì. HT: male in MNHN, Paris.

Meganola yakovlevi László, Ronkay & Witt, 2010 , Esperiana 15: 44. TL: Thailand.

Meganola tetrodon: László, Ronkay & Ronkay, 2015 , Zootaxa 4052(3): 266; G. László, 2016, Ph.D. thesis: 59.

Diagnosis. Adult ( Figure 5a, b ). The species belongs to the Meganola strigivena species-group sharing the distinctive wing pattern expressed by the excessively zig-zagged medial line and the strongly curved postmedial line running close to the medial line. Although most of the taxa of the species group display confusingly similar wing patterns, M. tetrodon , is well distinguished by the conspicuously white frons and vertex and the grayish-white patagium irrotated with olive scales; these characters are considerably darker in all other members of the species-group. In addition, the terminal line of M. tetrodon is interrupted, represented by a row of dark dashes on the terminal end of each vein, while the other congeners have continuous terminal lines. In the male genitalia ( Figure 10a ), M. tetrodon has the shortest, apically rounded, finger-shaped harpe, which is considerably longer and pointed in the allied species; in addition, its aedeagus is markedly longer than that of the congeners. The 8 th tergite ( Figure 10b ) has much shorter sclerotized processes than in its congeners; the 8 th sternite ( Figure 10b ) bears two thumb-like, weakly sclerotized posterior plates which are shorter, triangular in the related taxa.

Female specimens were not available for this study. However, female genitalia was described and illustrated by László et al. (2010).

Material examined. 1♂, Laos, Xiengkhouang Province , Ban Tha (N19°43'31.40'', E103°35'22.73'' Alt.: 1,212m), 02. IX. 2018 (Bae Y.S., Na S.M., Lee D.J., Ko J.H., Lee T.G., Cha Y.B., Jang C.M.), genitalia slide No. INU-9466 (INU) .

Distribution. Laos (Xiengkhouang Province), Northern Thailand, North Vietnam.

Remark. This is the first record of the species from Laos.

Figures

FIGURES 1–5. Adults of Meganola spp. 1a. Meganola phuana sp. n., male (holotype, INU-9479). 1b. ditto, thorax. 2a. ditto, male (paratype, INU-9478). 2b. ditto, thorax. 3a. Meganola canaliculata sp. n., male (holotype, INU-11979). 3b. ditto, thorax. 4a. ditto, male (paratype, INU-9468). 4b. ditto, thorax. 5a. M. tetrodon, (INU-9466). 5b. ditto, thorax.

FIGURES 6–10. Male genitalia and 8th segments of Meganola spp. 6. Meganola phuana sp. n., male (holotype, INU-9479).7. ditto (paratype, INU-9478). 8. M. canaliculata sp. n., male (holotype, INU-11979). 9. ditto (paratype, INU-9468). 10. M. tetrodon, male (INU-9466).