Barsine germana (Rothschild, 1913)

Volynkin, Anton V., Singh, Navneet, Kirti, Jagbir Singh & Datta, Harvinder Singh, 2020, Description of a new Barsine Walker, 1854 from India and Nepal (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini), ZooKeys 941, pp. 107-120 : 107

Barsine germana (Rothschild, 1913) Figs 1-10 , 21-24 , 29 , 30

Miltochrista germana Rothschild 1913: 214 (type locality: [India, Meghalaya, the Khasi Hills] "Khasia Hills, Assam").

Barsine valvalis Kaleka 2003: 97, figs A, 12-19 (type locality: [India] "Assam: North Cachar Hills, Jatinga"), syn. nov.

Barsine thomasi Kaleka 2003: 100, figs B, 25-32 (type locality: [India, Uttarakhand] "Uttar Pradesh: Kempty falls"), syn. nov.

Type material examined.

Holotype of Miltochrista germana (by monotypy) (Fig. 1 ): male, red handwritten label " Miltochrista germana Type Rothsch." / printed label "Khasis, Feb. 1894, Nat. Coll." / printed label "Rothschild Bequest B.M. 1939-1." / printed label with QR-code “NHMUK010604478” (Coll. NHMUK). Holotype of Barsine valvalis (Figs 5 , 24 ): male, lilac label "Loc. Jatinga | Date 25.9.95 | Altitude 2700 ft. A.S.L. | Collector A.P. Singh" / lilac label "64/ A" / lilac label "Name B. valvalis | ♂ | Det. by Kirti & Singh", gen. prep. by H.S. Datta (Coll. NZCZSI). Holotype of Barsine thomasi (Figs 4 , 23 ): male, lilac label "Loc. Kempty Falls | Date 20.9.95 | Altitude 4200 ft. A.S.L. | Collector A.P. Singh" / lilac label "63/ A" / lilac label "Name B. thomasi | ♂ | Det. by Kirti & Singh" / lettuce green label "HT | B. thomasi ", gen. prep. by H.S. Datta (Coll. NZCZSI).

Other material examined.

India. 1 male, Khasis, Oct. 1896, Nat. Coll., slide NHMUK010313291 Volynkin (Coll. NHMUK); 1 female, Khasia Hills. Assam / Rothschild Bequest B.M. 1939-1., slide NHMUK010313292 Volynkin (Coll. NHMUK); 1 female, NE India, W Meghalaya, Garo Hills, Nokrek National Park, 25°40'N, 91°04'E, 1150 m, 2-13.VII 1997, leg. Afonin & Sinyaev (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 28 males, 19 females, NE India, W Meghalaya, Umran, 33 km N Shillong, 26°06'N, 92°23'E, 800 m, 14-23.VII.1997, leg. Sinyaev & Afonin, slides MWM 31610, MWM 33963 (males), MWM 31611 (female) Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 21 males, 11 females, NE India, Assam, Nameri Nat. Park, 40 km N Tezpur, 150 m, 27°20'N, 93°15'E, 24.VII-2.VIII.1997, leg. Sinyaev & Murzin, slides MWM 33964 (male), MWM 33965 (female) Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 74 males, 12 females, NE India, Assam, Nambor Reserve Forest, Garampani, h = 100 m, 26°30'N, 93°56'E, 21-29.XI.1997, leg. V. Sinyaev & M. Murzin, slides MWM 31612, MWM 31617, MWM 33922, MWM 35701 (males), MWM 31613, MWM 33923, MWM 35703 (females) Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 5 males, NE India, Arunachal Pr., Etalin vicinity, 28°36'56"N, 95°53'21"E, 700m, 12-25.V.2012, L. Dembický & O. Šauša leg., slide MWM 35704 Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 4 males, [NE India] Assam: Haflong: Jatinga, 01.X.[19]95 (Coll. NZCZSI). Nepal: 21 males, 2 females, Nepal, Annapurna Himal, Geirigan village, 1340 m, 28°20'N, 83°45'E, 25.VI.1996, leg. Gy. M. László & G. Ronkay, slides MWM 33949 (male), MWM 33950 (female) Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 6 males, 1 female, Nepal, Annapurna Himal, 1000m, 1 km S of Bahundanda, 28°20'N, 84°25'E, 06.VI.1996, leg. Hreblay & Szaboky (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 1 male, Nepal, Annapurna Himal, Ulleri, 1900 m, 28°23'N, 83°43'E, 3.X.1994, leg. Csorba & Ronkay (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 1 male, Nepal, Annapurna Himal, 850 m, 1 km N of Besisahar, 28°14'N, 84°23'E, 05.VI.1996, leg. Hreblay & Szaboky, slide MWM 33962 Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM). Myanmar: 45 males, 18 females, Myanmar (Burma), 50 km E Putao, env. Nan Thi village, 950 m, 11-16.V 1998, leg. Murzin & Sinyaev, slide MWM 33921 (male) Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 53 males, 17 females, Myanmar (Burma), 25 km E Putao, env. Nan Sa Bon village, 800 m, 6-9.V.1998, leg. Murzin & Sinyaev, slides MWM 33919 (male), MWM 33920 (female) Volynkin (Coll. MWM/ZSM); 21 male, 2 females, Myanmar (Burma), 21 km E Putao Nan Sa Bon village 550 m, 1-5.V.1998, leg. Murzin & Sinyaev (Coll. MWM/ZSM).

Remarks.

Joshi et al. (2018) considered this species to consist only of yellow-patterned individuals matching the holotype (Figs 1-3 ). Nonetheless, dissections of similarly patterned red-spotted syntopic specimens (Figs 4-10 ) revealed these two color forms to be conspecific. The red-patterned form had been described twice before by Kaleka (2003) as B. thomasi Kaleka, 2003 (Figs 4 , 23 ) and as B. valvalis Kaleka, 2003 (Figs 5 , 24 ). These names are therefore synonymized here with B. germana .

The holotype of B. germana is undissected. However, the senior author has microscopically examined the tips of its valvae, which have the distal saccular process structure identical to those in the holotypes of B. valvalis and B. thomasi . The holotype is also externally similar to specimens from the same region of India, and clearly different from B. kirata , sp. nov. A detailed comparison of B. germana with B. kirata sp. nov. is provided below.

Barsine germana varies considerably in its size: the forewing length is 13-17 mm in males and 16-23 mm in females.

Distribution.

Northern (Uttarakhand) and northeastern India (Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh) ( Rothschild 1913; Kaleka 2003; Joshi et al. 2018), eastern Nepal, and northern Myanmar (Kachin state).

Figures

Figures 1 - 10. Barsine germana: adults 1 holotype male, NE India (NHMUK) 2 male, northeastern India (MWM / ZSM) 3 female, northeastern India (MWM / ZSM) 4 Holotype male of B. thomasi (NZCZSI) 5 holotype male of B. valvalis (NZCZSI) 6 male, northeastern India (MWM / ZSM) 7 male, C Nepal (MWM / ZSM) 8 male, northeastern India (MWM / ZSM) 9 male, northern Myanmar (MWM / ZSM) 10 female, northern Myanmar (MWM / ZSM).

Figures 21 - 24. Barsine germana: male genitalia 21 northeastern India, slide MWM 33964 Volynkin 22 Nepal, slide MWM 33962 Volynkin 23 holotype of B. thomasi, northern India, prep. H. S. Datta 24 holotype of B. valvalis, northeastern India, prep. H. S. Datta.

Figures 29 - 32. Barsine spp.: female genitalia 29 B. germana, Nepal, slide MWM 33923 Volynkin 30 B. germana, northern Myanmar, slide MWM 33920 Volynkin 31 B. kirata sp. nov., paratype, Nepal, slide MWM 33944 Volynkin 32 B. kirata sp. nov., paratype, Nepal, slide MWM 33938 Volynkin.