Eschata cf. miranda Błeszyński, 1965

Figs. 40, 101, 159.

Eschata miranda Błeszyński, 1965, in Amsel et al. (eds.): 99, pl. 40 fig. 501, 2, pl. 90 fig. 50. Type locality: Taiwan.

MATERIAL

2 ♂, 6 ♀ (detailed information in Table S1; https://doi.org/ 10.5061/dryad.b8gtht7mh).

DIAGNOSIS

Eschata sp. near miranda Błeszyński, 1965 shows similarities to E. miranda (type locality: India, Darjeeling) and E. rococo Błeszyński, 1970 (type locality: India, Khasis) in male genitalia (Fig. 101): uncus parrot-beak shaped, kinked downwards at half length; gnathos arm with posterior edge protruded upwards; valva slightly curved upwards, basally with narrow costal arm projecting postero-dorsally, juxta apex deeply notched; vesica with patch of short cornuti. However, the present species shows noticeable differences to E. miranda and R. rococo: The costal arm is dorsally concave (convex in the two other species), the juxta apical arms are narrower and slightly longer, and the vesica has a large, isolated cornutus not found in the two other species. The large, isolated cornutus of the vesica is also observed in E. miranda Błeszyński, 1965 (type locality: Taiwan); however, the short and bulky costal arm of the latter species separates it from the Philippine species.

DISTRIBUTION

PHILIPPINES: Luzon (Laguna, Zambales), Marinduque, Palawan. Collected at altitudes between 40 and 500 m.

DNA BARCODING

The highest intraspecific divergence observed is of 3.8% between specimens MFNLEP-PYRALPHIL08-D11 from Luzon (Zambales) and MFNLEP-PYRALPHIL08-G11 from Palawan. Both specimens from Palawan only yielded sequences for the COI1a fragment and were thus not included in the species delimitation analysis.

REMARKS

E. rococo is a possible synonym of E. rififi . Both species are only separated by minor details of the juxta in male genitalia.