Pollanisus amethystina (Meyrick, 1888)

Mollet, Bernard & Tarmann, Gerhard M., 2023, Revision of the genus Pollanisus Walker, 1854 (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae: Procridinae), Zootaxa 5281 (1), pp. 1-72 : 65

Pollanisus amethystina

Published data ( Mollet 2019).

Material examined ( Table 15), all from Western Australia. 1 ♁ (781) ( Figs 210, 211 ), 7 ♁, S. Jurien Bay, Sandy Cape Campground, 30°11.211′S, 115°00.130′E, 24.II.2009, e. l. on Hibbertia subvaginata , S. & B. Mollet leg. ( BMC); 2 ♁, Moore River N. P., 83 m, 31°01′37.38″S, 115°37′14.51″E, 04.XI.2011, day, S. & B. Mollet leg. ( BMC) .

Discussion and differential diagnosis. Pollanisus amethystina ( Fig. 209 ) has a bluish green upper side of the abdomen and is smaller than P. cupreus and P. nielseni , which have coppery to gold abdominal upper-sides.

Pollanisus amethystina and P. empyrea are similar in size, but consistently differ in their external appearance. The forewing upper side of P. empyrea is uniformly brown with few metallic coppery scales, more densely scaled at the base of the wing, while P. amethystina has the forewing tinged with green, due to dispersed brilliant bluish to green scales on a brown background. The body is bluish green to golden in P. amethystina and brown and coppery in P. empyrea ( Mollet 2019) . These two species have close but consistently different head ratios.

Phenology and bionomics. Pollanisus amethystina is active during the day, when disturbed and at night (1). P. amethystina is linked to its larval host-plant Hibbertia subvaginata ( Figs 216, 217 ). The larvae of P. amethystina ( Fig. 218 ) and P. empyrea ( Fig. 215 ) are similar in habitus and cannot be used for differentiation.

(1) Pollanisus empyrea and P. amethystina were mostly collected at the larval stage on their host-plant and flying when disturbed in day time. Moreover these two species were collected flying at night in good numbers (Axel Kallies observation and collecting) and their similar head ratios compared with those of the crepuscular eastern Australian Pollanisus subdolosa suggests a similar crepuscular behavior.

The holotypes of the new species, and when possible some paratypes, will be deposited in the following museums:

- Queensland Museum, for species collected in Queensland.

- ANIC, for species collected in New South Wales

Figures

FIGURES 207–212. Pollanisus species, upperside, frontal view and freshly emerged. 207–209.P.empyrea. 207, 208.Torndirrup N. P; 209. female. 210, 212. P. amethystina. 210, 211. Jurien Bay; 212. female. (scale bars: 1 mm).

FIGURES 216–218. Pollanisus amethystina. 216. The larval host-plant, Hibbertia subvaginata at Jurien Bay. 217. Flowers. 218. Larva at last instar.

FIGURES 213–215. Pollanisus empyrea. 213. The larval host-plant, Hibbertia cuneiformis (Dilleniaceae) at Torndirrup N. P.. 214. Flowers. 215. Larva at last instar.