Cissuvorini, Duckworth & Eichlin, 1977

Kallies, Axel, Ogane, Hiromichi & Yata, Naoki, 2020, A new species of the genus Toleria Walker, [1865] from northern Vietnam and Laos with establishment of a new generic synonymy in Cissuvorini (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae), Zootaxa 4728 (1), pp. 123-132 : 123-124

Cissuvorini

The tribe Cissuvorini currently consists of 15 species in 5 genera ( Pühringer & Kallies 2017). Species of the genera Toleria , Chimaerosphecia , Glossosphecia and Dasysphecia occur mostly at the boundary between the Palaearctic and the Oriental regions ( Spatenka et al. 1999, Kallies & Arita 2005), while Cissuvora Engelhardt, 1946 , with one species, Cissuvora ampelopsis Engelhardt 1946 , occurs in North America ( Eichlin & Duckworth 1988). The biology of Cissuvorini is not well known. At present, the hostplants of only G. romanovi and C. ampelopsis are known; both feed in Vitis (Vitaceae) . Most Cissuvorini are poorly represented in collections. They seem to be attracted only rarely to artificial pheromone lures ( Kallies & Fukuzumi 1998, Bartsch 2003). Glossosphecia have a well-developed proboscis and were found visiting flowers. In Japan, Glossosphecia contaminata (Butler 1878) is known to visit flowers of Cayratia japonica (Thunberg) Gagn. ( Vitaceae ), and Glossosphecia romanovi (Leech, 1889) was observed visiting flowers of Ligustrum lucidum Aiton ( Oleaceae ) and Kalopanax septemlobus (Thunb.) Koidz. ( Araliaceae ) ( Sugiura et al. 2019). In China, Glossosphecia sinensis (Wang & Yang, 2002) comb. nov. was found on flowers of Cissus L. ( Vitaceae ) (Kallies, personal observation). Most species of Toleria have a rudimentary proboscis and thus are unlikely to feed, making them less likely to be detected. The precise relationship between Cissuvorini and other Sesiidae is currently unclear. The tribe clearly shows affinities to both Sesiini and Paranthrenini , but more work, in particular a molecular phylogeny, is required to resolve its precise position in Sesiidae and determine whether it can be maintained a valid tribe ( Naumann 1971, Spatenka et al. 1999).

The genus Dasysphecia is relatively well known. It was revised by Kallies & Arita (2005), who described two new species from Vietnam, bringing the number of currently known species to three. However, additional species are known to the authors showing that the genus occurs from the foothills of the Himalaya Mts in northern India throughout Nepal, southern China, Myanmar, Thailand and northern Vietnam (manuscript in preparation). Species of Dasysphecia are characterized by their bumblebee-like appearance, their forewing venation (R4, R5 stalked) and their female genitalia (corpus bursae small, simple, without signum).

The genus Glossosphecia is represented by two well-known species in Japan, several species in China and one in Nepal. Until recently, it was considered a synonym of Toleria ( Spatenka et al. 1999) ; however, it was treated as a valid genus by Arita & Gorbunov (1998) and subsequent authors ( Pühringer & Kallies 2004, 2017, Kallies 2007). It differs from Toleria by the venation (R4, R5 stalked in Glossosphecia , R4, R5 arising separately from R 3 in Toleria ), the presence of a well-developed proboscis (reduced in Toleria ) and the morphology of the female antennae (simple in Glossosphecia , serrate in Toleria ). From Dasysphecia it differs by the well-developed proboscis, the wasp-like appearance and the female genitalia (corpus bursae larger, with a well-developed signum and multiple transverse folds). Our study of the Asian Cissuvorini and examination of the relevant type material showed that Cissuvora sinensis Wang & Yang, 2002 belongs to the genus Glossosphecia (comb. nov.) and is closely related to G. contaminata (manuscript in preparation).

The genus Toleria currently consists of only two species, T. abiaeformis Walker, [1865] and T. ilana Arita & Gorbunov, 2001 , which occur in eastern mainland China and on Taiwan, respectively. However, our studies revealed that the concept of Toleria required revision and the inclusion of Chimaerosphecia (syn. rev.) as a younger subjective synonym, a view consistent with that of Spatenka et al. (1999). Arita & Gorbunov (1998) considered Chimaerosphecia a valid genus based on the constitution of forewing radial veins. Notably, Chimaerosphecia is only known from female specimens. In contrast, Toleria is well know from male specimens, the genitalia of which were studied by Naumann (1971) and Spatenka et al. (1999). The latter authors also provided figures of the female genitalia of T. abiaeformis , but it was unclear whether they indeed belonged to this species. The collection of a small series of clearly conspecific typical male and female Toleria specimens from mainland China, similar to T. abiaeformis ( Figs 7, 8 ), has now allowed us to reassess the validity Chimaerosphecia . According to Arita & Gorbunov (1998), R3 is separate from R 2 in Toleria , while it branches off R 2 in Chimaerosphecia . Close examination of the forewing venation of our Toleria specimens shows that R3 branches off R 2 in exactly the position shown by Arita & Gorbunov (1998) for C. aegerides , the type species of Chimaerosphecia . The branch point, however, is weakly sclerotized and may thus have been overlooked by these authors. The male genitalia represent the classic Toleria morphology ( Naumann 1971, Spatenka et al. 1999), the female genitalia are very similar to that of C. aegerides and C. colochelyna (see Arita & Gorbunov 1998, Gorbunov & Arita 2001). In particular, the shape of the signum, the folded structure of the bursa copulatrix, the ring-shaped antrum, the sclerotized ridge at the base of the ductus seminalis and the reduced sclerotized anterior margin of segment 8 are very similar to C. aegerides . Thus, we conclude that Chimaerosphecia represents a junior synonym of Toleria , which contains five species, all of which are known from mainland China and Taiwan. Our analyses of the newly discovered specimens from Vietnam and Laos revealed that they belong to an undescribed species that should be assigned to Toleria . We here described this species as Toleria aritai Ogane & Kallies spec. nov.

Figures

Figures 1-8. Cissuvorini. 1-2. Toleria aritai spec. nov., holotype. 1. dorsal side. 2. ventral side. 3-4. T. aritai spec. nov., paratype. 3. dorsal side. 4. ventral side. 5-6. Dasysphecia bombylina, paratype. 5. male. 6. Female. 7-8. Toleria cf. abiaeformis. 7. Male. 8. Female.