Taikona gaoligongshana Yu, Arita & Kallies, 2024

Yu, Tiantian, Kallies, Axel, Arita, Yutaka, He, Jinfu, Li, Haijun, Yata, Naoki & Li, Xueyan, 2024, Two new species of the genus Taikona Arita & Gorbunov, 2001 (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae) from Yunnan, China, Zootaxa 5443 (1), pp. 135-140 : 136-138

Taikona gaoligongshana Yu, Arita & Kallies , sp. nov.

ṘBỮ山台ṸMď

( Figs 1–4 , 9 )

Type material. Holotype, ♂, Gongshan County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture , Yunnan Prov., China, 27°53′46″N, 98°39′53″E, 1500 m, 25.VII.2023, Tiantian Yu leg., No. KIZ 0135567 ( KIZ) . Paratypes, 1♂, same locality as holotype, 1500 m, 25.VII.2023, Tiantian Yu leg., No. KIZ 0135568 ( KIZ) ; 1♂, Beibeng Village , Motuo County, Linzhi , Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 25–VII– 2017, 845 m, Tiantian Yu leg., in SCAU .

Description. Holotype ( Figs 1–2 ). Alar expanse 35 mm; body length 20.6 mm; forewing 16 mm; antenna 7.8 mm.

Head: antenna brown, covered in black scales dorsally; frons black; vertex black, medially with greyish-white hair-like scales; basal joint of labial palps black, mixed with white scales ventrally; mid joint of labial palps black, distal half covered with greyish-white hair-like scales ventrally, apical joint of labial palps black dorsally, greyish-white ventrally; proboscis present; a row of greyish-white scales anterior to the eye; pericephalic scales greyish-white dorsally, white ventrally.

Thorax: patagia black; tegula black with dark brown sheen, anteriorly mixed with a few greyish-white hair-like scales laterally; metathorax covered with long greyish black hair-like scales posteriorly.

Legs black with mid and hind femora with greyish-white hair-like scales interior-ventrally; basal half of fore tarsus with black tuft, apical half of fore tarsus pale yellowish white ventrally; mid and hind spurs pale yellowishwhite, ventrally mixed with a few pale yellowish white scales at the base of mid and distal spurs; mid and hind tibia mixed with yellowish scales ventrally. Forewing transparent brownish, with a bronze blue sheen; costal and anal margins black; R4 and R5 long stalked; discal spot cuneiform, relatively broad; veins dark brownish black; distal position of PTA and the cell between veins Cu1 and Cu2 basally scattered with dark brown scales; outer margin narrow; cilia dark brown. Hindwing transparent brownish; discal spot black and broad; anal area transparent without brownish tint; veins black; outer margin narrow; cilia dark brown.

Abdomen: black; tergites 2–4 with blue tint; tergite 5 red-orange, with black stripes anteriorly, tergites 6–7 covered with red-orange scales; sternite 2 black; sternites 3–5 with a red-orange spot medially; sternite 5 mixed with a few bright orange scales, and with red-orange scales laterally; sternite 7 orange; anal tuft orange.

Male genitalia. ( Fig. 9 ). Uncus slender, curved medially, slightly narrow and up-turned distally; tegumen narrow; gnathos narrow, apically flat; tuba analis with subscaphium distinctly sclerotized; valva triangular-oval, narrow and rounded apically, dorsal half of ventral side densely covered with hand-shaped setae, ventral half of ventral side covered with long simple setae; crista sacculi covered with short, strongly sclerotized setae; saccus short finger-shaped, basally blunt; phallus simple, with a sclerotized plate apically; vesica with numerous, small spicules.

Diagnosis. This new species is superficially similar to Taikona polevoyi Gorbunov, 2018 . However, Taikona gaoligongshana sp. nov. can be easily separated by its somewhat smaller size (alar expanse 29–35 mm in T. gaoligongshana sp. nov., alar expanse 31.8–36 mm in T. polevoyi ), wing features (wings transparent brownish, discal spots of fore and hind wing distinctly broader in T. gaoligongshana sp. nov. while wings transparent pale yellowish in T. polevoyi ). In addition, the male genitalia of new species differ from T. polevoyi (relatively broad valva, the dorsal half of the ventral surface densely covered with hand-shaped setae; saccus broader, basally blunt; gnathos narrow, without dentate process). There are no similar Paranthrenini species known from China ( Kallies et al. 2014)

Individual variability. The paratype specimen displays variation in the coloration of the abdomen: male with tergites 5–6 black; tergite 6 with a narrow red-orange stripe posteriorly; sternite 5 almost covered with red-orange scales.

Distribution. China (Yunnan Province, Xizang Autonomous Region).

Etymology. The scientific name is derived from Gaoligongshan, the type locality.

Molecular data. The new barcode sequence of Taikona gaoligongshana Yu, Arita & Kallies , sp. nov. (658 bp fragment of COI) was deposited in GenBank (accession number: PP436719.1)

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Taikona species, adults. 1–4. Taikona gaoligongshana sp. nov. 1–2. Holotype, ♂, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135567. 3–4. Paratype, ♂, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135568. 5–8. Taikona extraordinaria sp. nov. 5–6. Holotype, Dulongjiang Village, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135569. 7–8. Paratype, ♂, Bingzhongluo Town, Gongshan County, Yunnan Prov., No. KIZ 0135570.

FIGURES 9–10. Taikona species, male genitalia. Scale bar: 1 mm. 9. Taikona gaoligongshana sp. nov. Male (Gen. prep. No. KIZ 0135568) (KIZ). 10. Taikona extraordinaria sp. nov. Male (SCAU).