Pieris chumbiensis gyantsensis Verity, 1911

Ge, Si Xun, Jiang, Zhuo Heng, Wang, Jia Qi, Song, Kui, Zhang, Chao & Hu, Shao Ji, 2023, A revision of the Pieris napi - complex (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) and similar species with distribution in China, Arthropod Systematics & amp; Phylogeny 81, pp. 257-287 : 257

Pieris chumbiensis gyantsensis Verity, 1911

Pieris dubernardi var. chumbiensis r. gyantsensis Verity, 1911; Rho-pa-locera Palaearctica (30-36): 329, pl. 66, f. 21-23; TL: "Gyangtse, S. Tibet" (original description)

Synchloe chumbiensis gyantsensis ; Bollow (1930): The Macrolepido-ptera of the World, supplement to Vol. 1: 339 pp, pl.16. (infrasubspecific name validated as subspecies of Synchloe chumbiensis )

Pieris gyantsensis ; Tadokoro et al. (2014): Butterflies 65: 33 (as distinct species)

Pieris chumbiensis gyantsensis ; Tadokoro et al. (2016): Lepidoptera Science 67: 99-114

Pieris chumbiensis gyantsensis ; Huang (2019): Neue Entomologische Nachrichten 77: 203-255 (pictured, keyed)

Description.

Medium size. Both wings whitish on the upperside while yellowish on the underside. Male (Fig. 13G ): apical spot blackish, triangular extending along veins to outer margin with a trend of merging. A short black band at the end of the discocell. The 1st spot distinct and oval-shaped, with a trend of a spot faintly occurs on the cell between vein CuA1 and CuA2; outer spot less faintly present on the upperside. All veins of hindwings heavily brownish powdered on the underside, with a brownish sub-outer marginal band. Female (Fig. 13H ): resembles male but with black markings more developed. The 1st spot distinctly developed and extends as a black band reaching the posterior margin. Hindwings with blackish sub-marginal band distinctly developed on both sides.

Distribution.

Tibet (from Lhasa to Nyalam)

Phenology.

Univoltine, occurs in June and July.

Male genitalia.

(Fig. 5Q ) tegumen broad with its distal margin slightly narrower; basal margin of uncus slightly convex with a moderate concave between tegumen and uncus; uncus with its median part slightly convex, apical half of uncus digitation.

Female genitalia.

(Fig. 8C ) posterior apophysis long and slender, extended beyond the 8th tergum; inner distal of sterigma lobe shaped extend to center; inner basal of sterigma without distinct convex, smoothly connected at the basal margin; signum short and broad, almost disk shaped with smooth and shallowly concave on the terminal margin; basal part of signum tubular with distinct bending on the most basal part.

Note.

The taxon Pieris gyantsensis was originally published by Verity (1911) as a quadrinomial race belonging to P. chum-biensis , thus unavailable due to being infrasub-specific. When Bollow (1930) re-defined this taxon as a subspecies of Synchloe chumbiensis , the subspecies name became an available name. This taxon was once mistreated as belonging to the P. napi -complex by Tadokoro et al. (2014) according to their phylogenetic results and observations on androconial characteristics. Our molecular results oppositely showed that this taxon constitues a distinct molecular lineage separated from the P. napi -complex. Moreover, this taxon has long been considered as a member of the P. dubernardi -group, a unique species group with distinctive morphological characteristics and a high altitude habitat which includes P. dubernardi , P. rothschildi , P. wangi as well as P. chumbiensis .

Figures

Figure 5. Tegumen and uncus of male genitalia in dorsal view. Scale bar represents 1 mm.

Figure 8. Habitus of species similar to P. napi - complex distributed in China. Scale bar represents 0.5 mm.

Figure 13. Habitus of species similar to the P. napi - complex, distributed in China. Composite pictures on the left show the upperside, on the right show the underside. A - D Pieris melaina Roeber, 1907. E - F Pieris extensa Poujade, 1888. G - H Pieris chumbiensis gyantsensis Verity, 1911. I - L Pieris melete Menetries, 1857. Scale bar represents 10 mm. (C, D reference Eitschberger, 1983)