Paralebeda prokopenkoi Spitsyn, Kondakov & Spitsyna, 2024

Spitsyn, Vitaly M., Kondakov, Alexander V., Soboleva, Alena A. & Spitsyna, Elizaveta A., 2024, Paralebeda prokopenkoi - new lappet moth species from southern Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 71, pp. 17-19 : 18-19

Paralebeda prokopenkoi Spitsyn, Kondakov & Spitsyna sp. nov.

https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3FEA98C2-C67F-4F2A-889C-8D899F6F1FBC

Figs 1 –2

Type material. Holotype male RMBH Sph 1026: LAOS, Attapeu province, tropical forest, 14°44'08"N, 107°29'17"E, 08– 15.12.2022, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg. Paratypes RMBH Sph 1027, Sph 1130, Sph 1131: LAOS, Attapeu province, tropical forest, 14°44'08"N, 107°29'17"E, 08– 15.12.2022, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg. — 1♂ , the same locality and collectors, 10– 17.07.2023 — 2♂ .

Diagnosis. The new species can be distinguished by the more elongated forewings, the narrower medial loop, and the angular hindwings (vs. the wider forewings with the wider medial loop, the rounded hindwings in P. lucifuga ). Additionally, the new species differs from P. lucifuga in the somewhat shorter spine-like socii on the tegumen, the clear protrusion of the tegumen below the spine-like socii, and the broader valva.

Description. Male morphology: Wingspan 41–45 mm (n = 4), forewing length 21–23 mm (n = 4). Eye olive. Antenna brown, bipectinate. Head brown. Labial palpus long (its length approximately two of eye diameter), dark brown. Thorax, patagium, and tegula brown. Legs brown. Forewing upperside brown; its medial loop typical for genus, dark brown, with white margin. Forewing underside brown. Hindwing upperside brown, with distinct convex outer margin. Hindwing underside brown. Abdomen brown. Male genitalia: Male genital capsule typical for genus. Tegumen broad, with short, wide spine-like socii. Valva small, but wider than in P. lucifuga . Distal vinculum process large and long. Aedeagus short, wide, with large spine-like process in medial part and slightly sclerotised process in apical part. Female: unknown.

DNA barcoding. The uncorrected COI p-distance between P. prokopenkoi sp. nov. and P. lucifuga is 2.61-3.90%.

Reference COI barcode sequence. GenBank acc. no. OR982322 and OR982323.

Distribution. Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia (this study; BOLD 2023).

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Konstantin M. Prokopenko (Vladivostok, Russia).

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project No. FUUW-2023-0001).

References

Bolotov, I.N., Kondakov, A. & Spitsyn, V.M. (2018) A review of tiger moths (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Arctiini) from Flores Island, Lesser Sunda Archipelago, with description of a new species and new subspecies. Ecologica Montenegrina, 16, 1–15.

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The Barcode of Life Data System. Available from: https://www.boldsystems.org/index.php (Date of access 15.12.2023).

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Figures

Figure 1. Paralebeda prokopenkoi sp. nov. from Laos: A) Holotype male; B) Male genitalia.