Lyclene tibeta ( Daniel, 1951 ) Daniel, 1951

Volynkin, Anton V., 2016, On the generic placement and taxonomic status of some Miltochrista taxa described by Franz Daniel (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae), Zootaxa 4179 (2), pp. 244-252 : 245-250

Lyclene tibeta ( Daniel, 1951) , comb. nov.

( Figs 3, 4 , 10 )

Miltochrista tibeta Daniel, 1951 , Bonner zoologische Beiträge 2 (3-4): 311, Pl. 1, Fig. 17 (Type locality: “[SW China, North Yunnan] "A-tun-tse").

Type material examined. Holotype: male ( Figs 3 , 10 ), grey label "A-tun-tse (N. Yünnan), aus Höhe ca. 4000 m, 25.VII.1936, H. Höne [leg.]" / pink label " Typus " / pink label " Holotypus Miltochrista tibeta Daniel 1947 , Zool. Staatssammlung München ", slide AV 1819m Volynkin (Coll. ZFMK) . Paratypes: 15 males, same locality and collector as in holotype, but 5.VII., 6.VII. (3 spec.), 7.VII., 8.VII., 10.VII., 12.VII., 14.VII. (2 spec.), 17.VII., 23.VII., 30.VII., 31.VII. and 14.VIII.1936 (coll. ZFMK) ; 8 males, Batang (Tibet), im Tal des Yangtsze (ca. 2300 m), H. Höne [leg.], 17.VII., 2.VIII., 3.VIII., 13.VIII., 15.VIII., 20.VIII. (2 spec.) and 28.VIII.1936 (all paratypes are deposited in coll. ZFMK) .

Taxonomic notes. The genus Lyclene is heterogenous and includes numerous species groups of unclear taxonomic position, having significantly different male genital structures. Both Lyclene and Miltochrista have well developed distal costal and saccular extensions (in some cases the costal extension can be absent in Lyclene ), and lack both medial costal and basal saccular extensions. Holloway (2001) did not give a detailed comparison of Lyclene and Miltochrista , and besides characteristic appearance of most of Lyclene representatives (but far from all), differences can be found only in the vesica structure in males and sclerotization of anterior part of corpus bursae in females. Unfortunately, a female of M. tibeta is unknown therefore female genitalia cannot be used for an additional comparison. According to Holloway (2001), Miltochrista ( Figs 8 , 13 ) has large, well separated cornuti in the vesica, whereas Lyclene ( Figs 7 , 12 ) in most cases has a small number of large cornuti (usually one-two), or, rarely, a bunch or a band of slenderer spine-like cornuti. According to this indistinct criterion, L. tibeta comb. nov. could be placed in Miltochrista by having a subapical band of large and well separated cornuti and a medio-lateral cluster of smaller spine like-cornuti, like the type species of Miltochrista , M. miniata ( J.R. Forster, 1771) .

Nevertheless, the vesica of M. miniata ( Fig. 13 ), as well as those of other 'true' Miltochrista (e.g., M. rosacea ( Bremer, 1861) , M. ziczac ( Walker, 1856) , M. calamina Butler, 1877 , etc.) ( Figs 14-16 ) have different structure: the large cornuti in vesica of Miltochrista are situated on a large medio-dorsal diverticulum, and a bunch of several smaller cornuti (or one large cornutus) is situated on a large medio-ventral diverticulum, whereas the all cornuti of tibeta are situated within one oblong-globular medial diverticulum like in L. clara and other Lyclene species. For this reason, L. tibeta comb. nov. should be placed in Lyclene and not Miltochrista .

Redescription. Adult ( Figs 3, 4 ). Wingspan 25-27 mm. Male antennae finely ciliate. Body slender, reddishochreous. Forewing broad, with rounded apex. Ground colour of forewing reddish-ochreous, pattern reduced to slight blackish suffusion in cell and between veins in central part of wing, and short black stokes on veins in subterminal area. Cilia reddish-ochreous. Hindwing paler than forewing, ochreous. Male genitalia ( Fig. 10 ). Uncus long, moderately curved, narrow, subapically somewhat broadened, apically pointed; tuba analis broad, membranous; scaphium narrow, weakly sclerotised; subscaphium broad, as wide field of strong scobination; tegumen moderately long and broad; manica narrow, with strong scobination; juxta large, shield-like, with two ventral lobes broadly trigonal, with setose margins; sacculus large, U-like. Valvae long and narrow, costa strongly sclerotised, basal part forming a narrow sclerotised lobe, apical extension trigonal, relatively short, with elongated and pointed tip; apical lobe of valva short and broad, rounded; sacculus moderately sclerotised, its apical extension strongly sclerotised, apically pointed, not extending beyond the valva apex. Aedeagus long and narrow, slightly curved; vesica curved latero-dorsally, its basal section with strong scobination ventrally; medial diverticulum broad, ovoid, with conical additional diverticulum apico-laterally, four large and strong cornuti distally and short band of spine-like cornuti medio-laterally; apical dorsal diverticulum small, bilobate; basal sclerotised plate of ductus ejaculatorius strongly sclerotised, long and narrow. Female unknown.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 8. Lyclene (1 – 7) and Miltochrista (8) spp.: adults. 1, L. clara, holotype male, China, Li-kiang (ZFMK); 2, L. clara, paratype female, China, Li-kiang (ZFMK); 3, L. tibeta, holotype male, China, A-tun-tse (ZFMK); 4, L. tibeta, paratype male, China, A-tun-tse (ZFMK); 5, L. gilva, holotype male, China, Batang (Tibet) (ZFMK); 6, L. gilva, paratype female, China, Batang (Tibet) (ZFMK); 7, L. humilis, a type species of Lyclene, Nepal (CAV); 8, M. miniata, a type species of Miltochrista, West Siberia (CAV).

FIGURES 9 – 11. Lyclene spp.: male genitalia. 9, L. clara, holotype, China, Li-kiang, slide AV 1820 m Volynkin; 10, L. tibeta, holotype, China, A-tun-tse, slide AV 1819 m Volynkin; 11, L. gilva, holotype, China, Batang (Tibet), slide AV 1856 m Volynkin.

FIGURES 17 – 19. Lyclene and Miltochrista spp.: female genitalia. 17, Lyclene clara, paratype, China, Li-kiang, slide AV 1821 f Volynkin; 18, L. gilva, paratype, China, Batang, slide AV 1857 f Volynkin; 19, Miltochrista miniata, S Siberia, slide AV 2290 f Volynkin.

FIGURES 12 – 16. Lyclene (12) and Miltochrista (13 – 16) spp.: male genitalia. 12, L. humilis, a type species of Lyclene, Nepal, slide AV 2351 m Volynkin; 13, M. miniata, a type species of Miltochrista, West Siberia, Barnaul, slide AV 2289 m Volynkin; 14, M. calamina, aedeagus, Japan, Yokohama, slide AV 2097 m Volynkin; 15, M. rosacea, aedeagus, China, Shanxi Prov., slide AV 1936 m Volynkin; 16, M. ziczac, aedeagus, China, Hunan Prov., slide AV 1934 m Volynkin.