A new species of the genus Synersaga Gozmány, Synersaga atriptera Xu & Wang sp. nov. (Lepidoptera: Lecithoceridae) is described from China. Adults, wing venation and male genitalia are illustrated. The new species is similar to S. nigriptera, but is distinguished by the wing venation and the male genitalia. The ground color of wings of S. atriptera sp. nov. is darker than that of the wings of S. nigriptera, especially the hind wings; the forewing of S. atriptera sp. nov. has a broad and blackish transverse outer line, which it is not present in S. nigriptera; and the fringe of S. nigriptera has a paler basal line, which it is not obvious in S. atriptera sp. nov. Juxta of S. atriptera sp. nov. has a pair of claviform lateral lobes, which are separated at the base. Juxta of S. nigriptera also has a pair of claviform lateral lobes, but they are connected at the base by a heavily sclerotized band. Type specimens were deposited in the Insect Collection of the Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
The genus Synersaga, established by Gozmány in 1978 on the basis of the type species, S. pseudocathara (Diakonoff 1952), is a small genus belonging to the subfamily Lecithocerinae. The genus Synersaga comprises 8 species, all of which are restricted to the Oriental Region. Synersaga pseudocathara was described from Myanmar (Diakonoff 1952). In addition to the type species, Gozmány (1978) described 2 species from China and Taiwan. Park et al. (2007) described 2 species from Vietnam. S. phuruaensis was described from Thailand (Park 2009), and additional species from Cambodia were described by Park & Bae (2012). A world catalogue of Synersaga was summarized by Park & Bae (2012).
Synersaga is generally characterized by the following features: forewing yellow brown or dark brown, slightly broader distally; venation with R3 free or connate with R4+5, M3 and CuA2 shortstalked or connate; male genitalia with a listric uncus, juxta with 2 strong lateral lobes caudally, aedeagus as long as valva. Abdominal tergites with spinous zones (Gozmány 1978; Wu 1997). Although the known Synersaga species are very similar to each other, they can be differentiated by the shape of the uncus and the caudal processes of the juxta in the male genitalia. The genus Synersaga is allied to Lecithocera Herrich-Schäffer and Homaloxestis Meyrick, but is differentiated from these genera by spiniform setae on its abdominal tergites (Park & Bae 2012).
During surveys for the Lepidopterous fauna of South China, we found a new species of Synersaga, which is described below.
Materials and Methods
The specimens were collected in Nanling National Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province. Photos of adult and wing venation were taken by a NikonCoolpix S8000 digital camera. Photos of male genitalia were taken with an AxioCam system. The process for dissection of the genitalia followed Robinson (1976). The cleaning of wing venation followed Wang et al. (2010). Types were deposited in the Insect Collection of the Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China. All the photos were processed with Adobe Photoshop 6.0.
Results
Synersaga Atriptera Xu & Wang Sp. Nov.
(Figs. 1–5)
Diagnosis
The new species is similar to S. nigriptera, but it could be distinguished by the wing venation and the male genitalia. The ground color of wings of S. atriptera sp. nov. is darker than that of S. nigriptera, especially that of the hind wings; the forewing of S. atriptera sp. nov. has a broad and blackish transverse outer line, which is not present in S. nigriptera; and the fringe of S. nigriptera has a paler basal line which is not obvious in S. atriptera sp. nov. Juxta of S. atriptera sp. nov. is shaped like an inverted trapeze; it has a pair of claviform lateral lobes, which are separated at the base. Juxta of S. nigriptera also has a pair of claviform lateral lobes, but they are connected at the base by a heavily sclerotized band.
Description
Adult (Fig. 1). Wingspan 29–31 mm. Head (Figs. 2 and 3) brown. Antenna dark brown dorsally, orange white ventrally, length nearly equal to forewing. Labial palpus (Figs. 2 and 3) upcurved, extended well above vertex, second segment of labial palpus orange, third segment brown and acuminate, as long as 2nd segment. Forewing dark brown, with black discal spot at the discal cell, one indistinct black spot below it and a reniform discocellular spot at end of cell; transverse outer line broad and blackish; termen covered with dark brown scales; posterior margin slightly concave; venation (Fig. 4) with R2 nearer to R3 than R1 at base, R4 and R5 stalked beyond ⅖, R5 to termen, M1 and M2 nearly parallel, M2 nearer to M3 than M1 at base, CuA1+2 and CuA2 short-stalked, 2A to tornus. Hindwing dark brown, apex slightly protruded, termen and posterior edge covered with long dark brown scales; venation with Rs and M1 stalked near ¼ level of M2; M3 and CuA1 short-stalked. Abdomen black with alternating orange stripes. Hind tibia with pale yellow scales and long spines.
Male genitalia (Fig. 5) Uncus listric. Gnathos rather slender, apex recurved like sharp hook. Tegumen broad, strongly concave in middle. Valva broad basally, with distal half spatulate, narrower than basal half; costa gently concave; sacculus gently arched outward in base half. Juxta shaped like an inverted trapeze, with a pair of heavy claviform lobes, lobes separated basally. This character could be used to easily differentiated the new species from S. nigriptera. Lobes of juxta in S. nigriptera connected by heavily sclerotized band basally. Vinculum U-shaped, thick. Aedeagus as long as valva, slightly bent, with fine denticles on ventral margin preapically; cornutus slender, about half length of aedeagus, strongly bent at apex.
Female:
Unknown.
Type Material
HOLOTYPE: ♂, Nanling National Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province, China, 3-V-2013, Coll. Hai-ming Xu. PARATYPES: 2♂, same locality as the holotype, 17-V-2009, Coll. Hou-shuai Wang.
Distribution:
Known only from the Guangdong Province in China.
Etymology
This species is derived from Latin, atri- (=deep black), and Latin pteron (= wing), referring to the deep black ground color of the hindwing.
Remarks
Synersaga atriptera sp. nov. is different from other species of Synersaga. Most species were collected by light trapping (Park et al. 2007), but during the daytime we observed adults of S. atriptera sp. nov. flying, and we observed one pair mating. Unfortunately we failed to capture the mating female.
Acknowledgments
We thank Professor K. T. Park for help with literature references. We extend our thanks to administrator Mr Gong Y. N. of Nanling National Nature Reserve.
