Taxonomic changes in the emerald moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae) of East Asia, with notes on the systematics and phylogeny of Hemitheini
Author
Beljaev, Eugene A.
text
Zootaxa
2007
1584
55
68
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.178403
fcd42514-18b6-44e8-b14e-173798c335c6
1175-5326
178403
Microloxia chlorissoides
(
Prout, 1912
)
,
comb. n.
Mixochlora chlorissoides
Prout, 1912
, in Wytsmann, Gen. Ins. 129: 201.
Holotype
: ɗ (BMNH),
China
:
Hong Kong
, Happy Valley.
Chlorissa chlorissoides
:
Prout, 1934
, in Seitz, Grossschmett. Erde 12: 177.
Nipponogelasma chlorissoides
:
Inoue, 1971
: 145
, pl. 1: 4, pl. 2: 25, 25a, 26;
Inoue, 1977
: 235
; 1982: 436, pl. 59: 17, 18, Cat. 2211;
Parsons et al., 1999
: 645
.
Taxonomy.
This species was examined in detail by
Inoue (1971)
, who first described and illustrated the male and female genitalia. Based mostly on facies and wing venation,
Inoue (1971)
tentatively assigned the species to
Nipponogelasma
. However, the male of
Mixochlora chlorissoides
has a large conical distal process on the sacculus, which occurs very rarely in
Geometrinae
. In the Palaearctic region and in South
East Asia
this process is known only in the genus
Microloxia
Warren, 1893
.
The male genitalia of
Mixochlora chlorissoides
share with those of
Microloxia herbaria
(Hübner, 1813)
(the
type
species of the genus) the following characters: uncus with short bifurcation at the apex; socii similar to uncus in length and shape; valva simple, elongate, with long, broad, slightly convex costa; sacculus with long, conical distal process reaching 4/5 length of valva; transtilla broad, platelike; saccus long, conical; and aedeagus simple, lacking cornuti (morphological data on
Microloxia
from the description and figures in
Hausmann, 1995
,
2001
). In general, the male genitalia of
Mixochlora chlorissoides
are very similar to those of
Microloxia herbaria
; they differ from the latter by the narrower socii, broader saccus, longer basal process of the aedeagus, and longer ventral processes of the transtilla. However, males of
Mixochlora chlorissoides
possess a long needlelike posterior process on the eighth abdominal sternite that is absent in other species of
Microloxia
. In the female genitalia,
Mixochlora chlorissoides
differs from
Microloxia herbaria
in the possession of a short ductus bursae and a rounded sacklike corpus bursae, but both species share a very characteristic signum consisting of two small, toothed plates.
External characters provide support for the transfer of
Mixochlora chlorissoides
to
Microloxia
, including Inoue's note on similarity of wing venation of
Mixochlora chlorissoides
Prout
with that of "
Nipponogelasma immunis
" (=
Aoshakuna lucia
). In the last species the forewing has a very short free basal portion of R1 fused with Sc for a long distance, a condition that rarely occurs in
Geometrinae
; the same configuration of Sc–R1 is shown on the figure of the wing venaton of
Microloxia herbaria
and
Microloxia simonyi
(Rebel, 1894)
by
Hausmann (1995: figs 1, 2)
.
Distribution.
Japan
(Ryukyu),
China
(Southeast, Hainan),
Taiwan
, North
Vietnam
("
Tonkin
").