Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13808–13810
Rediscovery of an endemic Indian moth Gurna indica (Moore, 1879) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) after 125 years
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4649.11.6.13808-13810
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0C1BCA6B-6A76-4102-8E65-20A6292CCC14
Editor: Sanjay Sondhi, Titli Trust, Dehradun, India. Date of publication: 26 April 2019 (online & print)
Manuscript details: #4649 | Received 22 October 2018 | Final received 05 February 2019 | Finally accepted 08 April 2019
Citation: Kalawate, A.S., N. Upadhyay, B. Mukhopadhyay (2018). Rediscovery of an endemic Indian moth Gurna indica (Moore, 1879) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) after 125 years. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(6): 13808–13810. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4649.11.6.13808-13810
Copyright: © Kalawate et al. 2019. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, and the officer-in-charge, ZSI-WRC, for encouragement and research facilities. Authors thank the anonymous reviewers and the subject editor for their valuable suggestions on the manuscript.
The genus Gurna was erected as a monotypic genus by Swinhoe in 1892 for Dysauxes indica from ‘Bombay’. Hampson (1894) treated Gurna as a separate genus and described it in detail. Later, Hampson (1900) synonymized Gurna with the genus Miltochrista Hübner, [1819] where it remained until the 20th Century. Again, Holloway (2001) and Volynkin (2016a) considered Gurna a separate genus. Recently, Volynkin (2016b) restored it as a genus and revised its status based on the type species. Gurna indica is the only known species from the genus. The literature published on moths covering Maharashtra (Shubhalaxmi et al. 2011; Gurule & Nikam 2013) and India (Shubhalaxmi 2018) did not record G. indica. Till this study, no fresh specimen of this species was collected. Hence, this finding is a rediscovery of this moth after a long gap of nearly 125 years. Hampson (1894) mentioned the distribution of this species as ‘Bombay’ and Watson collected three males from ‘Belgaum’ in 1896 (Hampson 1900). This is a genus endemic to India and belongs to the Miltochrista-Asura generic complex (Volynkin 2016b).
One female specimen was collected by the second author from, Pune District, Maharashtra, India, using a light trap. The collected specimen was killed with ethyl acetate vapours. Further, it was relaxed, pinned, and dry preserved in the laboratory. The identification of the specimen was done with the help of Hampson (1894) and Volynkin (2016b). The specimen was studied under a Leica EZ 4 E stereozoom microscope with photographic facility. The images were stacked using Combine ZP software and then processed with Adobe Photoshop CS Version 8. To describe the morphological and genitalia features, terminology as per Hampson (1894) and Volynkin (2016b) was used. To study the external female genitalia, the methodology mentioned by Robinson (1976) was followed. The distribution records were verified from literature (Swinhoe 1892; Hampson 1894, 1900; Strand 1922; Singh et al. 2014; Volynkin 2016b). The identified specimen was duly registered and deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune, Maharashtra, India (ZSI–WRC). The detailed collection locality is given under material examined and also shown in Fig. 1. The map of the collection locality was prepared using the open, free access QGIS software.
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Latreille, 1809
Family: Erebidae Leach, [1815]
Subfamily: Arctiinae (Leach, 1815)
Tribe: Lithosiini Billberg, 1820
Subtribe: Nudariina Borner, 1920
Genus: Gurna Swinhoe, 1892
Gurna indica (Moore, 1879)
Dysauxes indica Moore, 1879, P. Z. S.: 390.
Gurna indica Hampson, 1894, Fauna Brit. India, 2: 105.
Miltochrista indica Hampson, 1900, Catalog. Lepid. Phalaenae Brit. Mus., 2: 474.
Gurina indica Volynkin, 2016b, Biolog. Bull. Bogdan Chmeln. Melitopol Pedagog. Uni., 6 (3): 290–294.
Type locality: Bombay (=Bombay Presidency; probably not present-day Mumbai).
Material examined: ZSI–WRC–L–1825, 1ex., female, 30.ix.2018, Talegaon Dabhade, Pune District, Maharashtra, India, 18.73°N & 73.68°E, 617m, coll. N. Upadhyay.
Description: Female (Image 1A,B): body dark olive-brown; antennae filiform; frons and patagia bright yellow, except at base; posterior half of tegulae bright yellow; extremity of abdomen yellow. Palpi very short, porrect. Forewing dark olive-brown, elongated, narrow, apex rounded; vein 4 and 5 from angle of cell; 6 from below upper angle; 7, 8, 9 stalked; a round bright yellow spot in end of cell extended till costa, similar spot but not rounded at base of inner margin. Hindwing bright yellow basally, with broader olive-brown band terminally; vein 4 and 5 from angle of cell; 6 and 7 stalked; 8 from after middle of cell. Terminal minute pairs of spurs in the middle and hind femora. The underside of both wings is exactly the same except that the spots of the forewings are less defined.
Forewing length: 30mm.
Female genitalia (Image 1C,D): corpus bursae globular, with small thorn-like structures, contains short, tubular signum; ductus bursae membranous, short; posterior and anterior apophyses are slender, longer, and pointed at apex; papilla analis with setae.
Known distribution: India (Maharashtra and Karnataka) (Swinhoe 1892; Hampson 1894, 1900; Strand 1922; Singh et al. 2014; Volynkin 2016b).
For image/ figure – click here
References
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