New Noctuoidea taxa from the Silver Coast of Bulgaria (Insecta: Lepidoptera)

Three new Noctuoidea subspecies are described as local endemics from the Silver Coast, part of the Bulgarian North Black Sea Coast: Eutelia adoratrix platinea ssp. n., Lacanobia praedita canescens ssp. n. and Hadena adriana petergyulaii ssp. n. They are characterised by a pale forewing ground colour corresponding to the colour of the calcareous sediments dominating their habitats. These new subspecies, in comparison with the nominotypical taxa, show greater differences in external appearance than in the female and male genitalia, including the everted vesica. Furthermore, the new subspecies cannot be separated from the nominotypical subspecies by DNA barcoding.

Introduced land snail Cepaea nemoralis (Gastropoda: Helicidae) in Eastern Europe: spreading history and the shell colouration variability

The available data on the present distribution of Cepaea nemoralis in Ukraine, Belarus and the European part of Russia, the history and possible ways of penetration of this species into various parts of Eastern Europe, as well as the colour and banding polymorphism of its shells are analyzed. It has been suggested that the process of rapid spreading of C. nemoralis in the three compared Eastern European countries began at approximately the same time (late 20th – early 21st centuries) and that it may be caused by active and practically uncontrolled importation of seedlings from other European countries, as well as by global climate change, which can contribute to better survival of snails outside their natural range. Despite the possible initial limitation of the phenotypic and genetic diversity associated with the accidental transfer of a limited number of individuals, in the Eastern European colonies, in general, a fairly large variety of the inherited traits of the shell colouration remains. This concerns, first of all, the polymorphism in the shell ground colour (yellow, pink, less often brown) and the main variants of the shell banding (unbanded, mid-banded, five-banded, less often three-banded).

Shell banding and colour polymorphism of introduced snailCepaea hortensis (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helicidae)from some parts of Eastern Europe

The phenotypic composition of C. hortensis colonies was studied in Western Ukraine (more than 30 thousand adults from 23 settlements and 5 administrative regions) and the Moscow region of Russia (more than 500 adults and juveniles from two colonies in Moscow and Vidnoe). Most Western Ukrainian colonies were characterized by the absence of pink shells, the high frequencies of unbanded shells (70% or more), as well as the white ground colour in all banded shells. It is supposed that the latter feature makes it possible to reliably identify the colonies formed by the descendants of the primary introduction of C. hortensis into Western Ukraine, which occurred in the 20th century, from later and independent repeated introductions of this species. Unlike Western Ukraine, snails with yellow banded and pink shells were found in both colonies from the Moscow region. Pink banded shells were registered only in Moscow as well as in two colonies from Lviv. In two of the three colonies mentioned, part of the pink unbanded (Moscow) or all pink shells (Lviv) had a dark lip.

A new species of Dichagyris Lederer, 1857 from China (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

Dichagyris is a diverse genus with a Holarctic distribution. Only a few taxa of the subgenus Albocosta Fibiger & Lafontaine, 1997 occur in the northwesternmost part of the Oriental region. The genus is most diverse in Turkey, Iran and the Central Asiatic high mountains. However, there is a distinct Sino-Tibetan group of species, possibly representing an undescribed subgenus. However, this idea is provisional and awaits revision of the genus. For present purposes, we assign these species to the subgenus Dichagyris. They share the following putative synapomorphies: black, dark brown or dark greyish forewing ground colour (with one exception), with obscure, reduced wing pattern and a broad-based, short, conical harpe in the male genitalia. Species of this group can be subdivided to two species-groups. In the astigmata-group which was mentioned for the first time by Hreblay et al. (1998) but without description or diagnosis from the minuta-group, the vesica is elongate and tubular (males), the appendix bursae and corpus bursae are long, sack–like, almost equal in size (females). In the minuta-group, the vesica is more ample than in the astigmata-group, and coiled, and the appendix bursae is globular and much shorter than the corpus bursae. The astigmata-group includes Dichagyris astigmata (Hampson, 1906), D. gansuensis Hreblay & Ronkay, 1998, D. geochroides (Boursin, 1948) and D. vargazoli (Gyulai & Ronkay, 2001). The minuta-group comprises D. minuta Hreblay & Plante, 1998 and D. kormos Gyulai & Ronkay, 2001. During a research expedition in Sichuan in 2019, the existence of a third species in the minuta-group was recognized, which is described here. In addition, the female and its genitalia of D. gansuensis, which was described by Hreblay & Ronkay (1998) based on a single male, are illustrated here for the first time.

Qualitative and quantitative methods show stability in patterns of Cepaea nemoralis shell polymorphism in the Pyrenees over five decades

One of the emerging strengths of working with the land snail genus Cepaea is that historical collections can be compared against modern day samples, for instance to understand the impact of changing climate and habitat upon shell morph frequencies. However, one potential limitation is that prior studies scored shell ground colour by eye, usually in the field, into three discrete colours yellow, pink or brown. This incurs both potential error and bias in comparative surveys. In this study, we therefore aimed to use a quantitative method to score shell colour, and evaluated it by comparing patterns of C. nemoralis shell colour polymorphism, using both methods on present day samples, and against historical data gathered in the 1960s using the traditional method. The Central Pyrenees were used as an exemplar, because previous intensive surveys sometimes showed sharp discontinuities of morph frequencies within and between valleys. Moreover, selective factors, such as climate or the human impact in the Pyrenees, have significantly changed since 1960s. The main finding was that while quantitative measures of shell colour reduced the possibility of error, and standardised the procedure, the same altitudinal trends were recovered, irrespective of the method. There was remarkable stability in the local shell patterns over five decades, with the exception of one valley that has been subject to increased human activity. Therefore, although subject to potential error, human-scoring of snail colour data remains valuable, especially if persons have appropriate training. In comparison, while there are benefits in taking quantitative measures of colour in the laboratory, there are also several practical disadvantages, mainly in terms of throughput and accessibility. In the future, we anticipate that both methods may be combined, for example, using automated measures of colour taken from photos generated by citizen scientists conducting field surveys.

Pattern of variation and grouping of qualitative morphological characters of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.)

<p>Morphological field evaluation to characterize the phenotypical features of 33 Bambara groundnut accessions was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of Department of Crop Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State; Nigeria. Qualitative morphological descriptors showed a varying degree of variation across the Bambara groundnut collections evaluated. In relation to other descriptors, ground colour of eye displayed the highest range of variation, while eye pattern of the accessions recorded the least discriminating feature. The accessions were resolved into five groups based on similarities on morphological characters and not on geographical place of origin.</p><p><span><br /></span></p>

Leucapamea srnkai sp. n., a new Apameini species from China (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

The genus Leucapamea was erected by Sugi (1982). The most recent revision of the genus was provided by Zilli et al. (2009), and include descriptions of five new species. Leucapamea species are diagnosed by the whitish ground colour of forewings and the very long, sword-like superior saccular process. Leucapamea is distinguished from the related genus Lateroligia Zilli, Fibiger & Ronkay, 2005 by the triangular cucullus having only a slight ventral extremity and the presence of the strong cornutus in the vesica. Thirteen species of Leucapamea have been described (Zilli et al. 2009), four of which are endemic to Taiwan, two to Japan, and the other species distributed from the northern Pacific to Southern China and Vietnam. Following research in Sichuan during the last years, an additional species is described and diagnosed here.Abbreviations for personal and institutional collections used herein are as follows: AFM = Alessandro Floriani (Milan, Italy); ASV = Aidas Saldaitis (Vilnius, Lithuania); HNHM = Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest, Hungary); PGM = collection of Péter Gyulai (Miskolc, Hungary); GYP = genitalia slide of P. Gyulai; RL = genitalia slide of L. Ronkay.

A new species of the genus Polychrysia (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Plusiinae) from the Inner Tian-Shan, Kyrgyzstan

Polychrysia iuno sp. nov. is described from the Inner Tian-Shan, Kyrgyzstan (Dzhumgaltoo Range, Sary-Kayky Massif, right bank of Karakol River, 42°11.300′N 74°03.193′E, 2093 m asl). The new species differs from the closely related P. esmeralda (Oberthür, 1880) in the wing pattern and ground colour tone, and by the structure of male genitalia.

Trogonoptera brookiana mollumar d’Abrera, Doggett & Parker, 1976 (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), a subspecies or a synonym?

The birdwing butterfly Trogonoptera brookiana (Wallace, 1855) is a well-known conservation icon, yet questions remain about the infraspecific status of regional populations. The eastern Peninsular Malaysian population has been described as the subspecies mollumar d’Abrera, Doggett & Parker, 1976, but its status as a subspecies distinguishable from the taxon trogon (Vollenhoven, 1860) in Sumatra has been disputed. Wing characters and measurements of specimens from the two regions were therefore examined quantitatively using discriminant function and correspondence analyses. Eastern Peninsular specimens differ on average from Sumatran specimens in having more extensive green, especially in the female. This is reflected in many of the measurements and characters analysed. Females from the Peninsula also have a characteristically blacker upperside ground colour in which the outer areas of both wings barely contrast with the black veins and forewing cell. The extent of these differences enables a reliable differentiation of the females of both regions. The magnitude and consistency of differences are comparable to that between other subspecies of undisputed status. Behavioural differences also exist. The name mollumar therefore merits subspecific status. In addition, we consider the male forms walshi Haugum & Low, 1982 and walshoides Haugum & Low, 1982 to be chemically discoloured specimens of trogon rather than biological forms.

Nesting behaviour and ecology of the White-browed Fantail Flycatcher (Rhipidura aureola) in Sri Lanka

The White-browed Fantail Flycatcher (Rhipidura aureola) is a widely distributed species in tropical regions of the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. We determined the breeding biology and nest site characteristics of R. aureola in Sri Lanka during 2012 to 2017. All the nests observed were small cup-shaped and without a ‘tail’ extending below the nest base. Both male and female R. aureola built their nests within 9–13 days with an average mean external diameter, mean internal diameter, and mean depth of, respectively, 6.4 ± 0.32, 5.6 ± 0.22, and 2.9 ± 0.21 cm. The R. aureola we found used various habitats such as home gardens, forest boundaries, sanctuaries, man-made tanks/water bodies, stream banks, tea plantations and road edges to build their nests. We did not find any change in clutch size (2–3 eggs) with different elevation gradients. The eggs were oval-shaped with the ground colour of pale warm yellow-brown to pink and lots of spots or blotches in dark gray-brown. More than 60% of nests were built in a high to medium range of visibility to predators, without a specific location or tree preference, which resulted in nest failure due to predation by domestic cats or birds of prey. Also, we found nest failure due to washing away by abundant rains. Detailed studies on ecological and environmental parameters with respect to nesting or breeding success will help to better understand the species.