Review of the genus Thubana Walker (Lepidoptera, Lecithoceridae) from China, with description of one new species

Abstract The genus Thubana Walker is reviewed for China. Nine species are recognized, of which Thubana felinaurita Li, sp. n. is described as new; Thubana dialeukos Park, 2003 and Thubana xanthoteles (Meyrick, 1923) are newly recorded for this country; Thubana stenosis (Park, 2003), syn. n. is synonymised with Thubana xanthoteles, and Thubana microcera (Gozmány, 1978), syn. n. with Thubana leucosphena Meyrick, 1931. Images of adults and genitalia are provided. A checklist of Thubana species in China is included, along with a key to these species.


Introduction
Th e genus Th ubana was established by Walker (1864) with T. bisignatella Walker, 1864 as the type species. Park and Heppner (2009) listed 46 species in their catalogue of the genus. Th ey included T. laxata (Meyrick, 1911) and T. nodosa (Meyrick, 1910), which were once transferred to Stelechoris (Park and Wu 2001), and T. adelella (Walker, 1864), which was earlier removed from the list of Th ubana (Park et al. 2005), but did not list T. pedicucullata Park, 2009 andT. gyrostigmatis Park, 2009 from Philippines (Park 2009), and T. reniforma Wu, 2000 from Malaysia (Wu 2000). Here we tentatively add these three species to the list of Th ubana.
Prior to this study, seven species of Th ubana were recorded in China (Wu 1997). In this paper we describe one new species T. felinaurita Li, sp. n. on the basis of Chinese material, and report T. dialeukos Park, 2003 and T. xanthoteles (Meyrick, 1923) as new for China. We synonymise T. stenosis Park, 2003, syn. n. with T. xanthoteles, and T. microcera Gozmány, 1978, syn. n. with T. leucosphena Meyrick, 1931. To date, the genus Th ubana comprizes 48 species worldwide including the new species described herein, and nine of them occur in China.

Material and methods
Genitalia dissections were carried out following the methods described by Li (2002). All the studied specimens, including the types, are deposited in the Insect Collection, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. Diagnosis. Th ubana is characterized by the combination of the following characters: forewing often having a white costal patch, costa gently curved with sharpened end, termen more or less concave, tornus broadly rounded, M 3 usually stalked with CuA 1+2 , R 4 and R 5 often coincident (in some species R 4 and R 5 stalked basally), R 3 stalked with R 4+5 ; hindwing with M 2 present, almost parallel to stalk of M 3 +CuA 1 ; abdominal tergites with spinose zones; valva thumb-shaped, juxta plate-shaped, and aedeagus with diverse cornuti in male genitalia; antrum cup-shaped, ductus bursae usually with many internal spinules, signum with dense spinules in female genitalia. Th ubana is similar to the genus Torodora in the shape of the wings, the presence of M 2 on the hindwing, the spined tergites of the abdomen and the structure of male and female genitalia. But Torodora usually lacks the costal patch on the forewing, and M 3 is separated with CuA 1+2 , which can separate the two genera from each other.

Th ubana xanthoteles
Description. Adult (Fig. 1). Wingspan 20.5-21.0 mm. Head grayish brown on vertex, with grayish white scales around eyes. Antenna yellowish white, longer than forewing. Labial palpus brown; inner surface of second segment yellowish white mixed with grayish scales; third segment dark fuscous, longer than second. Th orax and tegula grayish brown, with shining luster. Forewing rectangular, costa gently curved, apex blunt, termen slightly concave inward at about 1/3; color brown with dark purple; costal patch triangular, yellowish white, extending to middle of cell; fringe grayish black, with yellowish white basal line. Hindwing grayish brown; fringe fawn black, with yellowish white basal line. Fore leg with dorsal surface dark grayish, ventral surface yellowish white; mid leg yellowish white, with scattered brown scales; hind leg yellowish white on inner surface, grayish brown on outside except tarsus and distal end of tibia yellowish white.

Distribution. China (Guangxi).
Etymology. Th e specifi c name is derived from the Latin felinus (= feline) and auritus (= auricular), referring to the shape of the posterolateral lobes of the juxta.

Diagnosis.
Th is species is very close to T. leucosphena and hardly distinguishable from the latter by the superfi cial characters (Fig. 2) and the venation. However, it can be easily diff erentiated by the following characters of the male genitalia (Fig. 8): the valva broad at base, narrowed to before middle, gently raising obliquely upward in distal half, narrowed to blunt apex; the costa straight in basal 1/6, gently concave in distal 5/6; the juxta quadrate, with small, slender, almost straight posterolateral lobes; the aedeagus stout, shorter and broader than valva, with two dentate preapical lobes, and the cornuti consisting of a S-shaped fragment and a mass of short spines.
Distribution. China (Yunnan), Th ailand, India, Sri Lanka. Discussion. Meyrick (1923) described T. xanthoteles on the basis of two female specimens and described T. melitopyga from one female specimen. Clarke (1965) regarded T. melitopyga as a junior synonym of T. xanthoteles. Th us previously only three female specimens of T. xanthoteles have been known and none of these has the costal patch on the forewing. Park (2003) described T. stenosis on the basis of the specimens collected from north Th ailand, which bears the "golden yellow bandlike costal patch" on the forewing. He also noticed that the "female genitalia" of T. stenosis "are hardly distinguishable from those of T. xanthoteles". In this study, we found that the male genitalia of the three specimens collected in south Yunnan undoubtedly match with those of T. stenosis described by Park, and the female genitalia match with those of T. stenosis and of T. xanthoteles. We also found deciduous needlelike cornuti in the ductus bursae of female genitalia. Superfi cially, the males have no costal patch, but the females usually have a bandlike or cuneate costal patch. Th us we treat T. stenosis as a junior synonym of T. xanthoteles, and regard the presence or absence of the costal patch as intraspecifi c variation.
Notes. Th is species is recorded for the fi rst time in China.
Discussion. Th is species was described by Meyrick (1931) based on three specimens collected from Guanxian of Sichuan Province in China: "two males" and "a third example". Clarke (1965) rectifi ed the "two males" as Oecophoridae and chose the "third example", a female, as the lectotype of T. leucosphena. Meyrick (1935) mentioned the occurrence of this species in Tianmushan of Zhejiang Province. Gozmány (1978) described T. microcera on the basis of a male specimen collected from Tianmushan and noticed that it could be distinguished from T. leucosphena by the shape of the costal patch. In this study, however, we noticed that the costal patch varies from triangular to trapezoidal both within male specimens of T. microcera (Figs 11-12) and female specimens of T. leucosphena (Figs 13-14). We also found that males collected from Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces match with those of T. microcera described by Gozmány, females match with those of T. leucosphena. Besides, we observed the deciduous spicules from the male aedeagus in the ductus bursae of T. leucosphena. What is more, no other species of Th ubana were collected in these localities so far. Hence, we treat T. microcera as a junior synonym of T. leucosphena, and regard the variation of the shape of costal patch from triangular to trapezoidal as intraspecifi c variation.  Notes. Th e previous description did not mention the median projection on posterior margin of the juxta. Th ough this projection (Fig. 15b) is not present in most individuals, we found it present in some males, either inconspicuous (Fig. 15c) or small but visible (Fig. 15d). We consider this variation as intraspecifi c because other characters fi t well with T. leucosphaena.