Rhodostrophia herbicolens

Rhodostrophia herbicolens (Butler, 1883) [Fig. 10–12, 36, 43, 50, 57] [TL: Solun, North Western India, India] Delocharis herbicolens Butler, 1883, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 173. Rhodostrophia herbicolens; Hampson, 1895; The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, 3: 457. Rhodostrophia herbicolens; Prout, 1913; In: Seitz, A. (Ed.) (1912–1916): The Macrolepidoptera of the world, 4: 42, pl. 3, fig. d. Rhodostrophia herbicolens; Prout, 1935; In: Seitz, A. (Ed.) (1934–1938): TheMacrolepidoptera of the world, 4, supplementary: 25, pl. 4, fig. a. Rhodostrophia herbicolens; Prout, 1938; In: Seitz, A. (ed.) (1920–1941): The Macrolepidoptera of the world, 12: 144, pl. 15, fig. b. Material examined: INDIA: 1♀, Himachal Pradesh, Dist. Kangra, Dhauladhar Mountain Range, Nora, 32.26927° N, 076.28972° E, 1455 m, 15.IV.2021; 2♀♀, Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary, Billing, 32.05978° N, 076.74229° E, 2341 m, 01. VI.2022; 1♀, Billing, 32.06312° N, 076.74973° E, 2572 m, 06. VI.2022; 2♂♂, Dist. Lahaul and Spiti, Lahaul Valley, Lobar, 32.71338° N, 076.66903° E, 2773 m, 07.VII.2021; 1♂, Tindi, 32.75223° N, 076.46735° E, 2498 m, 09.VII.2021; leg. S. Kumari. NWR specimens: INDIA: 1♀, Himachal Pradesh, Dist.Kangra, Dhauladhar Mountain Range, Ghera, 32.260173° N, 076.288707° E, 1404 m, 03. V.2021 (BOLD Sample Id: BC_ ZSM _ Lep _117619); 1♀, Kareri Khas, 32.28283° N, 076.28059° E, 1870 m, 19. V.2022; 2♂♂, Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary, Billing, 32.05978° N, 076.74229° E, 2341 m, 01. VI.2022; 1♂ 1♀, Dist. Lahaul and Spiti, Lahaul valley, Trilokinath, 32.6788° N, 076.68676° E, 3238 m, 06.VII.2021; 1♂, Lobar, 32.71338° N, 076.66903° E, 2773 m, 07.VII.2021; leg. S. Kumari. Description: Forewing length: Male: 14–17 mm, Female: 13–16 mm. Antenna filiform in female; quadripectinate in male, flagellum dentate and brown ventrally, dorsal shaft of the antennae whitish at the base and lateral sides, rest is covered with brownish scales. Vertex white, sometimes with a slight tinge of ochreous-brown. Frons dark fuscous brown. Labial palpi short, directed upward and not reaching the frons, pale ochreous at tips and lateral side. Collar tinged with ochreous brown; tegulae, patagia and thorax with brownish-grey suffusion; abdomen pale ochreous. Ventral side pale ochreous with dark brown suffusion. Legs features typical of the genus; foretibia with a well-developed epiphysis in the middle; hindtibia with three tibial spurs in males; hindtibial hair pencil reaching up to the single median spur. Forewing pale ochreous suffused with greyish brown, basal third slightly darker, apically elongated, outer margin obliquely straight. Antemedial line slightly bent outward below costa and runs obliquely towards the inner margin. Postmedial band diffused, greyish brown with a distinct darker inner edge, slightly outcurved till CuA1, then running straight up to inner margin. Submarginal line prominent, greyish-brown and strongly sinuous; marginal line dark brown, area between the two lines suffused with greyish-brown. Cilia pale ochreous, base darker. Hindwing paler, costal half washed out, markings similar as forewing except antemedial line absent. Underside paler, forewing with basal half suffused with grey, antemedial line absent, postmedial band indistinct and only the inner edge prominent, area between the submarginal and marginal line paler than the upper side. Discocellular dot small, black, prominent and slightly elongated. Hindwing without grey suffusion in the basal half (Figs 10–12). Male genitalia (Fig. 36): Uncus long, sclerotised; apex broader, more dilated subapically, membranous except a subapical bilobed, acutely tipped sclerotisation, spatulate, setose, bilobed with a minor central concavity on posterior margin. Gnathos triangular, strongly sclerotised, median process elongated with acute apex. Valva symmetric, not spinulose, apically broad, spatulate with a small, blunt, digitate process ventrad, and large, rounded, subapical protrusion dorsad. Costa strongly curved, apex rounded, separated from valva, distal dorsal sclerite of valva costa rounded. Sacculus narrow, smooth, sclerotised, folded ventrally over the valva. Juxta tongue-shaped but apically elongated. Aedeagus (Fig. 43) subapically slightly curved with minute sclerotised teeth on terminal part; vesica wrinkled, with an elongated, sclerotised patch having minute scobinations. Posterior margin of the 8 th abdominal sternite (Fig. 50) bilobed, octavals shorter (than the previously discussed species). Female genitalia (Fig. 57): Papillae anales ovally-elongated with very narrow central concavity; posterior apophyses four times the length of anterior apophyses. Ductus bursae sclerotised, sharply bent postmedially, with a non-sclerotised portion on the bend; shorter than corpus bursae. Corpus bursae ovally-elongated; signum shaped as a pair of flat, strongly sclerotised ‘axe-head’ shape sclerites, connected posteriorly, located below the junction of corpus bursae and ductus bursae, a slightly sclerotised patch above it (on the roof). 7 th sternite sclerotised, posterior margin almost straight with a medially-acute indentation with minor lateral projections. Differential diagnosis: R. herbicolens differs from the similarly looking species R. muricolor (Fig. 13–14) in having less greyish-fuscous suffusion on the forewings whereas in R. muricolor the suffusion is more uniform and darker with transverse markings almost obsolescent. Also, in R. muricolor the hindwing is more greyish with more weakly defined markings and underside more ochreous compared to R. herbicolens. Distribution: India: Himachal Pradesh (Solan, Shimla, Dalhousie, Kasauli) (Prout 1935, 1938). Elsewhere: Not documented. Genetic data: Two BINs: BOLD: AFI2529 from Himachal Pradesh, India and BOLD: ADF4294 from Uttarakhand, India, both with 4.47% genetic distance. Bionomics: So far, R. herbicolens has been exclusively documented from the IHR, typically from the Trans Himalaya (Lahaul Valley), North Western and Western Himalayan regions. Adults have been observed within a wide elevational range of 1400–3200 m, with increased activity during pre-monsoon months. The species has been most commonly found in the elevational range of 2200–2800 m within Himalayan Moist Temperate forests (12/C1a, C1c) and Himalayan Dry Temperate forests (13/ C2b, 13/C4 and C5), and exhibits occasional encounters in the Tropical Dry Deciduous forests (5B/C2) and Subtropical Pine forests (9/C1a and C1b) towards lower elevations.