Areas galactina inouei Dubatolov, Haynes & Kishida, 2009

Areas galactina inouei Dubatolov, Haynes & Kishida, 2009

Figs 1–2 View Figure 1 View Figure 2

Material examined: LAOS: Attopu province , tropical forest, 14°44'08"N, 107°29'17"E, 10– 17.VII.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg. – 1♂ GoogleMaps ; Bolaven Plateau, Sekong province, Thateng town , mountain tropical forest, 15°24'16"N, 106°22'58"E, 21–25.VII.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg. – 3♂ GoogleMaps ; Laos, Bolaven Plateau, Champasak province, Paksong town , mountain tropical forest and pine plantations, 15°10'54"N, 106°14'25"E, 25–28.VII.2023, E. Spitsyna & V. Spitsyn leg. – 1♀ GoogleMaps ; Phongsaly province, Phongsaly town, mountain tropical forest, 21°41'34"N, 102°06'19"E, 29.07– 02.VIII.2024, V. Spitsyn & E. Spitsyna leg. – 4♂, 2♀ GoogleMaps .

Morphology of preimaginal stages: L1: length at hatching 3 mm; length before first molting 5 mm; head capsule black, eyes black; prothoracic shield brown; ground colour light brown; thoracic segment T 3 and abdominal segments A1, A2, A7 red-brown; legs brown-green; all segments bear 10 to 12 verrucae, each one with single black or white hair. L2: length after molting 5 mm, length before second molting 9 mm; head capsule dark brown, eyes black; ground colour brown; thoracic segments T 2 and T 3 have broad encircling brown line; abdominal segment A1 black-brown; segments A2 through A6 have four lines laterally (two from each side); segment A7 black-brown; segments A8 and A9 have encircling brown lines fused with each other; legs brown; verrucae larger than in L1 and having several black or white hairs. L3: length after molting 9 mm, length before third molting 15 mm; head capsule brown, eyes brown; ground colour orange-brown, brown ventrally; abdominal segments A1 and A7 dark brown; verrucae larger and having longer hairs than in L2; segments A2 through A6 have clear two brown bands laterally (one from each side); spiracles white. L4: length after molting 15 mm, length before fourth molting 21–25 mm; head capsule brown, eyes brown; ground colour black-brown; first two thoracic segments and last two abdominal segments light brown; segments A3 through A6 light brown dorsally; verrucae larger and having longer hairs than in L3; segments A3 and A7 bear black verrucae, whereas all remaining segments bear light brown verrucae; spiracles white with black edging. L5: length after molting 21–25 mm, length before fifth molting 30–35 mm; similar to L4, but its ground colour darker; verrucae dark brown, larger; hairs longer. L6: length after molting 30–35 mm, length before sixth molting 45–48 mm; similar to L5; black-brown dorsally, brown bands absent. L7: length after molting 45–48 mm, length before seventh molting 50–70 mm; similar to L6; body entirely black; verrucae brown, larger than in L6; hairs longer. L8: length after molting 50–70 mm, length before pupation 50–70 mm; similar to L7; hairs longer, its length up to 25 mm. Pupa: total length 29–32 mm; maximum width 14–15 mm; colour blackish or brownish; antennae and legs сlearly visible; abdominal spiracles narrow, not rising above cuticular surface; in silken, loosely spun, white-grey-brown silken cocoon, covered with red-brown larval hairs; immobile.

Larval feeding in breeding experiment: The larvae are polyphagous and fed on the following plants in our experiment: Taraxacum officinale F.H. Wigg. , Arctium tomentosum Mill. ( Asteraceae ), Plantago major L. ( Plantaginaceae ), and Schlumbergera sp. ( Cactaceae ). Furthermore, we observed the larvae eating fruit peels of Musa sp. ( Musaceae ). Coppens (2019) noted that the larvae can feed on some plant species of the next genera: Trifolium ( Fabaceae ), Prunus , Rubus ( Rosaceae ), Quercus ( Fagaceae ), and Salix ( Salicaceae ).

Remarks. (1) The incubation period of eggs takes 4 days. (2) This species has eight larval stages whereas most of the subfamily Arctiinae have only six or seven of them. (3) Until recently, on the Laos territory the species was only known from Louang Namtha, Luang Prabang, Huaphanh, and Xieng Khouang provinces ( Dubatolov et al., 2009; Bucsek, 2020; Kishida 2020). In the present study, we first report on the occurrence of this species in the south of Laos, based on our records from Attopu, Champasak, and Sekong provinces. Additionally, the first record is reported from Phongsaly province.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project No. FUUW-2023-0001).

References

Bucsek, K. (2020) Contribution to the knowledge of Lithosiini and Arctiini (Erebidae, Arctiinae) of central and northern Laos, part 4. Entomofauna carpathica, 32 (2), 47–87.

Coppens, B. (2019) Areas galactina — “Milky tiger ”, Breedingbutterflies.com. Available from: https://breedingbutterflies.com/areas-galactina-galactic-tiger/ (02.01.2025).

Dubatolov, V.V. (2010) Tiger-moths of Eurasia (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae) (Nyctemerini by R. de Vos & V.V. Dubatolov). Neue Entomologische Nachrichten, 65, 1–106.

Dubatolov, V.V., Haynes, P.G. & Kishida, Y. (2009) Subspecies of Areas galactina (Hoeven, 1840) (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae): 25 years after H. Inoue's review. Tinea, 20 (5), 316–329.

Kishida, Y. (2020) Arctiidae. In: Kishida, Y. (Ed.), Moths of Laos, Part 1. The Japan Heterocerist's Society, Tokyo, pp. 121–132.