Synemon yimanorum, Kallies & Edwards, 2025

Synemon yimanorum spec. nov. (Taroom Sun Moth)

( Figs 37 – 42 View FIGURES 37–42 , 44 View FIGURES 43–44 , 48 View FIGURES 45–48 , 82 View FIGURES 81-83 )

Synemon species B ; Edwards 1997.

New species Zoobank registration: DCB99AA2-88B9-4E81-BDAB-A16CC840287A

Material examined

Holotype: ♂, “ 25.36S 149.46E, 5km NW by N of Taroom , Q., 200m, 29 Mar 1994, E.D. Edwards ” ( Figs 37, 38 View FIGURES 37–42 , ANIC ANIC 31 About ANIC 011863) GoogleMaps . Paratypes: 8♂, 2♀, same data as holotype, 28.iii.1994 ( 6♂, 1♀), 29.iii.1994 ( 1♀, GoogleMaps

Fig. 39 View FIGURES 37–42 ), 30.iii.1994 ( 1♂), E.D. Edwards (slides 11862, 11861, 11887, 11886) ( Figs 44 View FIGURES 43–44 , 48 View FIGURES 45–48 , ANIC); 2♀, 6km N of Taroom , 31.iii.1990, R . Eastwood ( ANIC); 1♀, Taroom , 2.iii.1991, L. Ring ( ANIC); 3♂, 6km N of Taroom, 25°36’S, 149°46’E, 1.x.1991, 1.iii.1991, 2.iii.1991, G. Daniels ( QM) GoogleMaps . 7♂, St Ruth , 10km S of Dalby, 8.ii.1995, C. Moran, R . Evans (slide 16597) ( Figs 41, 42 View FIGURES 37–42 , ANIC) .

Description

Male ( holotype, Figs 37, 38 View FIGURES 37–42 ). Wingspan 40 mm. Head: vertex grey, thick piliform grey scales obscuring black lamellar scales, frons with dense white piliform scales margined by grey piliform scales and dense white lamellar scales beside eyes, labial palpi short, appressed to head, not reaching frons, white, haustellum vestigial, antenna grey above annulated with white, white beneath, club white with dark grey scales dorsally, expanding abruptly, nudum 7 orange brown on anterior third of club, apiculus minute of a single annulus. Thorax: above dark grey of mixed dark grey piliform and black lamellar scales, two subdorsal rows of pale, almost white scales, beneath white, legs pale yellow or straw above, white beneath, epiphysis clothed in minute spinules, inserted below half-length of foretibia, spine-like, reaching well short of end of foretibia. Abdomen: dark grey above with distal half brown, T2 with numerous long grey scales, beneath white.

Forewing: dark grey with markings of shining white or shining ash-grey, whole wing dusted with ash grey scales, a broad white patch at end of cell, a broad band of markings from near apex to 1A+2A before tornus, markings made up of ellipses of dark grey between the veins and outlined both proximally and distally in white appearing as two series of lunate markings between the veins, this band broken between M3 and CuA1 by a large white streak and the ellipses below CuA1 displaced inwards, costa dark grey with white streaks between veins towards apex, two basal streaks between veins below cell shining ash grey, a narrow dark grey terminal line. Cilia dark grey. Underside with costa pale yellow, basal third of wing brown irrorated with yellow in cell, brown area angled sharply at base of CuA1, outer two thirds yellow, a dark brown spot beyond end of cell, and a distinct small brown spot subapically between R4 and R5, a pale terminal band from apex to CuA1, narrow terminal line dark brown proximally and pale yellow distally. Cilia dark brown.

Hindwing: basal half of wing dark grey, minute brownish yellow dot at end of cell, outer half of wing from M1 to 1A+2A brownish orange, the inner margin of this brownish orange band lunate, traces of large brown spots between the veins from M1 to CuA1, two large conspicuous rown spots between CuA2 and 1A+2A fused together obscuring half brownish orange band, narrow terminal dark grey line, anal area dark brown at base becoming brown towards tornus. Cilia dark grey, orange at tornus. Underside with costa yellow brown, basal half of wing dark brown with a minute spot at end of cell brownish orange, outer half of wing yellow to orange yellow, proximal edge narrowly white, with inner margin of yellow band slightly lunate, abruptly angled at M3, band with embedded subterminal bark brown spots between veins from Rs to M3 and from CuA2 to 1A+2A, a narrow terminal line dark brown proximally and brownish yellow distally. Cilia dark brown, orange at tornus.

Genitalia ( Fig. 44 View FIGURES 43–44 ): Valva wide at the base, narrower towards the apex, apex pointed upwards, dorsal edge with a low convex arch, with long simple setae, uncus wide and simple, with long setae; phallus relatively long, arched, pointed apically, phallobase wide; vinculum without distinct projections.

Female ( paratype, Figs 39, 40 View FIGURES 37–42 ). Wingspan 41.7 mm. Similar to male on upper side, larger, forewing narrower, termen slightly oblique below apex, with white markings sometimes more extensive, hindwing with the dark brown spots in the orange yellow band often smaller, orange yellow spot at end of cell larger. Underside forewing costa pale yellow, remainder of forewing orange yellow, a pale-yellow spot at end of cell, a post median row of pale-yellow spots from R4 to CuA1, a subterminal row of black spots from R4 to CuA1 edged distally with pale yellow, a narrow terminal line brown. Cilia grey-white. Hindwing orange yellow, a pale-yellow spot at end of cell, median area of wing with ill-defined black mark loosely surrounding the spot at end of cell, a median line of pale-yellow lunate spots between the veins from Rs to 1A+2A, a row of large black spots between veins from Rs to 1A+2A, a narrow black terminal line. Cilia greyish white.

Genitalia ( Fig. 48 View FIGURES 45–48 ): Ovipositor long, extendable and pointed, papillae anales covered in long setae, ductus bursae short and straight, corpus bursae ovoid and simple; apophyses posteriores long, reaching beyond corpus bursae.

Diagnosis. Synemon yimanorum spec. nov. is known from a very restricted range where other species have not been found but it is most similar to S. collecta , S. gunggariensis spec. nov. and S. septentrionalis spec. nov., which also occur in the central to southern eastern Queensland. The wings of S. yimanorum spec. nov. are narrower than the other species. From S. collecta it is best distinguished by the more angled bar at the end of the cell in the forewing and in the hindwing the veins where they cross the coloured areas are black. In the forewing it has a less streaked appearance than S. collecta but a more streaked appearance than S. gunggariensis spec. nov. and S. septentrionalis . In S. gunggariensis spec. nov. the pale bluish white streak from the base of the forewing is more prominent and the bar at the end of the cell in the forewing is less angled and the elliptical spots on the forewing are reduced compared to S. yimanorum spec. nov. In S. gunggariensis spec. nov. the coloured areas on the hindwings of both sexes have some black along the veins but is not divided by them. Synemon septentrionalis spec. nov. differs in having the elliptical spots of the forewing absent but with developed subapical streaks and the bluish white streak from the base well developed. The coloured areas of the hindwing are less extensive and crossed by black veins in S. septentrionalis spec. nov. The genitalia of all four species, S. collecta , S. kunama spec. nov., S. yimanorum spec. nov. and S. gunggariensis spec. nov., are very similar. In male S. yimanorum spec. nov., however, the valva is somewhat shorter and the tip of the phallus more extended than in the related species.

Variability. The specimens from St Ruth are somewhat larger and their hindwings have more sparse dark markings.

Etymology. The name of this species derives from the Yiman people, an Aboriginal Australian people living in the Upper Dawson River region around Taroom of eastern Central Queensland.

Biology and distribution. Synemon yimanorum spec. nov. occurs in open grassland in a small range in inland south-eastern Queensland ( Fig. 82 View FIGURES 81-83 ). All records are from late summer to autumn (February to March). More work is required to map the current distribution of this species.

Conservation status. Given the extremely limited range of this species and the small size of the remnant grasslands it is known to occur in, this species should be considered endangered.