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Hyperlopha
crucifera sp. n.
Hyperlopha
cristifera Walker
sensu
Holloway,
1976: 38.
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Hyperlopha
crucifera  (paratype) |
Hyperlopha
crucifera (paratype) |
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19-205mm, 21-22mm. This new member of the cristifera
group
(see taxonomic note) and the next species are a similar dark grey in the male,
with the female generally paler, less strongly marked. The forewings are
apically falcate and marginally angled in both sexes in cristifera and
allies but only strongly so in the female in discontenta Walker.
The fasciation is generally parallel, oblique in cristifera and
allies, but more sinuous in discontenta, with convergence of the two fasciae from the dorsum
towards the anterior in the dorsal half, giving an approximate triangle with an
open apex, though this is only weakly expressed in the female. The females of
the cristifera group are generally a paler grey with a conspicuously
darker marking flanking the finely pale submarginal over its tornal third. In discontenta this region is also marked darker but only slightly
more so than the ground. This new species resembles cristifera
in
general facies, though is slightly larger in both sexes, the forewing slightly
more variegated in the male and with the dark subtornal markings broader in the
female. In the male genitalia the uncus lacks the dorsal spine of cristifera
and
has its apex of the ball-and-claw type rather than pincer-like. There are
massive lateral processes to the tegumen just ventral to the uncus, giving the
dorsal part of the genitalia a cruciform appearance.
Such
processes are simpler, more ventral, obtusely triangular in cristifera.
The saccular component of the valve is more complex, with several robust,
dorsally directed spines. The aedeagus is more slender, sinuous, the small
vesica with a number of moderately separated small but broadly based cornuti
over its distal half; in cristifera
there
are tighter arrays of more slender spines basally and distally in the vesica,
which is set at an angle to the broader, straighter uncus. In the female, the
lamella antevaginalis is similarly bilobed anteriorly but the lobes in cristifera
are
shallower and more rectangular.
Taxonomic
note. H. cristifera is typically from Sri Lanka but may be
widespread in tropical mainland Asia. It occurs in the Andamans and on Kei I.
(probably ssp. orientalis
Hulstaert
but the type has not been examined), so may be more widespread also in the
archipelago. However, there is also a complex of species with male genitalia
more as in crucifera to the east of Borneo: in Sulawesi (slide 18865) and
Seram (slide 18904); New Guinea (slide 18868); New Caledonia (as cristifera in Holloway (1979)). It is likely that material
referred to cristifera in Fiji and Samoa (Robinson, 1975) is referable to
this New Caledonian species or is also distinct.
Holotype
. Dutch West BORNEO: 85 miles above [?upstream] Pontianak (Simons et Meligan (Sanggan)),
ex Janson, April 1909, BM noctuid slide 18866.
Paratypes:
2,
1
SARAWAK: Gunong Mulu Nat. Park, R.G.S. Exped.
1977-8 (J.D.Holloway et al.), Sites 10, 11 (G. Mulu, 150-160m,
385470, mixed dipterocarp forest) and 20 (W. Melinau Gorge, 150m, 422577,
kerangas [heath] forest); 2 BRUNEI: 30-60m, Labi, lowland
forest and secondary veg. (Lt. Col. M.G. Allen);
1
BRUNEI:
1670m, Bukit Pagon, montane forest, Feb. 1982 (Allen
& Harman); 1 (slide 9422) SABAH: Mt. Kinabalu, Power Station, 1930m.
vii-ix.1965, Cambridge Expedition to Mt. Kinabalu 1965 (H.J.
Banks, H.S. Barlow & J.D. Holloway); 1 (slide
9423) SABAH: Mt. Kinabalu, general data as previous but Park H.Q., 1620m; 1,
Paku, April 1899, BORNEO (Shelford).
Geographical
range. Borneo.
Habitat
preference. Both this and the next species are uncommon but have a
similarly wide ecological distribution mostly from lowland (including heath)
forest, but also from greater altitudes, with singletons of crucifera
recorded
at 1620m and 1930m on G. Kinabalu.
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