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Manoba allani
sp. n.
 
8-10mm. The facies is very similar to that of
M.
phaeochroa
Hampson comb. n. (N.E. Himalaya), represented in BMNH by females only;
the series of this new species except two and a related taxon from Bali (slide
17723) are also all female. The facies is similar to that of the next sequence
of species, variegated black on pale grey, with
a sinuous, punctate postmedial (more irregular in the following species) and the
black markings more concentrated in three blocks along the costa: subbasally,
antemedially, postmedially. The black markings are generally stronger than in
phaeochroa, but the linear, oblique antemedial is lacking. The male abdomen
is very similar to that of
marmorea,
except the harpe of the valve has a shorter portion beyond the angle. Inoue
(1991) illustrated a male from Taiwan he associated with phaeochroa; this
has a strongly falcate valve with a sinuous, distally directed harpe, and the
aedeagus has a prominent hook-like process apically. However, he later (Inoue,
1998) illustrated a Nepalese male with a straighter harpe with a lateral spur,
less falcate valves and a much longer aedeagus with a straighter apical spine.
The female genitalia of allani differ from those of phaeochroa in
having a much shorter ductus and bursa, with the basal zone of the former
distinctly expanded. In the Bali taxon there is a double basal expansion in a
much longer ductus, and the corpus bursae is very small.
Holotype
.
SARAWAK: Gunong Mulu Nat. Park, R.G.S. Exped. 1977-8 (J.D.Holloway et al.),
Site 2, January, Camp 4, Mulu, 1790m. 452463 [upper] montane (moss) forest, BM
noctuid slide 17061.
Paratypes:
2
as holotype; 1
as holotype but Site 3, 1780m. 453463; 11
(slide 17726) general data as holotype but Site 6, January, Gunong Mulu, 2360m.
467465, low summit scrub (u. montane); 1
(slide 17454) SABAH: Mt. Kinabalu, Park H.Q., 1620m, vii-ix.1965, Cambridge
Expedition to Mt. Kinabalu 1965 (H.J. Banks, H.S. Barlow & J.D. Holloway).
Taxonomic
note. Van Eecke (1926) recorded phaeochroa from Sumatra and Java;
this could be similar to or the same as the Bali material referred to above,
though Sumatran material could be referable to M. sumatrana Roepke
comb. n., based on a single female from Mt. Tanggamus with facies of the
phaeochroa type. The genitalia have a shorter ductus than in allani,
and the signum is much broader and more centrally placed.
Geographical range. Borneo.
Habitat preference. All material is from upper montane forest, and the
species was taken mostly in the mainly ericaceous scrub of the
summit zone of G. Mulu during the Mulu survey.
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