@article {131933, title = {A new species of Piarosoma Hampson, 1893 (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae, Procridinae, Artonini) from Arunachal Pradesh, India.}, journal = {Zootaxa}, volume = {5270}, year = {2024}, month = {2023 Apr 19}, pages = {139-145}, abstract = {

A new species, Piarosoma arunachalensis sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on external characters and the genitalia of two male specimens from Tale Wildlife Sanctuary, Lower Subansiri District, Arunachal Pradesh, India. The new species is distinguished from other Piarosoma by a combination of: a) presence of large hyaline patches on the wings, b) the absence of any white or yellow markings on the patagia and the abdominal segments, and c) differences in male genitalia.

}, keywords = {Animals, Animals, Wild, Genitalia, Genitalia, Male, India, Lepidoptera, Male, Moths}, issn = {1175-5334}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.5270.1.9}, author = {Sondhi, Sanjay and Efetov, Konstantin A and Tarmann, Gerhard M and Karmakar, Tarun and Pawar, Ujwala and Kunte, Krushnamegh} } @article {97222, title = {Habitat preference and functional traits influence responses of tropical butterflies to varied habitat disturbance}, journal = {INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TROPICAL INSECT SCIENCE}, year = {2021}, month = {08/2021}, abstract = {

Biodiversity is declining worldwide due to anthropogenic disturbances. There is a vital need to be able to predict the impacts of these disturbances on ecological communities. Species{\textquoteright} attributes such as habitat preference and functional morphological traits may help in uncovering broad patterns in their responses to anthropogenic habitat disturbance. We examined trait-habitat associations in 251 tropical butterfly species by measuring three morphological traits (body mass, wing length and proboscis length) and classifying species according to their habitat preference (forest, ecotone, open). We then correlated these measures (morphological traits and habitat preference) to responses of butterflies to two common habitat disturbances, i.e., a road passing through forest, and dominance of an invasive plant Lantana camara. Both evolutionary relatedness (i.e., family affiliation) and habitat preference explained considerable variation in butterfly morphological traits, suggesting a relationship between evolutionary relatedness, habitat preference and morphology. Both habitat preference and morphological traits influenced response to habitat disturbance: (a) forest roads were frequented by smaller butterflies (b) Lantana-dominated patches were depauperate in larger butterfly species and species with long probosces that are usually associated with deep-flowered forest plants, and (c) habitat preference was related to disturbance from both road and Lantana, with forest-specialized butterfly species showing a negative response. These results suggest that tropical butterflies show generalized responses to habitat disturbance according to their habitat preference and functional morphological traits.

}, doi = {10.1007/s42690-021-00609-1}, author = {Attiwilli, Suman and Karmakar, Tarun and Isvaran, Kavita and Kunte, Krushnamegh} } @article {103920, title = {A new species of Zographetus Watson, 1893 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Sikkim, eastern Himalaya, India}, journal = {ZOOTAXA }, volume = {5072}, year = {2021}, month = {12/2021}, pages = {373-379}, abstract = {

A new species, Zographetus dzonguensis sp. nov., is described based on three male specimens from Upper Dzongu, North Sikkim District, Sikkim, India. The new species is closely similar to Z. pangi from Guangdong and Z. hainanensis from Hainan, China, from which it is distinguished based on the following combination of external characters: (a) forewing with the white spot at the base of space M3 being sharply pointed at the inner edge and conspicuously more elongated, and (b) on underside of hindwing, all chocolate-brown spots being smaller, in Z. dzonguensis sp. nov. compared with both Z. pangi and Z. hainanensis. In Z. dzonguensis sp. nov., the male genitalia may be distinguished as follows: (c) tegumen and uncus are almost equal in length, (d) the dorsal outline of tegumen is relatively flat, and (e) saccus is distinctly bent upward as angle between vinculum and saccus is more acute than in Z. pangi and Z. hainanensis.

}, doi = {10.11646/zootaxa.5072.4.4}, author = {Karmakar, Tarun and Lepcha, Sonam Wangchuk and Basu, Dipendra Nath and Kunte, Krushnamegh} }