Rahul Joshi

Description of a new Katha species from India, with a key to the Oriental species (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae)

A new species: Katha volynkini Joshi Singh, sp. nov. is described from Mizoram Meghalaya (North East India). A checklist of Katha species from the World with a taxonomic key to the Oriental species is provided. A new combination, Katha suffusa (Leech), comb. nov. is established, and L. chekiangica Daniel, is synonymized under K. suffusa.

A new species of genus Neoaloa Singh & Kirti, 2015 from Bihar, India (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Arctiini)

A new species, Neoaloa cernyi Singh Joshi, sp. nov. is described from Gular-Ghat of Valmiki Tiger Reserve, Bihar, India. Additionally, the original combination of Aloa collaris Hampson, 1891, comb. rev. is restored.

New data on the genus Barsine Walker, 1854 from India, with description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini)

A new species, Barsine pseudoradians Joshi, Singh Volynkin sp. nov. is described from North East India (Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya) and Nepal. The new species belongs to the Barsine prominens (Moore) species-group and is compared with B. radians (Moore, 1878), B. pluma Černy, 2009, B. syntypica Swinhoe, 1906 and B. maculifasciata (Hampson, 1894). Barsine callida (Fang, 1991) is reported for the first time from India. Its comparison with the related Barsine mesortha (Hampson, 1898) is given. Two new combinations are established: Barsine callida (Fang, 1991), comb. nov. and Barsine germana (Rothschild, 1913), comb. nov. Adults, male and female genitalia of all the reviewed species are illustrated.

Two new species of Miltochrista from India (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae)

Two new species, Miltochrista quadra Joshi, Singh & Volynkin, sp. nov. and Miltochrista pseudomodesta Joshi, Singh & Volynkin, sp. nov., of tribe Lithosiini (Erebidae: Arctiinae) are described from India. In addition, two species are restored from the synonymy and transferred to Miltochrista: Miltochrista rubricans (Leech, 1890), stat. & comb. nov. and Miltochrista szetschwanica (Daniel, 1952), stat. & comb. nov. Other new combinations are also proposed as Miltochrista aquila (Černý, 2009), comb. nov., Miltochrista discisigna (Moore, 1878), comb. nov., Miltochrista weidenhofferi (Černý, 2012), comb. nov., Miltochrista unipuncta (Leech, 1890), comb. nov., Miltochrista carnea (Poujade, 1886), comb.nov. and Miltochrista modesta (Leech, 1899), comb. nov.

Diversity of Moths (Lepidoptera) with New Faunistic Records from North East Jharkhand, India

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India, carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. The state shares its border with the states of Bihar to the North, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the West, Odisha to the South, and West Bengal to the East. It is divided into 24 districts under five divisions. North-East Jharkhand comes under the Santhal Paragna division (Figure 1). Forest covers of north-east Jharkhand is 1953 km2 and the vegetation varies from rich forests to sparsely covered grasslands. The main plants species of forests are Sal (Shorea robusta), Asan (Terminalia tomentosa), Dhaura (Anogeissus latifolia), Gamhar (Gmelina arborea) and Mahua (Madhuca indica) etc. The only protected area present in North-East Jharkhand is Udhwa Bird Sanctuary (surveyed locality) (24058’23.02”N & 87049’20.30”E) which also represents the only Bird Sanctuary of the state. Udhwa bird sanctuary is situated in Sahibganj district having an area of 5.65 km2. Avian fauna of this sanctuary is Gull, Jacana, Teal, Cormorant, Dabchick, Darter, Lapwing, Plover, Wagtail, Egret, Heron, Ibis, Stork, Blue Rock Pigeon, Lark, bee-eater, Sparrow, Myna, Pipit, Brahminy, Kite, Fishing Eagle, Hawk, Vulture, Swallow, Kingfisher, Drongo, Indian Foller and Parakeet (Nigam et al., 2015). Another surveyed locality is Masanjor Dam (Figure 2) which is situated in Dumka district and it is also rich in forest cover. There is hilly forest that surrounded the dam. Invertebrate fauna of this area remained unexplored so far. Therefore, a survey was undertaken to study the moth diversity of this area which reflects the presence of 81 species under 70 genera belonging to 14 different families of moths. A total of 20 species are reported for the first time from Jharkhand as well as from Gangetic plains region. Abstract

A new species of genus Nishada Moore, 1878 (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae) from India

Genus Nishada Moore (1878) was proposed as a monotypic genus, under subfamily Lithosiinae, family Lithosiidae (now Lithosiini), including only Nishada flabrifera Moore (1878) from Calcutta (now as Kolkata), India. The genus is distributed from China to India, Thailand, Malaysia and up to Australia. The Indian fauna of Nishada is reported from North-East Himalayas, West Bengal (Kolkata) and South India. Members of this genus are unmarked, yellow to brown with short and broad wings. Genus Nishada has been taxonomically dealt by many authors but awaits thorough revision. HISTORY Hampson (1900) included a total of ten species: Nishada niveola Hampson, 1900, Nishada syntomioides (Walker, 1862), Nishada impervia (Walker, 1865), Nishada marginalis (Felder 1875), Nishada tula Swinhoe, 1900, Nishada nodicornis (Walker 1862), Nishada rotundipennis (Walker 1862), Nishada flabrifera Moore, 1878, Nishada sambara (Moore 1859) and Nishada xantholoma (Snellen 1879). Swinhoe (1902) and Hampson (1911) then described two new species, Nishada melanistis and Nishada brunneipennis, respectively, followed by Rothschild (1912, 1913) who described a further seven new species, Nishada brunnea, Nishada flavens, Nishada testacea, Nishada griseoflava, Nishada fuscofascia, Nishada louisiadensis and Nishada aurantiaca, bringing the total to 19 species. Strand (1922) catalogued only 13 of these species in Nishada, transferring N. brunnea and N. fuscofascia to genus Scoliacma Meyrick (1886); N. testacea, N.griseoflava and N. louisiadensis Rothschild to Eilema Hübner (1819) and synonymising N. flavens with N. sambara. Next, Matsumura (1927) described N. formosibia, followed by two more species, N. aureocincta Debauche, 1938 and N. benjaminea Roepke, 1946. Holloway (2001) synonymised N. nodicornis with N. rotundipennis and added the description of a new subspecies, Nishada chilomorpha adunca Holloway, 2001 from Borneo, indicating a distributional range as far as North East India. The nominotypical subspecies, N. c. chilomorpha was suggested to be restricted to its type locality of Java. Bucsek (2012) added Nishada cameronensis, Dubatolov & Bucsek (2013) described Nishada schintlmeisteri and Bucsek (2016) described Nishada temenggora. So, at present, Nishada comprises19 species, of which three are known from India (Singh et al. 2014). Herein, we describe one further species, Nishada pseudochilomorpha Joshi & Singh sp. nov., from Jatinga (Assam, India). In addition, new distributional records are reported for N. flabrifera.

Two New Species of Genus Zadadra Moore (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) from India

Abstract Two new species of Lithosiini (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae), Zadadra cucullata sp. nov., and Zadadra neodistorta sp. nov., are described from India. In addition, a dichotomous key to all the Zadadra Moore species is given.

Taxonomic Studies on Three Caeneressa Species (Lepidoptera: Syntominae) from India with Special Reference to Their External Genitalia

Caeneressa diaphana muirheadi (Felder) and Caeneressa brithyris (Druce) have been recorded for the first time from India. Further, a new combination viz. Caeneressa melaena (Walker) comb. nov., has also been proposed on the basis of external genitalic features. With these records, genus Caeneressa will be represented by five species from India, Caeneressa diaphana (Kollar), Caeneressa diaphana muirheadi (Felder), Caeneressa brithyris (Druce), Caeneressa melaena (Hampson) and Caeneressa swinhoei (Leech). The studied material was collected from North-Eastern states of India. Caeneressa brithyris (Druce) was collected near riverside at low altitude whereas the other two species were collected at high altitude.