Churingosia conformis ( Walker, 1854 ), 2025

Volynkin, Anton V. & Černý, Karel, 2025, On the taxonomy of the genera Katha Moore, Tarika Moore, Cernyia Bucsek and Churingosia Volynkin & Černý, stat. n. with the description of a new genus and thirteen new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini: Lithosiina), Ecologica Montenegrina 87, pp. 1-45 : 18-20

Churingosia conformis ( Walker, 1854) , comb. n.

( Figs 65 , 152 )

Lithosia conformis Walker, 1854 , List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum, 2: 509 (Type locality: “ North India ”).

Type material examined. Holotype (by monotypy) ( Figs 65 , 152 ): female, “N. India | 43.–10.” / “40. Lithosia conformis .” / round label with green margin “ Type ” / “ Arctiidae | genitalia slide | No. 686” ( NHMUK).

Note. Hampson (1900) synonymised Lithosia nigrifrons described from a male sex with Lithosia conformis described from a female, and these names have been considered as belonging to the same species for more than a century. However, the female genitalia of the holotype of the latter taxon are clearly different from Tarika nigrifrons as well as other species in the genus Tarika but display all diagnostic characters typical of Churingosia therefore the new combination is introduced herein.

Diagnosis. The forewing length is 15.5 mm in the female holotype. Churingosia conformis ( Fig. 65 ) is externally reminiscent of C. mikrotera ( Fig. 66 ) described from eastern Himalaya ( Volynkin & Černý 2022) but has a fuscous head (it is orange yellow in C. mikrotera ) and a narrower forewing. The female genitalia of C. conformis ( Fig. 152 ) are distinguished from C. mikrotera ( Fig. 151 ) by the longer and anteriorly dilated sclerotised posterior section of the corpus bursae, the broader membranous anterior section of the corpus bursae, the elliptical and equal signa (in C. mikrotera , the right signum is larger and teardrop-shaped with a diffuse stripe of granulose sclerotisation extending posteriorly), and the distally narrower appendix bursae.

Distribution. The species is currently known only from its holotype collected in North India (western Himalaya) without the exact locality data being mentioned neither on the label nor in the original description ( Walker 1854).

Acknowledgements

The senior author expresses his sincere thanks to the following colleagues for their kind assistance during visits to the collections under their care: Axel Hausmann, Mei-Yu Chen and Ulf Buchsbaum ( ZSM) ; Alberto Zilli and Geoff Martin ( NHMUK) ; Wolfram Mey ( MfN) ; and James Hogan ( OUMNH) . Vladimir Dubatolov (Novosibirsk, Russia) is acknowledged for pictures of the holotype of Katha nankunshanika provided .

Images of specimens deposited in NHMUK are used with permission and are copyright of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London and made available under Creative Commons License 4.0, CC-BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Figures

Figures 57–68. Adults of Cernyia (57, 58), Hollowayosia gen. n. (59–62), Churingosia (63–66) and Manulea (67, 68) spp. Depositories of the specimens: 57, 67 and 68 in MfN; 58, 61 and 66 in MWM/ZSM (61: ex CKC); 59, 60 and 62 in CKC; 63–65 in NHMUK.

Figures 147–152. Female genitalia of Hollowayosia gen. n. (147, 148), Manulea palliatella (149) and Churingosia spp. (150–152). Depositories of the specimens dissected: 147 and 148 in CKC; 149 in MfN; 150 and 152 in NHMUK; 151 in MWM/ZSM.