Simplicia cornicalis ( Fabricius, 1794 )

Raha, Angshuman, Sanyal, Abesh Kumar & Singh, Navneet, 2025, On the taxonomy of genus Simplicia Guenée, with a new species from India (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Herminiinae), Zootaxa 5631 (3), pp. 451-474 : 462

Simplicia cornicalis ( Fabricius, 1794)

( Figs. 11–12, 41–42)

Phalaena cornicalis Fabricius, 1794 , Ent. Syst., 3 (2): 229. (TL: East Indies)

= Sophronia (?) caeneusalis Walker, [1859] , List Spec. Lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 16: 94. (TL: Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia)

= Bocana robustalis Walker, [1866] , List Spec. Lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 34: 1172 (preocc. Herminia robustalis Guenée, 1854 ). (TL: Morty [Morotai], North Moluccas, Indonesia)

= Aginna simulata Moore, 1882 , Descr. Indian lep. Atkinson: 195. (TL: Bombay [ Mumbai], Maharashtra; Calcutta [Kolkata], West Bengal, India)

= Libisosa obiana Swinhoe, 1919 , Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 4 (21): 123. (TL: Obi, North Moluccas, Indonesia)

= Simplicia lautokiensis Prout, 1933 , Stylops , 2 (3): 85. (TL: Lautoka, Fiji)

= Simplicia ryukyuensis Sugi, 1965 , Kontyû, 33 (3): 370. (TL: Mikyo, Tokunoshima, Amami Islands, Japan)

= Simplicia caeneusalis buffetti Holloway, 1977 , Series Entom., 13: 112, pl. 25, f. 7–8. (TL: Mission Road, Norfork [Norfolk] Island)

Material examined: India, Chhattisgarh, Korba Dist.: 2 ♂, Lemru, Deopahari (22º38'42.0"N, 82º48'36.2"E, Alt. 383 m), 25.iii.2014, A. Raha & Party leg.

Diagnosis: Forewing length: ♂ 14 mm. This species looks somewhat similar to S. butesalis and its close congeners in forewing fasciation, but is smaller and the sub-marginal line on forewing is slightly curved inwards which is almost straight in S. butesalis and its allies. In size and wing fasciation, S. cornicalis is more close to the Bornean S. pseudeusalis Holloway, 2008 , but differs slightly in male antennal structure. Both the species have a strong node at one third lengths of the male antennae, but the ciliation along the part basal to this node, in S. cornicalis , is moderately fasciculate, while that in S. pseudeusalis more even ( Holloway 2008). Male genitalia in S. cornicalis ( Figs. 41–42) have typical broad valva with a small costal apical spine and a distinct spine at the apex of aedeagus which separate this species from the other similar congeners.

Distribution: India: Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal ( Moore 1882, present study). Global: Australia, Bismarck Island, China (South), Fiji, Hawaii, Indonesia ( Moluccas, Sumatra), Japan (South), Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia (Borneo), Melanesia, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, North America (Florida, Louisiana), Papua New Guinea, Polynesia, Samoa, Solomon Island, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Vanuatu, Vietnam ( Dickel et al. 2010; Kononenko & Pinratana 2013).

Remark: This species is one of the most widely distributed species of Simplicia . Owada (1992) treated S. caeneusalis (Walker, [1859]) as a valid species and revised its synonyms by illustrating the type materials. Later, Holloway (2008) synonymised it under S. cornicalis due to similarity in their valva and aedeagus features and suggested the Norfolk Island population of S. caeneusalis buffetti to be a probable separate species. Simplicia cornicalis is a lowland tropical forest species having a flight period throughout the year in several generations ( Kononenko & Pinratana 2013).