Hoploscopa sepanggi Léger & Nuss

Taxonomy

Hoploscopa sepanggi Léger & Nuss, 2020: 17, fig. 5. TL: Malaysia, Sabah, Mesilau Nature Resort. Six males and three female paratypes were designated all from Mt. Kinabalu.

This species was originally encountered by TMW as an unnamed morphotype in the MfNH, Berlin, and is thought to be the holotype or paratype. Other specimens in ITBC Borneensis. It was later fully described by Léger et al. (2020).

Description

A small distinctly marked sp. with distinctive brown and pale cream colouring. The FW is mottled with light and dark brown and a few larger cream patches. Léger et al. (2020, Figs 48, 89) illustrate the male & female genitalia. In male genitalia, the gnathos projection is slender, c. half the length of uncus, and the juxta distal half is narrow, with a notched apex. Similar species; Hoploscopa luteomacula. The postmedian cubital and subterminal patch are missing or reduced to traces in H. sepanggi, while they are well marked, pale yellow in H. luteomacula. The fringes are brown, chequered with yellow in H. sepanggi, while they are yellow in H. luteomacula. The HW is a very pale brownish grey. Best determined by genitalic examination.

Life History

Presumed to feed on ferns (Pteridophyta)

References

• Nuss, M. (1998) The Scopariinae and Heliothelinae stat. rev. (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea, Crambidae) of the Oriental Region - a revisional synopsis with descriptions of new species from the Philippines and Sumatra. Nachr. des entomol. Ver. Apollo, Frankfurt a. M. suppl. 17: 475-528.
• Léger, T., Kehlmaier, C., Vairappan, C.S. & Nuss, M. (2019) Twenty-six new species of Hoploscopa (Lepidoptera, Crambidae) from South-East Asia revealed by morphology and DNA barcoding. ZooKeys 908: 1-99. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.907.36563