Abstract
Miltochrista Hübner is one of the largest genera of lichen-moths (family Erebidae, subfamily Arctiinae, tribe Lithosiini) including more than 160 valid species and widely distributed in Oriental and Palaearctic Regions. The genera Miltochrista and the related Asura Walker for a long time were treated in a wide sense. Hampson (1900) considered the generic names Barsine Walker, Ammatho Walker, Sesapa Walker, Cabarda Walker, Mahavira Moore, Korawa Moore and Gurna Swinhoe as synonyms of Miltochrista, and genera such as Lyclene Moore, Nepita Moore, Cyme Felder and Adites Moore under Asura. Holloway (2001) revived the genera Barsine (=Ammatho, Mahavira and Korawa), Cabarda, Lyclene, Nepita, Cyme and Adiles and transferred most of species of Miltochrista to Barsine and Cabarda, and most of species of Asura to Lyclene, Adiles, Cyme and Nepita. Later, the genera Gurna and Sesapa were also revalidated by Volynkin (2016; 2017a). According to Holloway (2001) the main differences between Miltochrista and Lyclene are wing venation and number of cornuti. However, these features may vary within the genus, while the ground plan of clasping apparatuses of the two taxa is the same. For this reason, Kirti & Singh (2016) synonymized Lyclene with Miltochrista. Volynkin et al. (2018) confirmed this synonymy and considered Miltochrista sensu Holloway (2001) as the M. miniata (Forster) species-group only.
References
Bucsek, K. (2012) Erebidae, Arctiinae (Lithosiini, Arctiini) of Malaya Peninsula-Malaysia. Institute of Zoology SAS, Bratislava, 170 pp.
Bucsek, K. (2014) Erebidae, Arctiinae (Lithosiini, Arctiini) of Malaya Peninsula-Malaysia (Supplementum). Institute of Zoology SAS, Bratislava, 45 pp.
Černý, K. (2012) Lyclene weidenhofferi sp. n. and Barsine delineata (Walker, 1854) discovered in Thailand (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini). Nachrichten des entomologischen Vereins Apollo, Nueu Folge, 32 (3/4), 121–123.
Černý, K. (2016) A contribution to the knowledge of the Miltochrista-Lyclene genus group in South East Asia (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini). Nachrichten des entomologischen Vereins Apollo, Neue Folge, 37 (2/3), 93–107.
Černý, K. & Pinratana, A. (2009) Moths of Thailand. Vol. 6. Arctiidae. Brothers of Saint Gabriel in Thailand, Bangkok, 283 pp.
Dubatolov, V.V. & Bucsek, K. (2013) New species of lichen-moths from South-East Asia (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea, Lithosiini). Tinea, 22 (4), 279–291.
Dubatolov, V.V. & Bucsek, K. (2014) New Lithosiinae (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae: Lithosiinae) species collected by A. Schintlmeister in Indonesia. Amurian zoological journal, 6 (2), 176–181.
Fang, C. (2000) Lepidoptera. Arctiidae. Fauna Sinica (Insecta) 19. Science Press, Beijing, 590 pp. [in Chinese with English summary]
Hampson, G.F. (1900) Catalogue of the Arctiadae (Nolinae, Lithosianae) in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum, 2, 1–590.
Holloway, J.D. (2001) The Moths of Borneo, part 7. Family Arctiidae, subfamily Lithosiinae. Malayan Nature Journal, 55, 279–486.
Horsfield, T. & Moore, F. ([1860] 1859) A catalogue of the lepidopterous insects in the Museum of Natural History at the East-India House. Vol. 2. Wh. M. Allen & Co., London, 440 pp.
Joshi, R., Singh, N., Kirti, J.S., Volynkin, A.V. & Bucsek, K. (2017) Two new species of Miltochrista from India (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Zootaxa, 4238 (3), 445–450.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4238.3.12
Kirti, J.S. & Gill, N.S. (2009) Description of four new species of the genus Lyclene Moore (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae: Lithosiinae) from India. Acta zoologica cracoviensia, 52B (1–2), 109–118.
https://doi.org/10.3409/azc.52b_1-2.109-118
Kirti, J.S. & Singh, N. (2015) Arctiid Moths of India. Vol. 1. Nature Books India, New Delhi, 205 pp.
Kirti, J.S. & Singh, N. (2016) Arctiid Moths of India. Vol. 2. Nature Books India, New Delhi, 214 pp.
Volynkin, A.V. (2016) Restoration of the genus Gurna Swinhoe, 1892 (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Biological Bulletin of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Melitopol State Pedagogical University, 6 (3), 290–294.
https://doi.org/10.15421/201697
Volynkin, A.V. (2017a) On the taxonomy of the genera Sesapa and Nipponasura (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Vestnik zoologii, 51 (5), 369–374.
https://doi.org/10.1515/vzoo-2017-0044
Volynkin, A.V. (2017b) Description of a new species of Miltochrista Hübner from Vietnam, with eight new combinations (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Zootaxa, 4286 (1), 145–150.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4286.1.13
Volynkin, A.V. & Bucsek, K. (2016) What is Lyclene dasara (Moore, 1859) (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae)? Biological Bulletin of Bogdan Chmelnitskiy Melitopol State Pedagogical University, 6 (3), 275–282.
https://doi.org/10.15421/201695
Volynkin, A.V., Dubatolov, V.V. & Kishida, Y. (2018) Miltochrista wangmini, a new species from China (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Zootaxa, 4394 (1), 147–150.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4394.1.12
Walker, F. (1854) List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Vol. 2. Printed by order of the Trustees, London, 775 pp.
Wu, Sh., Fu, Ch.-M., Chang, W.-Ch. & Shih, L.-Ch. (2013) Arctiinae. In: Fu, C.-M., Ronkay, L. & Lin, H.-H. (Eds.), Moths of Hehuanshan. Endemic Species Research Institute, Nantou, pp. 308–333. [in Chinese and English]