Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5543 No. 3: 4 Dec. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-12-04
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5543.3.4
Page range: 368-382
Abstract views: 120
PDF downloaded: 12

Two remarkable new species of the Australian moth genus Gallaba Walker (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae, Notodontinae) from the highlands of Tasmania

Discipline of Geography; Planning & Spatial Sciences; College of Sciences & Engineering; University of Tasmania; Hobart 7000; Australia
Discipline of Geography; Planning & Spatial Sciences; College of Sciences & Engineering; University of Tasmania; Hobart 7000; Australia
School of Natural Sciences; College of Sciences & Engineering; University of Tasmania; Hobart 7000; Australia
Lepidoptera Australia narrow-range endemics Richea subalpine

Abstract

The distinctive notodontine moth genus Gallaba Walker, 1865 is confined to eastern and southern Australia where multiple species inhabit forests, woodlands and heathlands from sea level to montane forests of at least 1650m. The continental island of Tasmania supports four Gallaba species (including these two new endemics) at the current global southern limit of Notodontidae. Two distinctive new species are described from montane and subalpine Tasmania: Gallaba constellata sp. nov. and Gallaba kirkpatricki sp. nov. Both exhibit distinctive phenotypes including extraordinarily long rami in the male antennae, but their phylogenetic relationships to the rest of the genus must await a full revision of Gallaba and allied genera. We find no evidence for earlier claims that G. duplicata Walker, 1865 occurs in Tasmania. It was likely confused with the phenotypically similar Hobartina amblyiodes (Turner, 1931) and we remove it from the Tasmanian checklist. Biological information about Gallaba is very limited, but we have discovered that the larva of Gallaba kirkpatricki sp. nov. feeds on the pandaniform tall shrub Richea pandanifolia (Ericaceae: Epacridoideae). The Ericaceae is a novel hostplant family for Australian Notodontinae, although it is sparingly used by notodontines in tropical Asia. The mesic habitat and foodplants of these species are vulnerable to fire risk in montane areas which has been increasing rapidly in frequency and extent in recent years due to drying of the environment caused by climate change.

 

References

  1. Byrne, M., Steane, D.A., Joseph, L., Yeates, D.K., Jordan, G.J., Crayn, D., Aplin, K., Cantrill, D.J., Cook, L.G., Crisp, M.D., Keogh, J.S., Melville, J., Moritz, C., Porch, N., Sniderman, J.M.K., Sunnucks, P. & Weston, P.H. (2011) Decline of a biome: evolution, contraction, fragmentation, extinction and invasion of the Australian mesic zone biota. Journal of Biogeography, 38, 1635–1656. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02535.x
  2. Bureau of Meteorology (2019) Climate data. Available from: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/ (last accessed 1 Nov. 2024).
  3. Common, I.F.B. (1990) Moths of Australia. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 535 pp. https://doi.org/10.1071/9780643101227
  4. Dolinskaya, I.V. & Pljushch, I.G. (2003) Review of the main morphological characters of the Palaearctic notodontid larvae (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae). Lambillionea, 103(4), 607–624.
  5. Dugdale, J.S. (1996) Chrysorthenches new genus, conifer-associated plutellid moths (Yponomeutoidea, Lepidoptera) in New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 23, 33–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1996.9518064
  6. Edwards, E.D. (1996) Notodontidae. In: Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (Eds), Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Vol. 4. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 529 pp.
  7. Fletcher, M-S., Bowman, D.M.J.S., Whitlock, C., Mariani, M. & Stahle, L. (2018) The changing role of fire in conifer-dominated temperate rainforest through the last 14,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 182, 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.12.023
  8. Godfrey, G.L., Miller, J.S. & Carter, D.J. (1989) Two mouthpart modifications in larval Notodontidae (Lepidoptera): their taxonomic distributions and putative functions. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 97, 455–470.
  9. Grimes, L.R. & Neunzig, H.H. (1986a) Morphological survey of the maxillae in last-stage larvae of the suborder Ditrysia (Lepidoptera): palpi. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 79, 491–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/79.3.491
  10. Grimes, L.R. & Neunzig, H.H. (1986b) Morphological survey of the maxillae in last-stage larvae of the suborder Ditrysia (Lepidoptera): mesal lobes (laciniogaleae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 79, 510–526. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/79.3.510
  11. Gullan, P.J. & Sjaarda, A.W. (2008) Trans‐Tasman Platycoelostoma Morrison (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Margarodidae) on endemic Cupressaceae, and the phylogenetic history of margarodids. Systematic Entomology, 26, 257–278. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3113.2001.00145.x
  12. Hebert, P.D.N., Cywinska, A., Ball, S.L. & deWaard, J.R. (2003) Biological identifications through DNA barcodes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 270, 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2218.
  13. Hinton, H.E. (1946) On the homology and nomenclature of the setae of lepidopterous larvae, with some notes on the phylogeny of the Lepidoptera. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London, 97, 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1946.tb00372.x
  14. Holloway, J.D. (1983) The moths of Borneo: family Notodontidae. Malayan Nature Journal, 37, 1–107.
  15. Holz, A., Wood, S.W., Veblen, T.T. & Bowman, D.M. (2015) Effects of high-severity fire drove the population collapse of the subalpine Tasmanian endemic conifer Athrotaxis cupressoides. Global Change Biology, 21, 445–458. https:/doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12674
  16. Jordan, G.J., Harrison, P.A., Worth, J.R.P., Williamson, G.J. & Kirkpatrick, J.B. (2016) Palaeoendemic plants provide evidence for persistence of open, well-watered vegetation since the Cretaceous. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25, 127–140. https:/doi.org/10.1111/geb.12389
  17. Kiriakoff, S.G. (1968) Lepidoptera, Familia Notodontidae. pars tertia Genera Indo-Australica. in Wytsman, Genera Insectorum 217 (C), 1–269, 195 figures, 11 pIates.
  18. Kirkpatrick, J.B. & Dickinson, K.J.M. (1984) The impact of fire on Tasmanian alpine vegetation and soils. Australian Journal of Botany, 32, 613–629. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT9840613
  19. Kobayashi, H. & Nonaka, M. (2016) Molecular phylogeny of the Notodontidae: Subfamilies inferred from 28S rRNA sequences (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea, Notodontidae). Tinea, 23 (Supplement 1), 1–83.
  20. Kumar, S., Stecher, G., Li, M., Knyaz, C. & Tamura, K. (2018) MEGA X: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis across computing platforms. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35, 1547–1549. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy096
  21. McQuillan, P.B. (1998) Athrotaxivora tasmanica gen. & sp. nov. (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea): An unusual moth associated with King William pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides D. Don., Taxodiaceae) in Tasmanian montane rainforests. Australian Journal of Entomology, 37, 206–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-6055.1998.tb01573.x
  22. Mutanen, M., Kivelä, S.M., Vos, R.A., Doorenweerd, C., Ratnasingham, S., Hausmann, A., et al. (2016) Species-level para- and polyphyly in DNA barcode gene trees: strong operational bias in European Lepidoptera. Systematic Biology, 65, 1024–1040. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syw044
  23. Nichols, R. (2001) Gene trees and species trees are not the same. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 16, 358–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02203-0
  24. Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (Eds) (1996) Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Vol. 4. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne. 529 pp.
  25. Ortiz, A.S., Rubio, R.M., Guerrero J.J., Garre, M.J., Serrano, J., Hebert, P.D.N. & Hausmann, A. (2017) Close congruence between Barcode Index Numbers (bins) and species boundaries in the Erebidae (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea) of the Iberian Peninsula. Biodiversity Data Journal (5), e19840. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.5.e19840
  26. Pellinen, M.J. & Wahlberg, N. (2015) A new species of Niganda Moore, 1879 from Thailand, with description of variation in male genitalia and female facies of N. radialis Moore (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae, Ceirinae). Zootaxa, 4033 (1), 94–102. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4033.1.4
  27. Ratnasingham, S. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2013) A DNA-based registry for all animal species: the Barcode Index Number (BIN) system. PLoS ONE 8(8), e66213. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066213
  28. Regier, J.C., Mitter, C., Mitter, K., Cummings, M.P., Bazinet, A.L., Hallwachs, W., Janzen, D.H. & Zwick, A. (2017) Further progress on the phylogeny of Noctuoidea (Insecta: Lepidoptera) using an expanded gene sample. Systematic Entomology, 42, 82–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12199
  29. Schintlmeister A. (2008) Notodontidae: Palaearctic Macrolepidoptera. Volume 1. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, 482 pp. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004260993
  30. Schintlmeister A. (2013) World catalogue of insects, volume 11: Notodontidae & Oenosandridae (Lepidoptera). Brill, Leiden, 608 pp. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004259188
  31. Turner, A.J. (1903) Revision of Australian Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 28, 42–92. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.26347
  32. Turner, A.J. (1922) Revision of Australian Lepidoptera. Saturniadae, Bombycidae, Eupterotidae, Notodontidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 47, 348–390.
  33. Turner, A.J. (1926) A revision of the Lepidoptera of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1925, 118–151. https://doi.org/10.26749/JZES3618
  34. Turner, A.J. (1931) Revision of Australian Lepidoptera. Supplementary. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 56, 326–344.
  35. Turner, A.J. (1939) A second revision of the Lepidoptera of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1938, 57–115. https://doi.org/10.26749/JTDP3824
  36. Wagstaff, S.J., Dawson, M.I., Venter, S., Munzinger, J., Crayn, D.M., Steane, D.A., & Lemson, K.L. (2010) Origin, diversification and classification of the Australasian genus Dracophyllum (Richeeae, Ericaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 97, 235–258. https://doi.org/10.3417/2008130
  37. Walker, F. (1865) List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 32. British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. 323–706.
  38. Wanat, M. (2023) Diselmobius, a new basal genus of apionine weevil (Coleoptera: Brentidae: Apioninae) from Tasmania. Annales Zoologici, 73, 389–396. https://doi.org/10.3161/00034541ANZ2023.73.3.003
  39. Watson, A., Fletcher, D.S. & Nye, I.W.B. (1980) Arctiidae, Cocytiidae, Ctenuchidae, Dilobidae, Dioptidae, Lymantriidae, Notodontidae, Strepsimanidae, Thaumetopoeidae, Thyretidae. In: Nye, I.W.B. (Ed.), The generic names of moths of the world. Volume 2 Noctuoidea. British Museum (Natural History), London, 396 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.119421