The new genus Purpurata (Lepidoptera, Crambidae, Spilomelinae), with descriptions of two new species from China.

Abstract

The male genitalia characters of four species, Botysiopasalis Walker, 1859, Pleuroptyaobfuscalis Yamanaka, 1998, Botysplagiatalis Walker, 1859 and Pataniashompen Singh et Ahmad, 2022, placed in the genus Patania Moore, 1888 before the present study, do not conform to the diagnosis of Patania. A new genus, Purpurata gen. nov., is established for these four species, and two new species, Purpuratadirecta sp. nov. and Purpuratalurida sp. nov. are described based on their external morphology and genitalia characters. Purpuratadirecta sp. nov. is designated as the type species of the new genus. Five species of the new genus were clearly separated from Patania species in the Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree constructed based on COI sequence data. Compared to Patania, the new genus Purpurata exhibits distinctive characters in male genitalia: the uncus is short, broad, and arc-shaped posteriorly; the gnathos is present and setose, or reduced; and the fibula is very small and setose. In addition, Pataniaclava (Xu & Du), syn. nov. is synonymized with Purpurataiopasalis comb. nov. An identification key to species of the new genus is presented based on morphological characters of habitus and genitalia. Images of the habitus and genitalia are provided.