A new species of the genus Subniganda Kiriakoff, 1962 (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) from India and Nepal.

The present paper describes a new species of Notodontidae Subniganda bambusoides Mazumder & Schintlmeister sp. nov. from the Himalayan and northeastern landscapes of India and Nepal. It also provides a comparative diagnosis with its congeners S. tristan (Schintlmeister, 1997) and S. isolde (Schintlmeister, 1997) along with detailed morphological and genitalic illustrations.

New records of Notodontidae Stephens, 1829 (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea) from India.

The present study discusses the systematic accounts of ten species of the family Notodontidae recorded here for the first time from India. The species were collected from different parts of Indian Himalaya, the majority being reported from the Dihang-Dibang Biosphere Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. Among these ten species, we present two new combinations under subfamily Spataliinae, viz. Odnarda leechi comb. nov. and Torona lucida comb. nov. based on the affinities in male genitalia structure with these recently upgraded genera compared to the previously considered expanded concept of Biula and Bireta, respectively. Moreover, three genera under subfamily Notodontinae viz. Himalodontosia, Periphalera and Pseudosomera are newly added to the existing Indian Notodontidae fauna with respective species H. mahendra, P. albicauda and P. noctuiformis yunwu. Another five new records include one species of the subfamily Dudusinae - Tarsolepis taiwana, one species of the subfamily Spataliinae - Ogulina ochrocinerea, and three species of the subfamily Notodontinae - Syntypistis synechochlora, S. witoldi and Ptilodon amplius. Thus, the present study updates the Indian Notodontidae richness to a total of 257 species and 15 subspecies (272 species/subspecies including nominotypical subspecies) under 119 genera. Here, we provide species diagnoses with similar congeners along with habitus, genitalia images, information on the bionomy and distribution map for each of these newly recorded species.

Taxonomy and ecology of genus Psyra Walker, 1860 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae) from Indian Himalaya.

The Psyra Walker, 1860, is a typical Sino-Himalayan genus of the subfamily Ennominae, currently known by 18 species/4 subspecies globally and 9 species from India. This study aims to revise the taxonomy and ecology of Indian Psyra by providing a morphology-based diagnostic key, highlighting their altitudinal, habitat and seasonal preferences, and modelling their distribution based on current and future climatic scenarios. Here, we describe a new species, P. variabilis sp. nov. and document 4 species and 1 subspecies as new to India, viz. P. gracilis, P. szetschwana, P. dsagara, P. falcipennis and P. debilis debilis, thus updating the global species count to 19 with 14 species/1 subspecies from India. We also submitted partial mitochondrial COI sequences of P. crypta, P. similaria, P. spurcataria and P. gracilis as novel to the global genetic database and calculated the overall genetic divergence was 5.17% within the genus, suggesting strong monophyly. Being a typical montane genus, most of the species of Psyra were active within 2000-2280 m altitude, 10.55-15.7°C annual mean temperature, 1200-2300 mm annual precipitation and 168-179 NDVI. Psyra species were predominant in wet temperate, mixed coniferous and moist temperate deciduous forests, their abundance and richness being at peak during post-monsoon months of October-November. The major bioclimatic variables influencing the overall distribution of the genus were mean temperature of warmest quarter, temperature seasonality and precipitation of coldest/driest quarter. While two of the modelled species were predicted to lose area occupancy under future climatic scenarios, the narrow-specialist, Trans-Himalayan species P. debilis debilis was projected to gain up to 75% additional area in the years 2041-60. The results of this study will be helpful to identify sites with maximum area loss projection in ecologically fragile Indian Himalaya and initiating conservation management for such climatically vulnerable insect species groups.

Taxonomy and ecology of genus Phlogophora Treitschke, 1825 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Indian Himalaya with description of a new species.

The Genus Phlogophora Treitschke, 1825 (Noctuidae: Xyleninae), widely distributed in Palaearctic and Oriental realms, is especially diverse within Indian Himalaya with 12 known species till now. Current communication reports three species new to India viz. P. meticulodina (Draudt, 1950), P. nobilis Hreblay Ronkay, 1998 and P. szecsenyii Hreblay Ronkay, 1998 and a new species P. similis Bandyopadhyay, Mallick, Sanyal Chandra sp. nov., thus bringing the species number to 16 for the country, along with taxonomic key with morphology and genitalia-based diagnosis for all the Indian/Himalayan species. Out of those species, partial mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase I (COI) sequences were generated for 6 species, of which 5 were novel to the NCBI GenBank. The genus had maximum species richness and abundance in Eastern Himalayan Temperate Forest spanning 18002500 m in Central Himalayan landscape of Darjeeling-Sikkim and Nepal. Current Habitat suitability model of six Phlogophora species indicated that temperature dependent variables like Temperature Annual Range, Temperature Seasonality and Elevation are the most contributing factors for their predicted distribution range. The genus comprising of both Polycyclic and Monocyclic species became most abundant during Post-monsoon, in cold (911 C) and humid (8791%) nights, in areas with Annual Mean Temperature ranging within 4.619.9 C and Annual Precipitation of 10002800 mm.

A new species of Nerice Walker, 1855 and further additions to the catalogue of Indian Notodontidae Stephens, 1829 (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea) from Himalaya with report of range extensions.

The present work deals with the additional species of Notodontidae recorded from different provinces of Indian Himalaya subsequent to the publication of Catalogue of Indian Notodontidae which provided systematic account of 242 species and 10 subspecies. Current communication comprises: (I) Description of a new species of genus Nerice Walker, 1855, Nerice (Nerice) mishmiensis Mazumder, Raha, Chandra Schintlmeister sp. nov., from Eastern Himalayan landscape of Dihang-Dibang Biosphere Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, along with a comparative diagnosis with two other congeners viz. N. aemulator Schintlmeister Fang, 2001 and N. upina Alphéraky, 1892; (II) Reporting of 3 species new to the Indian fauna from Eastern and Western Himalaya: Periergos genitale Schintlmeister, 2002, Honveda nepalina Nakamura, 1976 and Syntypistis nigribasalis tropica (Kiriakoff, 1974) with their diagnosis and genitalic illustrations; (III) Addition of 5 species and 1 more subspecies to the existing list from various literature; (IV) Additional distribution records of 40 species detected through primary sampling along with details of the materials examined; among which 3 species viz. Pseudallata laticostalis (Hampson, 1900), Baradesa lithosioides lithosioides Moore, 1883 and Ptilodon flavistigma (Moore, 1879) showed unusual altitudinal records around 3000 m. Thus, altogether Indian Notodontidae fauna has been updated to 247 species (including nominotypical subspecies) and 15 subspecies under 116 genera of 10 subfamilies.

Catalogue of Indian Notodontidae Stephens, 1829 (Lepidoptera: Noctuoidea).

The present communication consists of the first ever catalogue of Indian Notodontidae Stephens, 1829 comprising systematic accounts of 242 species (including nominotypical subspecies) and 10 subspecies under 116 genera of 10 subfamilies with four new records to India viz. Phalera (Phalera) birmicola Bryk, 1949, Spatalina desiccata stolida Schintlmeister, 2007, Hiradonta hannemanni Schintlmeister, 1989 and Kamalia tattakana (Matsumura, 1927). The account was prepared by compiling findings from both literature survey and field sampling carried out at various Protected Areas in the Indian Himalayas and Chhattisgarh state in the Deccan Peninsular region of India. Zoogeographic analysis of Indian Notodontidae reveals a majority of the assemblage showing Oriental (58.27%) and Palaearctic (40.49%) affinities with maximum species of Sundanian (80.00%), followed by Himalayan (77.65%) origins. In India, the majority of the species are distributed in the Himalayan (35.33%) and North-East (39.40%) biogeographic zones, reflecting maximum endemicity. Extensive surveys in the less explored southern part of the country are expected to enrich the inventory of Indian Notodontidae. The distribution map and detailed illustrations of the four new records are provided.