Anania verbascalis

Image
MOI-pps073
Life stage
Email (of contributor)
sanjay.sondhi1@gmail.com
Notes (optional)
Golden Pearl Anania verbascalis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
Pyralis verbascalis Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775. Wien. Verz.: 121
Hampson, FBI, Vol. 4, pg. 423 as Pionea verbascalis. Lists Botys plumbocilialis and Pyralis arcualis as synonyms.
Synonym (Hampson, Lepindex): Botys plumbocilialis Snellen, 1890. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1890: 576. TL: Darjeeling. Text at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/50993#page/612/mode/1up
MON Part 4, Pl. 124/28. MON Part 5, pg. 101. For Anania verbascalis.
https://ukmoths.org.uk/species/anania-verbascalis/adult-2/
https://lepiforum.org/wiki/page/Anania_Verbascalis
https://v3.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxid=197926
https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/oum-catalogue-391816 as Ebulea verbascalis

Note: There have been a few exchanges with po-po-pro on this species. We both agree Omiodes contubernalis (Moore, 1888) on the website currently should be revised to Anania verbascalis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). The post medial line is smoothly curved in verbascalis, while in this individual, the postmedial line is angled and sinuous beyond the cell. Moreover, the postmedial line to inner margin is not straight, but sinuous in the Dehradun individual. Po-po-pro has perused images online from Asia and Europe and believes that this is just a variation; two extremes of this variation is shown below:
A. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172296851
B. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172296511
I believe that this be provisionally be uploaded as Anania verbascalis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). And the existing Omiodes contubernalis (Moore, 1888) observation be changed to Anania verbascalis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775).

GI: Your remark,"The post medial line is smoothly curved in verbascalis, while in this individual, the postmedial line is angled and sinuous beyond the cell. Moreover, the postmedial line to inner margin is not straight, but sinuous in the Dehradun individual" The 2 examples provided from iNaturalist are also somewhat smooth, certainly not like in the image you have uploaded. In all the references given the postmedial is smoothly curved. Clearly there is a difference. So I am a bit reluctant to accept even a provisional upload.
Also is there any mechanism by which we can record that the id provided is provisional? More people will look at the provisional ids and use it to id their observations without knowing that it is only a provisional id. Its not ok. In the absence of a mechanism, I am inclined to err on the side of caution and not accepting your request for uploading this as
Anania verbascalis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775).

RPS: I agree with Geetha that the two individuals from iNat are different from your Dehradun individual. However, po-po-pro's observation is also correct that there is a lot of variation in this species and I believe yours matches more closely with the image shown here https://lepiforum.org/wiki/page/Anania_Verbascalis#/image/4/3
The current observation of Omiodes contubernalis can be changed IMO. Provisional ID sounds like a better idea at this point.

@Geetha, right now we just add a note that "this species has been provisionally identified" under "Taxonomic information". It can be missed, that's true, so maybe we can use some symbol like ❗or ⚠️
The old functionality is yet to be done on the new website and has been in the pipeline for a long time now.
SS: I think it better to have a provisional and highlight it. So that is what I will do. I will also update Omiodes contubernalis ID.
Name for copyright (do not include copyright symbol)
Sanjay Sondhi
HighLighted Contributions
No
Species Node
Overwrite img
MOI-pps073
Organism
Butterfly
Moth Taxon search:
Month
April
Year
2023
Day
11