CYPOIDES PARACHINENSIS Brechlin, 2009

Female Cypoides parachinensis, Trongsa-Zhemgang road, near Yumrong, Bhutan, 7.vi.2008, 1260m (ALLOTYPE). Photo: © Ronald Brechlin.

TAXONOMY

Cypoides parachinensis Brechlin, 2009, Entomo-Satsphingia, 2(2): 57. Type locality: Myanmar, ZimYar Dam, 65km E Putao, 1250m, 27°50'N, 97°01'E.


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 36--40mm. Slightly smaller than Cypoides chinensis from northern Vietnam and southern China, but about the same size as those from Taiwan (Brechlin, 2009). In males, the forewing apex is more pointed.


Female Cypoides parachinensis, Chirang, Bhutan, 7.vi.2012. Photo: © Jatishwor S. Irungbam.

ADULT BIOLOGY

An inhabitant of mixed broad-leaved evergreen forests at 850-1300m altitude.


FLIGHT-TIME

China: not recorded.


EARLY STAGES

OVUM: Unknown.

LARVA: Unknown.

PUPA: Unknown.

Larval hostplants. Unknown.


PARASITOIDS

Unknown.


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: south Xizang/Tibet (Mutu, Namjagbarwa region, 850m (Zhang et al, 1986; Wang, 1988)).

Possibly also the extreme south of Yunnan (Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, 700m) (Wenda Cheng, pers. obs. 2019).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Confirmed from central and eastern Bhutan (Irungbam & Irungbam, 2019), northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh), the northern tip of Myanmar/Burma, and the neighbouring border area of Xizang/Tibet, China. (Zhang et al (1986) recorded and illustrated this species from Xizang/Tibet, but misidentified it.)

A montane population of Cypoides chinensis recorded from northeastern Thailand (Inoue, Kennett & Kitching, [1996] 1997) may be Cypoides parachinensis, but this needs to be confirmed. Another montane population from northern Vietnam (Lao Cai, Sa Pa), recorded as the new species Cypoides viethangae Eitschberger & Nguyen, 2017, may also be Cypoides parachinensis as indicated by the analysis of DNA barcodes (Ian Kitching, pers. comm. 2020).


Global distribution of Cypoides parachinensis. Map: © NHMUK.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION

Holarctic; eastern Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Monocentric -- Yunnan refugium.



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© A. R. Pittaway & I. J. Kitching (Natural History Museum, London)