Dahira yunnanfuana indicus Melichar, 2021, European Entomologist, 13(3): 118. Type locality: India, Arunachal Pradesh, Mayodia, 65 km from Roing, 2277m, v.2019.
Note. Up until recently the taxon known as Dahira yunnanfuana (Clark, 1925) was considered to be a single taxonomic entity occuring along the southeastern slopes of the Himalaya, from Nepal (Haruta, 1992) across southern Xizang/Tibet (China), Bhutan (Dierl, 1975; Irungbam & Irungbam, 2019), northern Burma/Myanmar, to central China. However, the work of Haxaire, Melichar & Manjunatha (2021) split this taxon into three separate subspecies, namely Dahira yunnanfuana yunnanfuana (Clark, 1925) (occurring in China, from Yunnan to Shaanxi), Dahira yunnanfuana montivaga (Kernbach, 1966) (occurring in Nepal, Bhutan and southern Xizang/Tibet, China), and a new subspecies Dahira yunnanfuana indicus Melichar, 2021 (from Arunachal Pradesh, India). This was based not on wing pattern but on two small characters in the male genitalia that seemed both constant and rather easy to observe. The first was the end of the apical process of the phallus. This structure was blunt and multidentate in all dissected central/southern Chinese specimens, whatever their origin, while it was almost always sharp and tapered in specimens from Nepal, Xizang/Tibet and India. The second character was the shape of the harpe, which separated out into three patterns: tapered and nearly rectilinear in subspecies yunnanfuana; wider and flatter in Nepalese insects (subspecies montivaga) and broad basally, but abruptly narrowed into a strongly curved hook in Indian insects (subspecies indicus). The exact boundary between the Himalayan and Chinese populations is unknown at present but is likely to be somewhere in Burma/Myanmar.
Resembling the nominotypical subspecies, but with with a slightly ochraceous body and wing colour. The black band on the forewing upperside appears less distinct, while the white square patch is more prominent compared to the nominotypical subspecies (Jiang, Xu, Lin, Liu, Wang & Hu, 2025). That said, adults of Dahira yunnanfuana indicus are generally larger, more contrasting, and darker than those from the Himalaya farther north.
However, the most distinctive character for Dahira yunnanfuana indicus is in the shape of the harpe of the male genitalia. This is wide at its base, then narrows sharply to become an extremely thin and upcurved hook with a bluntly rounded apex, which is unique among the subspecies of D. yunnanfuana (Haxaire, Melichar & Manjunatha, 2021). The phallus is similar to that of the nominotypical subspecies, but with a more sharply tapered apical process, in contrast to the blunt, multidentate form of that subspecies (Jiang, Xu, Lin, Liu, Wang & Hu, 2025).
So far, only known from 2050m altitude in Xizang/Tibet, China.
China: 24.v (Nyingchi/Linzhi, Namjagbarwa region).
In Arunachal Pradesh, India, between late April and late May, depending on altitude (Haxaire, Melichar & Manjunatha, 2021).
OVUM: Unknown.
LARVA: Unknown.
PUPA: Unknown.
Larval hostplants. Unknown.
Unknown.
China: Xizang/Tibet (Nyingchi/Linzhi, Namjagbarwa region, 2050m).
So far, only known from northeast India (Arunachal Pradesh) and southern Xizang/Tibet, China.
Map: Global distribution of Dahira yunnanfuana indicus (© Jiang, Xu, Lin, Liu, Wang & Hu, 2025).
Holarctic; eastern Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Monocentric -- Arunachal Pradesh.
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