Nirmides purpurea Holloway sp. n.stat. rev.

Diagnosis

♂♂ 10mm. The forewing facies is similar to that of basalis except the forewing basal to the submarginal is a uniform purplish grey with no yellow. The hindwing also lacks the fawn-yellow zone along the dorsum. The forewing submarginal has the anterior distal angle as prominent as the central one rather than less so. In the male genitalia the processes of the eighth sternite are only half as long as in basalis, the saccus is broader, the bifid uncus prominent rather than vestigial, and the socii broadest subapically rather than tapering.

Holotype ♂

Rampayoh, 125 metres, BRUNEI, 2.iii.1982 (T.W. Harman) BM limacodid slide 865.

Paratype

• 1 ♂ Primary forest, SABAH: Poring, 1800ft, E. of Mt Kinabalu, 20-23.i.1976, (E.W. Classey)
• 1 ♂ Ulu Temburong Expedition 1978, BRUNEI, base camp, 300m, 10.x.1978 (T.W. Harman)
• 2 ♀♀ SARAWAK, Gunong Mulu Nat. Park, R.G.S. Exped. 1977-8 (J.D. Holloway et al.), Site 8, February, Camp 1, Mulu, 150m, 384470, mixed dipt. for.

Geographical range

Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia.

Geographical Range

Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia.

Habitat Preference

All Bornean material is from lowland rainforest. The two specimens from Peninsular Malaysia were from about 700m in the Genting Highlands.

Taxonomic Notes

Solovyev & Witt (2009) placed Nirmides purpurea Holloway as a synonym of N. fusca Hering, a taxon that they promoted to full species status. It was originally described as a form of N. basalis, but is similar in external features and male genital characters to purpurea and therefore probably conspecific. However,  it is clear from the original description (‘fusca forma nov. which rarely flies among the nomenclatural form’) that this name is infrasubspecific (and was regarded as such when examined for Part 1) and therefore not available under articles 45.5, 45.6.1 and 45.6.4 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. It is even more clear (K. Sattler, pers. comm.) from the original German text that Hering was referring to a rare variant flying amongst the typical (‘nomenclatural’ in the English version) form, i.e. an infrasubspecific entity. Therefore the name purpurea Holloway must prevail for this species, stat. rev.

Genitalia: