Nola calcicola Holloway stat. rev.

♂♀ 5-6mm.

This is a small, pale grey species with forewing markings and male genitalia that indicate a relationship with N. cretacea Hampson (S. India, Sri Lanka) and N. bitransversata Holloway (New Caledonia). The forewing has darker grey markings and pale tufts of raised scales.

The fasciae are rather stepped, irregular in both cretacea and calcicola compared with bitransversata where they are more clearly defined, especially the antemedial, and oblique.

The male genitalia of all three species have the valves only partially cleft, narrow basally, expanding to a broadly bilobed apex beyond the cleft.

The harpe coincides with the cleft and is distally directed, large in cretacea, small, slender, directed more dorsally in calcicola, and smaller again, at right-angles to the axis of the ventral arm in bitransversata. In all three the aedeagus has a slender, curved spine at the apex, and the apodemes of the eighth segment are relatively weak, separated, almost vestigial on the sternite.

Holotype ♂

SARAWAK: Gunong Mulu Nat. Park, R.G.S. Exped. 1977-8 (J.D.Holloway et al.), Site 26, April, G. Api Pinnacles, 1200m. 428545, open scrub, BM noctuid slide 17097.

Paratypes

• 4♂♂ as holotype; 1♀ as holotype but Site 25, April, G. Api, 900m. 427550, lower montane forest.

Geographical range

Borneo.

Habitat preference

All material is from rather open montane forest and scrub on limestone.

Taxonomic Note

László et al. (2010) placed N. calcicola Holloway as a synonym of N. cretacea Hampson (S. India, Sri Lanka), noting that the syntypes of the latter were all female, and that calcicola had been based on a holotype male; the only female had not been dissected. They based this synonymy on the fact that male specimens from Nepal and Thailand had genitalia identical to those of calcicola. However, the male (noctuid slide 17779) attributed to cretacea for genital comparison in Part 18 was from S. India and matched the syntypic series well in external appearance. Hence the assertion by László et al. (2010) that JDH had ‘failed to examine’ the syntypes of cretacea is incorrect! The genital features described in Part 18 (p. 55) for that S. Indian male associated with the female syntypes provide clear evidence that cretacea and calcicola are distinct species. The observations by László et al. extend the range of calcicola to N. India. It is worth noting generally that it is not uncommon to find sister-species where one is known from S. India and Sri Lanka, and the other extends from N. India to Sundaland.

Genitalia: