''Lachana alpherakii'' is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the subfamily

Lymantriinae The Lymantriinae (formerly called the Lymantriidae) are a subfamily of moths of the family Erebidae. The taxon was erected by George Hampson in 1893. Many of its component species are referred to as "tussock moths" of one sort or another. The cat ...

first described by

Grigory Grum-Grshimailo Grigory Yefimovich Grum-Grshimailo (russian: Григо́рий Ефи́мович Грумм-Гржима́йло, 1860–1936) was a Russian zoologist best known for his expeditions to Central Asia (Pamir, Bukhara, Tian-Shan, Kan-su, and Kuku ...

in 1891. It is found in the high mountains of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 22–27 mm. The head, thorax, and abdomen are covered with long silky hairs, mostly intense dark brown with yellowish. It is a very variable species. The wings are mostly yellow with dark brown bands. The basal area of the forewing is yellow lightly mixed with brown scales. The internal bands are dark brown. The hindwings are yellow with a dark brown marginal band.

Taxonomy

first described this species from

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, China, using the scientific name ''Dasychira alpherakii'' in 1891. The species epithet commemorates

Sergei Alphéraky Sergei Nikolaevich Alphéraky (1850–1918) (sometimes Alphéraki or Alferaki) was a Russian ornithologist and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. Sergei Alphéraky was born into the noble Greek family of Alferakis and was the brothe ...

, a Greek Russian

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

from

Taganrog Taganrog ( rus, Таганрог, p=təɡɐnˈrok) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: History of Taganrog The ...

who spent the latter part of his life studying the

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. The following year, in 1892,

William Forsell Kirby William Forsell Kirby (14 January 1844 – 20 November 1912) was an English entomologist and folklorist. Life He was born in Leicester. He was the eldest son of Samuel Kirby, who was a banker. He was educated privately, and became interested ...

moved it to the genus ''Dasorgyia''. In 1910

Embrik Strand Embrik Strand (2 June 1876 – 3 November 1947) was an entomologist and arachnologist who classified many insect and spider species including the greenbottle blue tarantula. Life and career Strand was born in Ål, Norway. He studied at t ...

moved it to the genus '' Gynaephora'', where it was eventually placed in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Dasorgyia'', with as

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''G. pumila'', by Douglas C. Ferguson in 1978, and Karel Spitzer in 1984. ''G. pumila'' was moved to '' Dicallomera pumila'' in 2008 by Tatyana A. Trofimova, who was then obliged to look into the other species in the subgenus ''Dasorgyia'', and ended up moving all three to '' Lachana''. A DNA study published by Vladimir A. Lukhtanov and Olga Khruleva in 2015 found the species '' Gynaephora aureata'', ''G. jiuzhiensis'', ''G. menyuanensis'', ''G. minora'', ''G. qinghaiensis'', ''G. qumalaiensis'' and ''G. ruoergensis'' all to be closer related to ''Lachana alpherakii'' than to any of the other species of '' Gynaephora''. In 1984 Spitzer had suggested ''G. qinghaiensis'' was a synonym or a subspecies of ''G. alpherakii'', although he did not formally move the taxon. Trofimova also suggested in 2008 that ''G. qinghaiensis'', ''G. aureata'', ''G. ruoergensis'' and ''G. minora'', all described from China by Chou and Ying in 1979, are possibly synonyms of ''Lachana alpherakii'', although not having been able to study the type specimens, she was unable to say anything further.

Distribution

The species has been collected numerous times around the lake of Koko Nor. In China it is known from the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

, of

(near a place rendered as "Jecundo") and further from west to east, neighbouring

(including Koko Nur,

Tianjun County Tianjun County is a county of Qinghai Province Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest provinc ...

), and

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

(including

Ganzhou District Ganzhou District, formerly the separate city of Ganzhou or Kanchow, is a district in and the seat of the prefecture-level city of Zhangye in Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the north and northeast. Ga ...

, near

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

and the

Xining Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and wa ...

Mountains bordering Qinghai). There is also a doubtful record from much further west, in the

Pamirs The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world' ...

Ecology

It is known from mountains at extremely high altitudes, having been collected or observed at elevations of 3000-4500m. The larvae feed on ''

Elaeagnus angustifolia ''Elaeagnus angustifolia'', commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster, or wild olive, is a species of ''Elaeagnus'', native to western and central Asia, Iran, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey, parts of Pakistan and parts of ...

''. It is the primary

host species In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include a ...

for the

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

is the eulophid wasp '' Sympiesis qinghaiensis'' of the subfamily

Eulophinae Eulophinae is a subfamily of wasps in the family Eulophidae which includes over 90 genera. Genera The genera included in Eulophinae are: *'' Alibertia'' Risbec, 1951 *'' Alophomorphella'' Girault, 1913 *'' Alophomyia'' Ashmead, 1904 *'' Al ...

References

Moths described in 1891 Lymantriinae {{Lymantriidae-stub