''Lachana ladakensis'' is a species of
moth of the subfamily
Lymantriinae. It is found in the mountains of
Ladakh, in
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
in northwestern
India.
Taxonomy
It was described by
Frederic Moore
Frederic Moore FZS (13 May 1830 – 10 May 1907) was a British entomologist and illustrator. He produced six volumes of ''Lepidoptera Indica'' and a catalogue of the birds in the collection of the East India Company.
It has been said that Mo ...
in 1888 as the
first species of his new
monotypic genus ''
Lachana
''Lachana'' is a genus of moths in the subfamily Lymantriinae. The genus was described by Frederic Moore in 1888. It contains species native to alpine areas on high mountains in the south of the Central Asia. The females do not have wings and l ...
''.
The
holotype is the original specimen studied by Moore and it is kept at the
Natural History Museum in London. It remained the only species in ''Lachana'' until 2008, when Tatyana A. Trofimova moved three species from ''
Gynaephora
''Gynaephora'' is a genus of "tussock moths", also known as the Lymantriinae, within the family Erebidae. They are mainly found in the Holarctic in alpine, Arctic and Subarctic regions, and are best known for their unusually long larval developme ...
'' to the genus and described a new species.
Description
The
wingspan is about 24 mm.
[
]
Distribution
Besides the holotype, least four specimens of this species are known, all from three localities in the Ladakh area; one is undated, while the other three were collected in 1980. The only two collection localities published are the high mountain passes of Zoji La (at 4,200 m elevation) and Fotu La (3,700 m).[
]
References
Moths described in 1888
Lymantriinae
{{Lymantriidae-stub