Here I have attached to genitalia photograph of 2 Loepa sp.
Location: Naga Hills, Manipur, NE India.
Date of collection: July 2016
Dear Jatishwor,
maybe I can help, but I cannot determine this specimen.
It looks very similar to Loepa formosensis MELL 1938. This species is supposed to be distributed in Taiwan. But there are speculations, that it is also distributed in SE-Asia.
See: http://www.saturnia.de/publications/volltexte/saturniiden/Naessig(1994)vorl-Vietnam-Liste-Sat+Brahm-NEVA-15(3)-339-358.pdf
The Himalayan species is Loepa katinka WESTWOOD 1848.
I am sure, Wolfgang A. NÄSSIG can tell you more.
Hope, it helps you
Rudolf
Sorry, but I am experienced in most groups of the Palaearctic Noctuidae only
With my best wishes
Péter
Rudolf Ritt, I run the sequences of both the species and it came out to be 99.5 % close to L. katinka.
Like NÄSSIG describes, is the Genus Loepa not revised until now. I suppose, there will be some new species, if that will be done with the help of DNA-barcoding. The huge area and the geographical limitations let this seem very presumably. 99,5% conformity, however, is very close. Did you use COI 5'?
Dear Jatishwor:
Yes, It is Loepa katinka. The type locality of Loepa katinka is Assam, a state in northeastern India. Located south of the eastern Himalayas. Your specimen is from the Naga Hills a district of the Assam Province in northeastern India too.
According to Nässig & Treadaway (1988: 175) the accepted type species of Loepa, Saturnia katinka Westwood, appeared to be based on a misidentification, and later (Nässig & Treadaway 1998: 389) noted that the accepted authorship of the genus, as Moore, 1860 in Horsfield & Moore, “1858–1859“, was incorrect. Nässig & Treadaway (1998) corrected the latter to Moore, 1859 but reserved resolving the apparent type species misidentification until a thorough literature study had been conducted and, if necessary, the case had been prepared for submission to the ICZN.
http://www.soceurlep.eu/uploads/nota/bd30_1/16_N%E4ssig.pdf
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