The Witt Catalogue - Xylenienae 1. Vol. 9 - Laszlo Ronkay, Gabor Ronkay, Peter Gyulai, Zoltan Varga

Budapest, Heterocera press, 2017, 342 p., col.photos, 28.8 x 21.2 cm, ISBN 978-615-5279-06-5, hard cover, excellent condition

Preface

With this volume we wish to open a new field in the treatment of the Noctuidae sensu stricto, the subfamily Xyleninae, supposedly the taxonomically most diverse subfamily of Noctuidae. The first large clade of the tribe Xylenini we started the revisional work with is the Agrochola-Telorta-Hyalobole gener ic complex. This work has been started still at beginning of the eighties of the last century and continued with the revisions of the Balkanic, western Asiatic and, finally, with the Himalayan-Sino-Pacific taxa of this giant lineage.

The interpretation of Agrochola sensu lato has been changed in several time and the first splitting of the western Palaearctic groups is dated, similarly to our work, to the beginning of 80'es. Subsequently, the lumping tendencies dominated in the supraspecific grouping of the clade and only a few genera have been distinguished though the large Agrochola complex was divided into numerous subgenera. The complete revision of this taxonomic entity revealed the need to separate Agrochola s. str. from practically all other major groups put into this large sac and the detailed study of the Central and Eastern Asiatic “Agrochola” led to the description of a number of new genera and subgenera for the more ancient, mainly Himalayan-Pacific lineages.

It is worth mentioning that there are certain additional lineages which would belong to this major clade rather than to the conistroid genera (e.g. Cirrhia, Spudaea, Jodia, Evisa etc.) which are omitted from this volume, mainly due to the large size of the present item; these groups will be discussed in a forthcoming volume of the series. Thus, the Agrochola-Telorta-Hyalobole generic complex is treated in this volume in 16 genera, with the description of 6 new genera, 10 new subgenera, 2 new species and 3 new subspecies. The genitalia of both sexes of each taxa are illustrated and their phylogenetic and bioge-ographical connections are also discussed. Since these genera and their species/subspecies demonstrate a rich variety of colourful vs. unicolorous appearance with considerable geographical and individual variation, it was necessary to figure a larger number of specimens of most taxa, including valuable type materials from several large European collections, due to the friendly courtesy of our colleagues.

Similarly to the earlier volumes of this series, this volume is also based on a large number of genital slides, almost exclusively prepared by the authors. The technique of photographic reproduction was also continuously improved, mostly by long experience of Gabor Ronkay and also by the kind helpfulness of our friends in the Natural History Museum Vienna, The Natural History Museum London, the Zoological State Collection Munich and State Collection of Natural History Karlsruhe.

The authors would like to expect that this book will be a worthy continuation of the Taxonomic Atlas series and hope that our work will meet the approval both of professional entomologists and of enthusiasts of this fascinating group of moths.

Budapest, Miskolc and Debrecen, February, 2017