Hyloicus brunnescens (Mell, 1922)

Proposed as a subspecies of Sphinx caligineus. Synonymized with the nominotypical subspecies by Clark, 1928, Proc. New Engl. zool. Club 10: 38. Reinstated as a subspecies by Gehlen, 1932, in Seitz (ed.), Gross-Schmett. Erde 2 (suppl.): 140. Kernbach, 1969, Dt. ent. Z. (N.F.) 16: 108, concurred with the latter conclusion. Transferred to Hyloicus by Danner, Eitschberger & Surholt, 1998, Herbipoliana 4(1): 58. Transferred back to Sphinx by Kitching & Cadiou, 2000, Hawkmoths of the world: 67. Raised to species status by Zolotuhin & Yevdoshenko, 2019, Hawkmoths of Russia and adjacent territories: 123, 438. Mell (1922: 113) (STI 19174) described as Sphinx caligineus brunnescens specimens of “Sphinx caligineus” from “south China” that were smaller than those from Central China and Japan and had a tendency to be brown rather than grey. He gave the type locality as “Bergwälder im Norden der Provinz Yünnan” [Mountain forests in northern Yunnan province]. Shortly after, in his book, Beiträge zur Fauna sinica. Biologie und Systematik der südchinesischen Sphingiden (Mell, 1922; STI 19175), Mell also attributed specimens collected and/or reared from the mountains of northern Guangdong and southern Hunan provinces to this subspecies. That Mell considered moths from Yunnan and Guangdong/Hunan to belong to the same subspecies is evidenced by his inclusion on p. 56 in the section “Ruhesitz” [Resting place] of “Ein Freilandtier saẞ auf einem trockenen Wege am Bergfuẞe (♀, Yünnan)” [A specimen observed in the wild sitting on a dry path at the foot of the mountain (♀, Yunnan)]. This female may be interpretable as a syntype but its present whereabouts are unknown. In the main text (Mell, 1922: 52-57; STI 19175), Mell made no reference to any specimen being a type of any kind, although in the legend to plate XXII, figure 2, he did cite a specimen as “♀, 6. VI., Dw [“Ding wu shan”, Guangdong] (Paratype)”. However, the original description restricted the type locality to northern Yunnan and so the Guangdong and Hunan specimens must be regarded as subsequent additional material with no type status. Nevertheless, they have often been incorrectly considered to be, and sometimes even labelled as syntypes by subsequent authors. Danner, Eitschberger & Surholt (1998: 58) (STI 17413) even went so far as to give the type-locality as “Bergwälder im Norden der Provinz Kuangtung“ [Mountain forests in northern Guangdong province], but the reason for this was not stated and is unclear. Zolotuhin & Yevdoshenko (2019: 122-123, 438; STI 22079) arrived at a different conclusion. They correctly stated that Mell had given “quite correct data for the type locality in the original description” (i.e., northern Yunnan) but then to rationalise the apparently contradictory data on the supposed types from Guangdong and Hunan conjectured that “supposedly, Mell wrongly labelled his type series”. That maybe stretching things somewhat, requiring Mell to have mislabelled all his specimens of Sphinx caligineus brunnescens (and then apparently only this taxon), and the assertion is rejected here. It is much simpler to accept that Mell had a broader concept of Sphinx caligineus brunnescens that originally included only specimens from Yunnan but was then later expanded to include those from Guangdong and Hunan. It is only recently that DNA barcode analysis and study of male genital morphology has shown that the Yunnan and SE Chinese populations represent different species. The former is now to be referred to as Hyloicus brunnescens, and with Sphinx yunnana as a junior synonym as correctly established by Zolotuhin & Yevdoshenko (2019; STI 22079) based on DNA barcode analysis of both greyish and brownish specimens and study of male genital morphology, and this taxonomy is accepted here. DNA barcode analysis also demonstrates that samples of “Hyloicus caligineus” from southeast China (Fujian and the Hunan/Hubei border; specimens from Guangdong remain unsequenced) form a single BIN (BOLD:ACF5653) with samples from Laos and Vietnam and so can be assigned to Hyloicus centrovietnama.