Yanga argyrea Sanborn 2021, rev. stat.

Yanga argyrea (Melichar, 1896)rev. stat.

Platypleura argyrea Melichar 1896: 198. (Madagascar)

Remarks.— Distant (1906) revised the status of the species to a variety (currently a subspecies under the latest edition of the Code (ICZN 1999)) without comment in his synonymic catalogue. This may have been based on the fact that Y. angyrea rev. stat. and Y. pulverea (Distant, 1882) are the only known species of the genus to have hyaline hind wings. Melichar (1896) describes the species as having silver-gray marking on the fore wing and rounded male opercula while Y. pulverea lacks the silver-gray marking on the fore wing, and has obliquely rounded lateral male opercula. In addition, Melichar (1896) listed the taxon as having a wingspan of 95 mm compared to the 105 mm listed by Distant (1882) for his species. Sanborn (2020) addressed a similar issue when Pycna angusta (Butler, 1882) was returned to species rank. Based on the size difference and the differences in the descriptions of the opercula the subspecies is returned to species status here to become Yanga argyrea (Melichar, 1896) rev. stat.

Yanga argyrea rev. stat. can be distinguished from all but Y. pulverea by the hyaline hind wings. The silvergray marking on the fore wing, the rounded male opercula and smaller wingspan (95 mm) of Y. argyrea rev. stat. distinguish it from Y. pulverea.

Distribution.—The species is only known from Madagascar (Metcalf 1963a).