Protorhoe drechseli nebuloides Khudhur & Hausmann, 2024

Khudhur, Farhad A. & Hausmann, Axel, 2024, New geometrid moths from Iraqi Kurdistan (Lepidoptera, Geometridae: Sterrhinae, Larentiinae), Zootaxa 5543 (3), pp. 423-432 : 427-430

Protorhoe drechseli nebuloides Khudhur & Hausmann , ssp. nov.

Fig. 7

Type locality and repository: Iraq, Kurdistan, Sulaymaniyah, Zoologische Staatssammlung München ( ZSM).

Type material: Holotype: Male, Iraq, Kurdistan Region, Sulaymaniyah, Dukan , Zewe vill. , Piramagroon Mt. , #3e; 35°46‘49“N 45°22‘28“E, 9.IV.2023, leg. Farhad A. Khudhur, (genitalia slide nr. ZSM G 22571 , Barcode sample ID: BC_ZSM_Lep_118589) . Paratype: 1 male, same data as holotype ( ZSM) .

Description: Adult, male (Fig. 7): Wingspan 25–25.5 mm. Ground colour of wings sand-coloured, hindwing slightly paler than forewing. Forewing with basal area, medial and postmedial fascia brown, thinly bordered blackish at both sides. suffused by a few brownish scales. Forewing costa with five brown spots. Both wings with diffuse, brown postmedial fasciae. Postmedial fascia slightly zigzagging. Areas between fascia and terminal area much paler, unicolorous, just the terminal area with a vague, paler, zigzagging subterminal line. Forewing discal spot absent. Hindwing almost without any pattern. Frenulum developed as a single stout bristle. Frons slightly convex, brown, with a few beige scales. Proboscis well developed. Palpi bushy, grey-brown, length 0.55 mm, i.e. 0.9 times diameter of eye. Antennae very shortly ciliate-setose, setae ca 1/4 width of flagellum. Hindtibia narrow, with four spurs.

Female unknown.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 10 ): Uncus long and narrow, sub-apically dilated. Juxta with two short posterior projections. Valva comparatively broad, costa sclerotized, apically tapered. Length of aedeagus 1.05 mm, without cornutus, vesica granulose at tip.

Differential diagnosis: In wing coloration and pattern similar to that of the nominotypical subspecies, but with paler ground colour and less dark suffusion. Clearly differing from Iranian P. tangaba ( Wiltshire, 1952) , ground colour of the latter much darker, forewing discal spots better marked, terminal area and the area between basal and medial fascia with many dark scales. In male genitalia similar to those of nominotypical P. drechseli , but valva broader, costa of valva much more tapered at tip.

Genetic data ( Fig. 3 ): BIN: BOLD:AAF1595. New DNA barcode for BOLD (sample ID: BC_ZSM_Lep_ 118589), diverging by 2.50% from the nominotypical populations of Turkish P. drechseli ( Rajaei, Stadie & Hausmann 2017) with BIN: BOLD:AAF1588; diverging by 4.12% from the Iranian P. tangaba ( Wiltshire, 1952) with BIN: BOLD:AAF1594.

Distribution: Not listed in Wiltshire (1957), new for Iraq. One barcoded specimen from adjacent province in Iran diverging by 0.61% (see Fig. 3 ) and well corresponding in external appearance. The Iranian specimen was misidentified (tentative, preliminary identification) as “ P. turkmenaria ” in Rajaei et al. (2017: Fig. 41).

Etymology: The name alludes to the external similarity with the larentiine genus Nebula .

Figures

FIGURE 3. MaximumLikelihood Tree generated from COI barcode sequences for allied representatives of the genus Protorhoe; sequence lengths considered from 500bp to 658bp; 50 bootstrap replications, Tamura-Nei model, uniform rates, built with MEGA11 software (Tamura et al. 2013; scale bar = 1 %); original data see https://dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-GEOMIRAQ.

FIGURES 8–10. Male genitalia: Fig. 8: Idaea medianocturna walaila ssp. nov., holotype. Fig. 9: Lulavia mahwii sp. nov., holotype. Fig. 10: Protorhoe drechseli nebuloides ssp. nov., holotype. Scale bar = 1 mm.