Meharia Chretien , 1915

Borth, Robert, Ivinskis, Povilas, Saldaitis, Aidas & Yakovlev, Roman, 2011, Cossidae of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen), ZooKeys 122, pp. 45-69 : 47-48

Genus Meharia Chretien, 1915

Meharia Chrétien, 1915, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 84: 367. Type - species: Meharia incurvariella Chrétien, 1915.

Blalia Rungs, 1943; Rungs, [1943], 1942, Bull. Soc. Sc. Nat. Maroc. 22: 174. Type species - Blalia vittata Rungs, [1943]. [Synonymy]

Diagnosis.

Meharia is distinguished from all other Cossidae genus by a number of apomorphous characters: the specific "tineoid appearance", the reduction of the lateral processes of the juxta, the specific dorsolateral sclerotization of the asymmetric aedeagus and the specific ribbon - like epiphysis.

Description.

These are small to medium sized moths, females larger; eyes naked; male and female antennae bipectinate along their length; proboscis reduced; legs long, slender; foretibia bearing a ribbon-like epiphysis; forewing elongate, rounded on the outer margin; forewing pattern has alternate dark and pale spots and bands transversely; hindwing uniform.

Male genitalia. Simple; uncus unpaired, short, beak-shaped; tegumen massive; arms of gnathos short, slightly broadened distally, fused to form small gnathos; valvae short, broad, with no harpe and processes costally; juxta without lateral processes, simple; saccus protruding backwards, small; aedeagus rather long, slightly curved and asymmetical due to dorsoapical sclerotisation.

Female genitalia. Ovipositor lobes short, slightly acute apically, covered with relatively short, thick bristles, in the shape of triangular sclerites, with long and rather wide apophyses posteriores on the lower part, strongly widening oar-like in the cranial fourth and bearing a slender membranous-like border; tergite and sternite of the 8th segment fused to form a complete circle; sternite slightly swollen, membranous caudally; tergite strongly elongate, bearing a pair of apophyses anteriores, widening oar-like cranially, approximately as long as ½ the length of apophyses posteriores; opening of ostium strongly protruding cranially, located on membrane between the 7th and 8th segments; ostium membranous, with poorly sclerotized lateral bands; antrum membranous, tube-shaped, 1½ times longer than the 8th tergite, narrowing sharply, separate form membranous ductus bursae; corpus bursae membranous, saccular, without signa.

Remarks.

Eleven species of Meharia have been reported so far ( Yakovlev and Saldaitis 2008), primarily from the deserts and arid mountains of the Western Palearctic and Africa.