Charissa (Cnestrognophos) peloponnesiaria, Erlacher & Erlacher, 2017

Erlacher, Sven & Erlacher, Josepha, 2017, A new species of Charissa Curtis, 1826 from Europe (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), Zootaxa 4341 (1), pp. 89-96 : 89-95

Charissa (Cnestrognophos) peloponnesiaria spec. nov.

(adults Pl. 1, Figs 2a, 2b ; male gen. Pl. 2, Fig. 2c ; female gen. Pl. 2, Fig. 2d )

Locus typicus: Greece, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains , NE Kosmas, 850 m. Deposition of holotype: MNC. Material examined. Type material . Holotype ♂ (Pl. 1, Fig. 2a ; Pl. 2, Fig. 2c ): ‘ Greece – Peloponnes | Parnon-

Gebirge | n/e Kosmas [37°07’58.56’’N / 22°45’41.54’’E], 850 [m] üNN | 11.09.2004 a[m]. L[icht]. | E[gbert]. Friedrich’,

‘SE– 721 ♂ | gen. prep. | Erlacher, 2004’, ‘SE–MNC–Lep–00627’ [ BIN BOLD:ADF5648], <red label> ‘ HOLOTYPE ♂

| Charissa (Cnestrognophos) | peloponnesiaria | Erlacher, S. & J. Erlacher, 2017 ’, MNC.—Paratypes 4♂, 1♀: Greece:

1♂, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains , NE Kosmas, 37°07’58.56’’N / 22°45’41.54’’E, 850 m, 11.ix.2004, lux, leg. E.

Friedrich, gen. prep. SE–740, FEJ. 1♂, Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, above Kalavrita , 2200 m, 04.ix.1983, leg. M. Fibiger & A. Moberg, gen. prep. Sircoulomb –3066, SGA . 1♂, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains, Paleochori , 800 m, 21.–24.iv.1981, leg. F. Schepler, gen. prep. Viidalepp –73/99, barcode sample ID SE–MNC– Lep –00898, BIN BOLD: ADF5648 ; 1♀ (Pl. 1, Fig. 2b ; Pl. 2, Fig. 2d ), Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, Aroania Ori, 1500 m, 20.ix.1991, leg. F. Schepler, gen. prep. Viidalepp –54, barcode sample ID SE–MNC– Lep –00899, BIN BOLD: ADF5648 , ZMUC. 1♂, Cephalonia, Mount Aenos , 1100 m, 26.viii.1996, leg. A. Segerer, gen. prep. SE–723, barcode sample ID SE–MNC– Lep –00897, BIN BOLD: AAD5324 , ZSM.— Further material (a single specimen with deformed genitalia): Greece: 1♂, Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains , SE Kalavrita, Plateau of Xerokambos, 38°01’04.89’’N / 22°12’11.23’’E, 1600 m, 15.ix.2004, lux, leg. E. Friedrich, gen. prep. SE–722, barcode sample ID SE–MNC– Lep – 0 0 626, BIN BOLD: ADF5648 , FEJ .

Description. Adults (Pl. 1, Figs 2a, 2b ). Wings. Wingspan: 21–30 mm (♂), 27 mm (♀); ground coloration ranging from whitish to ocher, scattered with darker scales; wing pattern with medial lines and discal spot sometimes distinct and shaded in orange; underside pale and dull. Male genitalia (Pl. 2, Fig. 2c ). Uncus beak-shaped, abruptly narrowing towards distal end, blunt; gnathos slender, distally rounded; juxta deeply divided up to the base, juxta arms slender and pointed, skewer-shaped; costa well sclerotized and curved, distal third covered with long setae, medially with short and stout thumb-shaped process bearing a single strong thorn; valva with well sclerotized ventral margin and a short and strong thorn-shaped valva process; harpe shaped as a sclerotized prickly crest with rounded proximal and cusp-shaped distal protrusion; saccus short and small, bent backwards. Aedeagus tubular, without cornutus. Female genitalia (Pl. 2, Fig. 2d ). Antrum inconspicuous, small; corpus bursae with a posterior longitudinal folded sclerotization of 0.77 mm in length and a hyaline anterior part with a half-rounded brain-like appendix bursae.

Diagnosis. Adults of C. peloponnesiaria closely resemble those of C. mutilata , but are slightly paler and less deeply colored. Adults of C. pentheri are larger (wingspan: 31 mm) and their wings always lack the occasionally occurring orange shading of the two other species. In the male genitalia, the new species is particularly recognizable by the shape of the harpe: unlike in the two other species of the mutilata -group, the harpe of C. peloponnesiaria is formed as a prickly crest with a rounded proximal and a short cuspidate distal protrusion, while in C. mutilata both protrusions of the harpe are longer and cuspidate (see Fig. 2 ). In C. pentheri the harpe is more evenly shaped without any protrusions, but this species is prima facie also distinguishable from C. peloponnesiaria by the thin costal thorns. In the female genitalia, the PLATE 1. Adults of the Charissa mutilata -group. 1— C. mutilata : 1a—♂ (NE Turkey, Prov. Trabzon, Dogu Karadeniz Mts., 7 km SE Ovitdagi Gecidi, 2000 m, ♀: 30.v.2000, e.o., leg. J. Gelbrecht, gen. prep. DNATAX–2322/Erlacher, GJK), 1b—♀ (NE Turkey, Prov. Ispir, Dogu Karadeniz Mts., Mount Korga, Köprüköy, 28.vii.2001, leg. J. Gelbrecht, gen. prep. DNATAX–2320/Erlacher, barcode sample ID SE–MNC–Lep–00152, GJK); 2— C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov.: 2a—holotype ♂ (see examined material), 2b—paratype ♀ (see examined material); 3— C. pentheri : 3a—♂ (Macedonia, Ochrid–Petrina, 07.–16.vi.1939, leg. B. Wolfschläger, ZSM), 3b—♀ (Macedonia, Ochrid–Petrina, 06.vi.1935, leg. B. Wolfschläger, ZSM). Undersides of specimens are denoted by ‘*’. Scale bar: 10 mm.

discrimination between C. pentheri and C. peloponnesiaria is also more obvious than between C. mutilata and C. peloponnesiaria : C. pentheri has clasp-like sclerotized lateral vaginal plates in contrast to C. mutilata and C. peloponnesiaria where the lateral vaginal plates are flatter, the antrum is larger and rounded and furthermore the appendix bursae is situated at the left side of the corpus bursae (Pl. 2, Fig. 3d). The female genitalia of C. mutilata and C. peloponnesiaria are much more similar: in both species the antrum is very small and the appendix bursae is situated at the right side of the corpus bursae. However, in C. peloponnesiaria the folded longitudinal sclerotization of the corpus bursae is distinctly shorter (length of the folded longitudinal sclerotization in C. peloponnesiaria : 0.77 mm; length of the folded longitudinal sclerotization in C. mutilata : 0.83–1.16 mm).

Distribution ( Fig. 3). Until now C. peloponnesiaria is known from the North and South-East of the Peloponnesus and from the western Greek Island of Cephalonia. The species occurs at an altitude range from 800 up to 2200 m.

Biology. On the basis of the present data the new species occurs in two generations at the end of April and from the end of August to the end of September. The adults have been found in open dry hills and calcareous rock habitats ( Fig. 4 ).

DNA Barcoding. Based on available molecular data the nearest species to C. peloponnesiaria are both, C. mutilata and C. pentheri , each with a COI distance to C. peloponnesiaria of 4.6% (see also Tab. 1 and Fig. 5 ). However, the morphology of male and female genitalia indicates a close relationship between C. peloponnesiaria and C. mutilata . While the distance between C. peloponnesiaria and either C. mutilata or C. pentheri is quite large, the distance between C. mutilata and C. pentheri is much smaller (3 percent). This suggests that C. peloponnesiaria may have diverged further from C. mutilata and C. pentheri than either has from each other, and thus supports the description of the new species.

Etymology. The new species is named after the Peloponnesus, the peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece where most of the specimens of the new species have been found.

PLATE 2. Genitalia of the Charissa mutilata -group. 1— C. mutilata : 1c— ♂ (same data as 1a), 1d— ♀ (same data as 1b); 2— C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov.: 2c—holotype ♂ (same data as 2a), 2d—paratype ♀ (same data as 2b); 3— C. pentheri : 3c— ♂ (same data as 3a), 3d— ♀ (same data as 3b). Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Details of valva with arrows pointing at diagnostic characters. A, B — C. mutilata; C, D — C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov.

FIGURE 4. Habitat of Charissa peloponnesiaria spec. nov. A — Greece, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains, NE Kosmas, 850 m; B — Greece, Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, SE Kalavrita, Plateau of Xerokambos, 1600 m.

FIGURE 5. Neighbor joining tree for all species of the Charissa mutilata - group on the basis of DNA barcoding (pairwise distances model for COI- 5 P marker) with Gnophos furvata ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) as outgroup. Terminal branches provided with species name, barcode sample ID, barcode length (bp), origin, and BIN number from BOLD.