Rhodostrophia

Sh, Hossein Rajaei & Trusch, Robert, 2011, Redescription of Rhodostrophia leni s Wiltshire 1966 and R. vartianae Wiltshire, 1966, with new distributional data (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Sterrhinae), Zootaxa 2935, pp. 59-63 : 60-63

Rhodostrophia . vartianae : Wiltshire, 1966

(p. 134, figs. 42, 44)

Material examined. Holotype 3 (examined), ‘Afghan[istan] centr. O v. | Bend-i-Amir, 3600m | 29.VII.1963 | Kasy & Vartian leg.’, ‘ Rhodostrophia | vartianae Wiltsh | Holotype 3’[abdomen missing, no preparation lable]. P a r a t y p e s (3 3examined): 1 3, same data, ‘Paratypoid Rhodostrophia vartianae Wiltshire 3’, ‘ Paratype | Rhodostrophia vartianae Wiltshire | det. H. R., 2009’, ‘prep. |1533/2011 | H. R.’; 2 3, same locality but different altitude and date as label: ‘ 3000m, 30.VII.1963 ’, ‘ Paratype | Rhodostrophia vartianae Wiltshire | det. H. R., 2009’; all in NHMW.

Redescription (figs. 1–6). Female unknown. Wingspan: 3 34–36 mm. Antenna of male quadripectinate. Head (apex) white, frons slightly protruding about one-fourth of the eye diameter, light brown in colour. Palpi short, not reaching the clypeus. Thorax dark grey, abdomen light brown. Colour of wings brown-ochre. Post-median grey spot of forewing hardly visible in some specimens. The underside is slightly brighter than the upperside. Hump form projections of sternite A-8 well developed (fig. 15).

Male genitalia (figs. 16–18). Valva flat, ventral part curved interiorly, dorsal part plicated. Uncus elongated, cleft at the tip. Juxta oval. Saccus short, rounded. Aedeagus long (1.5 mm) and arched, multiple small subapical granules present.

Biology and distribution (Map 1). The larval stages and the biology are unknown. R. vartianae has been collected from high altitudes in central Afghanistan (Band-i Amir, 3000–3600m, Kasy & Vartian).

MAP 1. Distribution of Rhodostrophia lenis and R. vartianae .

We thank Sabine Gaal-Haszler (Wien) for sending type materials from NHMW, and Helen Alipanah (Tehran) for loan of material from HMIM. Wolfgang ten Hagen (Mömlingen, Germany) and Christian Wieser (Pischeldorf, Austria) provided us with material, data and photos. Jaan Viidalepp (Tartu), Dieter Stüning (Bonn), and Axel Hausmann (Munich) offered valuable comments on the manuscript, and Thomas Swinehart (Bonn) proofread the manuscript. The senior author thanks J. W. Wägele (ZFMK, Bonn) and DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) for financial support, which is part of a doctoral dissertation project at the University of Bonn, Germany.