Valeria wassalberti, Gyulai, 2019

Gyulai, Péter, 2019, A new species of Valeria Stephens, 1829 (Lepidoptera, Psaphidinae) from Iran, Zootaxa 4695 (4), pp. 394-396 : 394-396

Valeria wassalberti sp. n. ( Figs 1 , 3 )

Holotype. Female ( Fig. 1 ), Iran, Hormozgan prov., Ahmadi village , 80 km N. of Bandar Abbas, 20. III. 2017, leg. S. Azadbakhsh; slide no. GYP5057f (coll. Péter Gyulai, Miskolc, Hungary), later to be deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest, Hungary).

Diagnosis. Valeria wassalberti sp. n. ( Fig. 1 ) is a medium sized species, similar only to the Valeria carducha ( Wiltshire, 1957) ( Fig. 2 ; the holotype (male) and paratypes are figured by Ronkay, Ronkay & Gyulai (2011)), from which it is distinguished by the size and some of the external and genitalia features. The distinctive external key features are as follows: the new species is significantly smaller than V. carducha (27 mm, versus 32–38 mm, no significant difference between the males and females of V. carducha ); the ground colour of vesture of head and thorax and forewings is light greyish, versus light brownish and somewhat darker, with much stronger, darker medial fascia and postmedial line in V. carducha . Hindwings of V. wassalberti sp. n. are also greyish, unicolorous, while more variegated, whitish with brown suffusion in the V. carducha , particularly on the main veins and in the margin. Cilia lighter, whitish, the discal spot in the hindwings is more conspicuous in the new species.

In the female genitalia, the differences between V. wassalberti sp. n. ( Fig. 3 ) and V. carducha ( Figs 4, 5 ; one from SE Iran and one from NE Iran), are found in the shape, size and sclerotization of the antrum–ostium complex, ductus bursae and appendix bursae. The new species has calycular, less sclerotized antrum–ostium complex with V–shaped medial incision of the dorsal plate of ostium, while those are more sclerotized, broader with more or less broadly U–shaped ostium plate in carducha . In V. wassalberti , the ductus bursae is much narrower (particularly its posterior part tube–like and not sclerotized); whereas it is much broader, anterior section is more sclerotized, wrinkled, posterior section evenly dilated but shorter in the carducha ; in the new species, the appendix bursae is larger and more prominent. The correct separation of V. wassalberti sp. n. and Valeria carducha is supported by the allopatric distribution of the two species; the new species is known only from the southernmost Iran, not very far from the Persian Gulf, whereas the Valeria carducha is not so local, occurs both in Iraq (eastern parts) and Iran (from the NW and SW to the NE of Iran).

Description ( Fig. 1 ). Wingspan 27 mm. Eyes are semiglobular, black; palpi small, pale, with slight greyish suffusion, antennae filiform. Vesture of body and ground colour of the wings and the cilia is light greyish; more variegated suffused in the middle area and in the apex of forewings, but unicolorous in the hindwings. The most remarkable further external features of the new species are the rounded forewing apex, the typical, however obscure orbicular– reniform– and claviform stigmata, the dark definition of the spot between the orbicular and reniform stigmata, wavy antemedial lines, arched–crenate postmedial lines with fine white shade; conjectural, whitish subterminal lines, diffuse medial fascia and the hindwings with conspicuously defined discal spot. Underside of wings is whitish without wing pattern; only with the fine blackish shade of the discal spot.

The female genitalia ( Figs 3 ) can be characterized by the setosed papillae anales; medium long, fine apophyses anteriores and much longer apophyses posteriores; calycular, partly sclerotized antrum–ostium complex with V–shaped medial incision of the dorsal plate of ostium; tubular, narrow ductus bursae, of which the anterior section is more sclerotized, somewhat wrinkled, while posterior section is membranous, laterally positioned, fused with the terminal part of corpus bursae; prominent, semiglobular, apically strongly sclerotized appendix bursae with the presence of a strong oval sclerotization and large, elongate, elliptical–ovoid corpus bursae, without signa.

Male is unknown.

Distribution. Only the holotype is known, which was found in the southernmost Iran, not very far from the Persian Gulf, in the early spring.

Etymology. The new species is named after Albert Wass (1908–1998), well–known Hungarian writer, died in the emigration in the USA. Most of his historical novels deal with the tragic fate of the Szekely nation in Transylvania.

Figures

FIGURES 1–2. Adults. 1. Valeria wassalberti sp. n., holotype, Iran, prov. Hormozgan, 80 km N. of Bandar Abbas, slide GYP 5057 (coll. P. Gyulai); 2. Valeria carducha (Wiltshire, 1957), Iran, prov. Kermanshah, Zagros, slide GYP 5059 (coll. P. Gyulai).

FIGURES 3–5. Female genitalia. 3. Valeria wassalberti sp. n., holotype, Iran, prov. Hormozgan, 80 km N. of Bandar Abbas, slide GYP 5057 (coll. P. Gyulai); 4. Valeria carducha (Wiltshire, 1957), Iran, prov. Kermanshah, Zagros, slide GYP 5059 (coll. P. Gyulai); 5. Valeria carducha (Wiltshire, 1957), Iran, prov. Khorassan, Kopeth Dagh, slide GYP 5058 (coll. P. Gyulai).