Meharia turatii Yakovlev, 2019

Yakovlev, R. V., 2019, Meharia turatii - new species of Carpenter Moth (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) from Libya, Russian Entomological Journal 28 (1), pp. 84-85 : 84-85

Meharia turatii Yakovlev , sp.n.

Figs 1–4 .

MATERIAL. Holotype, ♂, Libya, NE Fezzan, Zella [28° 322563 N 17° 332043E], 20.08– 30.10.1995, leg. Stummer; Genital slide MSM 2018 /1 Coss (coll. M. Ströhle, Weiden, Germany).

DESCRIPTION. Length of fore wing 11 mm. Antennae bipectinate, crest processes four times longer than antenna rod diameter. Thorax and abdomen densely covered with pale yellow scales. Fore wing wide, short, white with bright wide brown transverse bands in the basal, postdiscal and submarginal areas. Single brown dots against the background of white fields. Band in postdiscal area framed in darker scales. Fringe pale brown. Hind wing dark brown, without pattern, fringe on hind wing two-color: brown basally and pale yellow on periphery.

Male genitalia. Uncus triangle, apex uncinately curved; gnathos arms thick, long, apically thicker; gnathos of medium size; valve lanceolately narrowing apically, edged smooth, long (almost equal to valve in length) poorly curved harpe along costal edge, costal edge of valve membranous; juxta cup-like, wide; saccus small, mammilliate, positioned backwards; phallus slightly longer than valve, thick, practically straight, with two small uncinate processes on lateral surfaces of phallus (apically).

Female unknown.

NAME. The new species is named after Count Emilio Turati (1858–1938), a prominent Italian lepidopterologist, who published numerous articles of the fauna of Libya.

DIAGNOSIS. The new species is mostly close to Meharia philbyi Bradley, 1952 (studied holotype and paratupe in Natural History Museum, London, genital slide Coss-67) distributed in the Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman [ Wiltshire, 1982, 1990; Hacker 1999; Hacker et al., 1999, 2001; Yakovlev, 2014]. It has the following characteristic features:

– the contrast pattern on the fore wing with white basic background and bright brown bands (in M. philbyi , the fore wing pattern is less contrast, the main background is cream, bands are light brown);

– the dark brown hind wing (in M. philbyi , the hind wing is pale brown);

– the two-color fringe on the hind wing, brown basally and pale yellow on the periphery (in M. philbyi , the fringe on the hind wing is unicolorous, pale yellow);

– the expressed apical narrowing of the valve (in M. philbyi , the valve is slightly narrowing apically);

– the membranous costal edge of the valve (in M. philbyi , the costal edge of the valve is sclerotized);

– the curved harpe (in M. philbyi , the harpe is straight);

– the practically straight phallus (in M. philbyi , the phallus is strongly curved in medium third);

– the phallus slightly longer than the valve (in M. philbyi , it is slightly shorter than the valve).

DISTRIBUTION. Known only from Fezzan Region ( Libya).

Acknowledgments. The author is grateful to Manfred and Lilya Ströhle ( Weiden ), Anna Ustjuzhanina (Tomsk, Russia) and Prof. Boris Kondratieff (Fort Collins, USA) for language improvements. I am indebted to the BMNH Council of Trustees for kindly granting me the permission to publish images of type specimens preserved in the Natural History Museum .

Figures

Figs 1–4. Meharia spp.: 1, 3 — M. turatii sp. n.; 2, 4 — M. philbyi; 1–2 — habitus; 3–4 — male genitalia; 1–3 — holotype; 4 — paratype. Рис. 1–4. Meharia spp.: Meharia spp.: 1, 3 — M. turatii sp. n.; 2, 4 — M. philbyi; 1–2 — внеШний вид; 3–4 — гениталии самца; 1– 3 — голотип; 4 — паратип.