Amicta murina
Creators: name: Arnscheid, Wilfried R.
name: Rajaei, Hossein
name: Sobczyk, Thomas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Psychidae
Amicta
Amicta murina

description: Amicta murina (Klug, 1830)
Figs 2, 3, 18, 19
Gastropacha murina Klug, 1830, in: Hempich & Ehrenberg [1829–1845]. Symbolae physicae seu Icones et descriptiones corporum naturalium novorum aut minus cognitorum quae ex itineribus per Libyam Aegyptum Nubiam Dongalam Syriam Arabiam et Habessiniam 3. Pars zoologica II, Insecta: 176 unpaginierte Seiten, pl. I-L. pl. 20, fig. 7.
Type locality: Egypt (“Dscheil el achterie prope Alexandriam”). Holotype ♂ in MfN (examined).
Amicta syrtana Krüger, 1939 comb. nov. et syn. nov. of A. murina Krüger 1939: 329: 1 ♂. ex larva at 03.xi 1938. Wadi Mimun. Here we combine this taxa from synonym of A. maliarda to synonym or A. murina (see the discussion part).
Material examined: 1 ♂, Israel, Negev-Wüste, 8 km S Sede Boger, Umg. En Avedat, Nahal (Wadi) Zin, 500 m, 28.xi.94, leg. de Freina; 1 ♂, Israel, Westufer des Toten Meeres, En Gedi, 400 m, 25.xi.94, leg. de Freina; 3 ♂, Marokko, Anti-Atlas, Col de Kerdous, SE Seite, 1150 m, 5.xi.1990, leg. de Freina; 1 ♂, Marokko, Qued Tamsift-Tal, 15 km WSW Agdz, 1100 m, 13.xi.1990, leg. de Freina; 1 ♂, Süd-Marokko, Vorsahara-Region, 37 km SE Bouizkarn, Oase Taghjicht, 550 m, 10.xi.1990, leg. de Freina (MWM); 1 ♂, Tunisia mer. Prov. Gabes, Jebel Dahar, N33°32’, E09°59’, 3 km östlich Matamata, 450 m, LF, 19.x.2009, leg. Lehmann; 1 ♂, Tunesien, 160 m, Metameur, N33°22’57”, E10°22’22”, 24.x.2000, leg. H. Fischer. 3 larval cases Süd-Tunesien, 5 km w Metameur, 160 m, 33°21’N, 10°24’E, ca 15 km w Medenine, 11.iv.2001, leg. Hoppe & Fischer; 1 ♂, Tunesien, prov. Kasserine, 5 km S Chambi NP, 04.x. 2005, 810 m, N35°8’50.5”, E8°43’0.92”, leg. B. Schacht; 1 ♂, Tunesien, mer. Occ. Prov. Jerid, 2 km SW Tamerza (Tamaghza), ca. 300 m, N34°24’, E07°55’, LF-Fallen, 22.x.2009, leg. L. Lehmann, 5 larval cases, Tunesien NO, 10 km N Ben Gardene, 28.v.2000, leg. F. Rämisch.
Diagnosis. Male wingspan 23–29 mm (holotype: 27.5mm), forewing length 11–14 mm, width 5–6 mm, FI 2.3 mm. Forewings stretched, slender, costal margin slightly concave to nearly straight, apex slightly pointed. All wings yellowish grey, thinly scaled with hair-like scales (class 1, after Sauter & Hättenschwiler 1999), more densely scaled along the costal margin. Fringes lighter grey, long, with 3–5 dentations. Thorax and abdomen densely covered with long brown hair. EI 0.58 (holotype: about 0.66). Antennae length 6–7 mm, 33–42 segments (HT: 42–45), pedicellus and scapus absent. The pecten longest within the genus (1.5 mm); the longest pecten 10 times longer than segment’s diameter.
Male genitalia. Elongate in general appearance, tegumen more or less tapered, laterally and distally slightly folded, covered with short hairs. Valvae long, extending far beyond the distal end of tegumen, apically round, covered with short setae. Clasper of sacculus elongate, slender, distally narrower and covered apically with short spines. Anellus short, pointed. Vinculum broad, nearly rectangular. Saccus long, stretched and distinctly pointed. The male genitalia show considerable individual variability. Phallus same length as or longer than genitalia, straight or slightly bent, with distinct roundish enlargement caudally, vesica covered with short cornuti.
Larval case. Length 25–40 mm, width 8–10 mm, yellowish brown, distinctly four-edged, covered transversely with various plant debris, especially grass twigs.
Distribution. Due to the lack of a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the genus Amicta, and lack of clear external diagnostic characters, A. murina regarded as trash bin in the past and often single specimen of Amicta from Near or Middle East have been assorted by several authors to this species. Therefore, here we have to treating those older records from literature with uncertainty. Under consideration of the examined material listed above, A. murina is distributed as follows: Morocco from the High Atlas southwards to the northern border of the Sahara desert and Israel. Based on the literature, it is also known from Egypt (Type locality of Gastropacha murina Klug, 1830), Tunisia (Dierl, 1965), Algeria (Bourgogne, 1987) and United Arab Emirates (Legrain & Wiltshire, 1998), but distribution of this species in these latter countries need further confirmation in the future studies.
Discussion. Amicta syrtana Krüger, 1939, was a synonym to Amicta maliarda by de Freina (1989: 78) (together with Amicta caliginosa Krüger, 1939 and Amicta acutella Krüger, 1939). The species was described after a single specimen (1 ♂, ex larva at 03.xi 1938) from Wâdî Mayműn Darraj (31°53’33.4”N 14°55’34.6”E), ca. 40 km from the mediterranean coast. The description is very briefly: “Wingspan 27 mm. The tip of the forewing is sharper than that of maliarda Turati & Krüger (Abb. 36).” While the description gives little indication of identity, the illustration is more informative. The photo of the type specimen shows better agreement with Amicta murina than with Amicta maliarda.
description: Published as part of Arnscheid, Wilfried R., Rajaei, Hossein & Sobczyk, Thomas, 2021, A taxonomic review of the genus Amicta Heylaerts, 1881 in North Africa, Near and Middle East (Lepidoptera, Psychidae, Oiketicinae, Acanthopsychini), pp. 349-368 in Zootaxa 5071 (3) on pages 354-355, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5071.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/5723760