Athaumasta tarbagata Volynkin, Titov & Saldaitis 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Volynkin, Anton V.
name: Saldaitis, Aidas
name: Titov, Sergey V.
name: Truuverk, Andro
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Athaumasta
Athaumasta tarbagata

description: Athaumasta tarbagata Volynkin, Titov & Saldaitis, sp. nov.   
https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 035EB489-FBD6-43F8-B8C3-BE5E10AB364D  
(Figs 22–27, 58, 59)  
 Type material. Holotype (Figs 22, 58): male, ― 30.IV.2015, E Kazakhstan, Urdzhar district, W Tarbagarai Mts, 9.5 km ENE of Tasaryk village, 705 m. 47°08‘04.6‘‘N, 081º24'51.0''E, bottom of rocky slope, Volynkin A. V. & Titov S. V. leg.‖, GenBank voucher MN023163, slide AV4917 ♂ Volynkin (Coll. NHMUK);   
 Paratypes. 5 males, same data as in the holotype, GenBank vouchers MN023160, MN023161 and MN023162 (Coll. CAV); 3 males, 01. V.2015, E Kazakhstan, Urdzhar district, W Tarbagarai Mts, 8 km ENE of Altynshoky (Predgornoe) village, 890 m. 47°11.607‘‘N, 81°10.085‘‘E, mesophilous rocky slopes of canyon, Volynkin A. V. & Titov S. V. leg., GenBank vouchers MN023164 and MN023165, slides AV4916 ♂ and AV5319 ♂ Volynkin (Coll. CAV); 1 male, Kazakhstan E, Saur Mts., Zhanaturmis, 8. VI.2000., leg. Klimenko (Coll. AFM); 4 males, 10. V.2017, E Kazakhstan, Urdzhar district, 4 km SW of Nekrasovka vill., Kyzylbeltai Mts., h~ 920 m. 47,21° N, 81,35° E, Nakonechny A. leg. (Coll. MDS); 5 males, 16. V.2017, E Kazakhstan, Ayagoz district, 34 km SE of Tarbagatai vill., Okpekty Mts., h~ 1505 m. 47,60° N, 81,64° E, Nakonechny A. leg. (Coll. MDS).   
 Diagnosis. Forewing length 14–16 mm in males (16 mm in the holotype). Athaumasta tarbagata (Figs 22–27) is a sister species of A. argillacea (Figs 28–30), from which it differs externally by its slightly larger size and more elongated forewing. The male genitalia of A. tarbagata (Figs 58, 59) differ from those of A. argillacea (Figs 60, 61) by the more massive basal part of uncus, the slightly broader juxta, the pointed tip of vinculum (that is rounded in A. argillacea), the much broader harpe, and the slightly broader vesica with much larger cornutus.   
Female unknown.  
 Molecular data. COI 5‘ sequences of six specimens of A. tarbagata were compared with two paratype specimens of A. argillacea from one locality and specimens of A. expressa, A. kuchinichi, A. etugen and A. arida as well. The infraspecific variation of COI 5‘ sequences of A. tarbagata is 0.00–0.76%; that of A. argillacea is 0.00%. The distance between specimens of A. tarbagata and A. argillacea is 1.38–1.54%; that between A. tarbagata and A. expressa is 2.17–3.13%; that between A. tarbagata and A. expressa is 2.49%; that between A. tarbagata and A. etugen is 4.10–4.44%; that between A. tarbagata and A. arida is 3.86–4.65%. The COI 5‘ sequences of A. tarbagata are characterized by the combination of one character state unique for the genus, 124(C), and one character state unique for the species-group, 646(C), while the COI 5‘ sequences of A. argillacea are characterized by one character state unique for the species-group, 403(C). In addition, the COI 5‘ sequences of A. tarbagata differ from those of A. argillacea by the character states 160 (‗A‘ in A. tarbagata and ‗G‘ in A. argillacea), 169 (‗C‘ in A. tarbagata and ‗T‘ in A. argillacea), 367 (‗C‘ in A. tarbagata and ‗T‘ in A. argillacea) and 400 (‗C‘ in A. tarbagata and ‗T‘ in A. argillacea) (Table 3).   
 Distribution. Athaumasta tarbagata is known from several localities in the Saur-Tarbagatai mountain massif in East Kazakhstan. In the Tarbagatai Ridge, the species inhabits stony steppe and mesophilous slopes at medium altitudes (705–890 m) (Fig. 80). Athaumasta argillacea inhabits other biotope, clay and chalk hills covered by ground-dwelling lichens (Fig. 81).   
 Etymology. The species‘ name refers to its type locality, the Tarbagatai Ridge.
description: Published as part of Volynkin, Anton V., Saldaitis, Aidas, Titov, Sergey V. & Truuverk, Andro, 2019, Six new species of Athaumasta Hampson, 1906 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Bryophilinae) from the mountains of Kazakhstan, Russian Altai and Mongolia, pp. 1-26 in Ecologica Montenegrina 22 on pages 19-23, DOI: 10.37828/em.2019.22.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13356107