Triphosa lecerfi Wanke & Hausmann & Rajaei 2019, sp. n.
Creators: name: Wanke, Dominic
name: Hausmann, Axel
name: Rajaei, Hossein
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Geometridae
Triphosa
Triphosa lecerfi

description: Triphosa lecerfi sp. n.
(figs 15, 25, 26, 40, 48; map)
Material examined. HOLOTYPE. 1 ♂, [Kyrgyzstan] Alai mts, riv. Dugoba, h= 2500 m, 27.vii.1993, g. prep. 0042/ 2018 D. Wanke; in ZSM.
PARATYPES. 1 ♂, Kirgisia [Kyrgyzstan], Suusamyr Gebirge, Kobyk, 2000 m, 9.vii.1996, V. Lukhtanov leg. EMEM, g. prep 0147/2018 D. Wanke; 1 ♂, Kirghisia [Kyrgyzstan], Alay [Alai] range, Dugoba riv., 2300 m, 15.vii. [19]95, BC ZSM Lep 62744, g. prep. 0039/2018 D. Wanke; 2 ♂, 1 ♀, Alai mts, riv. Dugoba, h= 2500 m, 27.vii.1993, g. preps (♀) 0041/2018 D. Wanke, (♂) Pr. N. 7052 C. Herbulot; all in ZSM. 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data as latter, g. preps (♀) 0040/2018 D. Wanke; in SMNS. 1 ♂, 1 ♀ Tadjikistan [Tajikistan], Gissar Gebirge, Kondara, 1100 m, 7.-8.viii.1999, g. prep (♂) 0058/2018 D. Wanke; in PCPS.
Description. Wingspan 38–42 mm (forewing length 22–24 mm). Antennae filiform. Frons slightly convex (about half the diameter of eye), smoothly scaled. Chaetosemata present. Labial palpi rather thick and long, exceeding the frons by half the diameter of eye, tip darker scaled. Ground colour from beige, sandy-coloured to very bright brown. Forewing with stronger wing pattern, termen slightly wavy. Transversal lines visible, fading from costa to the inner margin. Hindwing with pale pattern. Termen strongly wavy. Fringes bright brown to pale yellow.
Male genitalia (figs 15, 40). Uncus long, curved, tapered and well-sclerotized. Socii present, weakly developed; consisting of a large number of setae at the base of the uncus. Subscaphium sclerotized, strewn with plenty of little spines on both sides. Tegumen arched, consisting of two broad sclerotized tapes with a posterior rounded notch touching the base of the uncus. Valva apically rounded, its apical half weakly sclerotized; costa of valva and sacculus projection heavily sclerotized, the latter distally forked, both distally not connected to the valva. Costal projection finger-shaped. Tip bent away from the valva. Labides thin, flat, long, almost touching each other in the centre, strongly and densely setose. Juxta three-lobed. Saccus laterally elongated, centrally furrowed, extremely weakly humpy (shape differs due to preparation technique). Sacculus projection well-sclerotized, distally forked, prongs of the forked tip of similar length, blunt and short. Aedeagus broad, sclerotized. Vesica membranous, partially covered with patch of mirocornuti.
Female genitalia (fig. 48). Ovipositor broad. Apophyses posteriores approximately twice the length of the apophyses anteriores. Antrum short, funnel-shaped. Ductus bursae short, arched folded, heavily sclerotized, flat, wide in ventral view, but narrow in lateral view. Corpus bursae pyriform; its posterior part strongly sclerotized, with longitudinal folds and strongly funnel-shaped (length on average 1.4 mm, width 0.8 mm), its anterior part membranous, without signa.
Diagnosis. In Triphosa lecerfi sp. n. socii consist of a large number of setae located at the base of the uncus (few setae at the base of the uncus in T. dubitata and T. silviae sp. n.; setae located on protrusions in T. sabaudiata and T. taochata) (figs 13 a–17a). Labides thin, flat, strongly and densely setose (hump-shaped, not touching each other, equipped with setae in T. dubitata; flat, thickened to the centre and setose in T. silviae sp. n.; labides sticklike fused in T. sabaudiata; spoon-shaped, fused, tip strongly setose in T. taochata) (figs 13 b–17b). Prongs of the forked sacculus projection apically blunt and short, the angle between the prongs is more than 90° (lower prong shorter than upper one, upper prong curved, both arranged in less than 90° in T. dubitata; slightly different with upper prong longer and broader, both arranged in less than 90° in T. silviae sp. n.; two identical prongs, arranged in ~45° in T. sabaudiata; upper prong long, lower prong shortened, arranged in ~90° in T. taochata) (figs 13 c–17c).
Discrimination from other species based on female genitalia is difficult: corpus bursae pyriform; posterior part strongly sclerotized, with longitudinal folds, funnel-shaped (similar in T. silviae sp. n., T. sabaudiata and T. taochata; ‘guitar-shaped’, posterior part of corpus bursae tubular, heavily sclerotized with few longitudinal folds; anterior part membranous, in T. dubitata) (figs 46–52).
Biology. Unknown.
Habitat. Specimens collected in mountains at altitudes of 1100–2500 m.
Distribution. So far known only from the Alai and the Suusamyr Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and the Gissar mountains in Tajikistan.
DNA barcoding. The species clusters as a sister to T. sabaudiata, T. taochata and T. silviae sp. n. (fig. 54) at a distance of more than 2%, however T. lecerfi sp. n. shows clear morphological diagnostic characters from all those species (see figs 13–17).
Etymology. Claude Herbulot labeled the specimens in his collection investigated during this study as T. lecerfi, assuming they could belong to a new species. Unfortunately, he did not investigate more deeply and his suggestion remained unpublished. Therefore, it is a great honor to confirm Herbulot´s assumption and name the species after the French entomologist Ferdinand Le Cerf.
description: Published as part of Wanke, Dominic, Hausmann, Axel & Rajaei, Hossein, 2019, An integrative taxonomic revision of the genus Triphosa Stephens, 1829 (Geometridae: Larentiinae) in the Middle East and Central Asia, with description of two new species, pp. 39-65 in Zootaxa 4603 (1) on pages 51-52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4603.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/2673255