Phragmataecia valikhanovi Yakovlev & Witt 2016, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yakovlev, Roman V.
name: Witt, Thomas J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Cossidae
Phragmataecia
Phragmataecia valikhanovi

description: Phragmataecia valikhanovi Yakovlev & Witt, sp. nov.
(Figs 1−4)
Type material. Holotype: ♂, SE Kazakhstan, Taldy-Kurgan Reg., Ili Fluss, Borochudsir, 500 m, 7.06.1996, leg. Lukhtanov (MWM); paratypes: 9 ♂, same locality and data (MWM); 24 ♂, Kyrgyzstan, Moldatoo-Gebirge, 120 km W Naryn, Tschon-Kunduk, 1800−2000 m, 27− 28.06.1995, leg. V. Lukhtanov (MWM); 13 ♂, Kyrgyzstan, Naryn-Gebiet, Dscgumgol-Gebirge, Tschaek, 1500–2000 m, 1−2.07.1995, leg. V. Lukhtanov (MWM); 1 ♂, Kyrgyzstan, Dscgumgol-Gebirge, Dscgumgol bezirk, 1500 m, 5.07.1995, leg. V. Lukhtanov (MWM); 2 ♂, Kirgyzstan, Sary-Kamysh, N 41º45', E 73º54', 1250 m, 30.06.2008, P. Ustjuzhanin (RYB); 1 ♂, Kyrgyzstan, Central Thian-Shan, Kekemeren Valley, 1430 m, N 41º44', E 74º15', 1.07.2008, P. Ustjuzhanin leg. (RYB).
Description. Male. Forewing length 17−19 mm (holotype – 18 mm). Antenna with double pecten in proximal 2/3, filiform in distal third. Antennae pale yellow from above, dark brown from below. Length of pecten process 3 x larger than diameter of rod. Thorax and abdomen covered with white coffee-colored hairs. Forewing lanceolate, with nearly parallel sides, white coffee-coloured, fringe plain pale brown. Hindwing white coffee-colored, densely covered with black scales, more intensely in basal area. Fringe plain pale brown. Wings underside brown with dark (nearly black) fields consisting of black hairs near discal cell on fore and hind wing.
Male genitalia. Uncus triangle-shaped with pointed bill-shaped apex; tegumen trapezoid; valva leaf-like, elongate, with nearly parallel sides, 2.5 x as long as its width in medial part, apex semicircular; juxta broad, semicircular with two small dorsally directed leaf-like lateral processes; saccus turned back, large, conical, with pointed apex; phallus slightly shorter than valva, thin, slightly curved and broadened in medial third, caecum has abdominal position, vesica with lateral pores, cornuti lack.
Female unknown.
Diagnosis. The species should not be confused with several closely similar species from Caucasus, South Volga region and Central Asia: P. albida Erschoff, 1874 (type locality: Kisil-Kum desert [SW Uzbekistan]) (Figs 5−7), P. anikini Yakovlev, 2011 (type locality: “ Mongolia, Chovd aimak, 3 km N von Somon Uench, im Tal des Flusses Uench gol”) (Figs 8−9), P. turkmenbashi Yakovlev, 2008 (type locality: Turkmenistan, Kopetdagh Mts., Valley of Ipay-Kala, 15 km SW of Nochur, 56°55’E; 38°15’N) (Figs 10−11) and P. pacifica Yakovlev, 2007 (type locality: Russia, Daghestan, 5 km E. Urma) (Figs 12−13). The new species differs from P. albida and P. anikini by darker upperside of the wings (white coffee-coloured from above and suffusion of black scales in basal parts of hindwing). From all above mentioned species, P. valikhanovi can be separated by its dark underside of the wings, them being brown with nearly black fields of black hairs at distal cell on both wings). Additionally, the new species can be distinguished by the male genitalia as follows:
- uncus broader, phallus straight in P. albida; (uncus narrower, phallus curved in median third in P. valikhanovi);
- valvae somewhat shorter, lateral processes of juxta shorter and smaller in P. anikini (in P. valikhanovi valvae longer, lateral processes of juxta larger);
- juxta bears two broad leaf-like lateral processes, phallus somewhat longer than valva in P. pacifica (juxta with two small lateral processes, phallus slightly shorter than valva in P. valikhanovi);
- uncus with blunt apex, saccus with semicircular apex, apex of phallus strongly broadened in P. turkmenbashi (uncus pointed, bill-shaped, tip of saccus conical, phallus slightly broadened in medial third in P. valikhanovi). Habitat. Semideserts.
Etymology. The new species is dedicated to a well-known explorer of Central Asia, Chokan Valikhanov
(1835-1865), Kazakh historian, ethnographer, specialist in folklore, traveler to Kazakhstan and Chinese Turkestan,
officer of the General Staff of the Russian Army and intelligence officer. In 1856−1857 he participated a large-
scale military-scientific expedition. During this expedition he collected ornithological, entomological and herbarial
material.
description: Published as part of Yakovlev, Roman V. & Witt, Thomas J., 2016, A world catalogue of Phragmataecia (Lepidoptera: Cossidae), with a new species from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, pp. 589-600 in Zootaxa 4085 (4) on pages 590-593, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4085.4.8, http://zenodo.org/record/1052855