Deltote turcica Seven & Ronkay & Ronkay 2019, sp. n.
Creators: name: Seven, Erdem
name: Ronkay, László
name: Ronkay, Gábor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Noctuidae
Deltote
Deltote turcica

description: Deltote turcica sp. n.
(Figs 1 a–d, 2 c–d, 3 a)
Type material. Holotype (Fig. 1 b): Male, Ankara-Kayseri, 26.7.1965, 1000 m, Central Turkey, Asia minor, leg. M. u. W. Glaser, slide No. RL 12402m (coll. Vartian, NHMW).
Paratypes. Turkey. 2 males (Fig. 1 a and 1 c), with the same data as holotype, slide Nos RL 12401m, RL 12403m (coll. NHMW). Turkmenistan. 1 male, 1 female, Yol-Dere, 15 km NE Kara-Kala, 12. VI.1953, leg. V. Kuznetsov, slide Nos RL 11679m, RL11687f (coll. HNHM); 2 males, Kopet-Dagh Mts, Sayvana valley, 1000 m, 56°50’E, 38°17’N, L60, 28. VI.1992, leg. Gy. Fábián, B. Herczig, A. Podlussány & Z. Varga (coll. G. Ronkay).
Description. Adult (Figs 1 a–d): Small noctuid moth with slender body, wingspan 13–14 mm, forewing length 6–7 mm. Head —Antenna filiform in both sexes, dorsum covered with milky white scales; scape short and only ca twice as wide as basal segments of antenna. Eye large, globular, dark grey. Labial palp brown, short, upturned, third segment very short, pointed. Proboscis long, light brown. Head scales pale off white to light brown. Thorax — Ground colour similar to head, tegulae slender, metathorax somewhat more greyish. Legs gracile, brown, tibiae with longer milky white hair-scales, tarsi brown. Forewing: Ground colour and fringe light brown; basal and postmedial areas broad, white or brownish off-white; all lines wavy, terminal line beige to dark brown; orbicular stigma minute, rounded, dark brown with paler centre, reniform stigma fine, blackish, streak-like with fine white definition. Hindwing uniform beige, fringe brownish beige, terminal line narrow, black; discal spot, median line, and subterminal line dark, indistinct. Underside of forewing brown with dark subterminal line; that of hindwing pale brown, lacking lines and spots. Abdomen —Slender, cylindrical, pale brown, basal 3–4 segments covered with smooth beige-whitish scales, dorsal crest absent, anal tuft of male weak, ochreous-white.
Male genitalia (Figs 2 c–d): Genital capsule very small, weakly sclerotised. Uncus thick, medium-long, thickened towards acutely pointed and hooked. Tegumen weakly sclerotised, penicular lobes reduced; juxta large, flask-shaped; vinculum short, broadly U-shaped. Valva rather short (only slightly longer than tegumen), tapering towards apex; cucullus apically rounded, sparsely setose, apical thorn strong but short, finely arched; corona absent; ampulla short, mushroom-shaped. Aedeagus as long as valva, thick, subapically broadest, laterally and ventrally extended; carina less sclerotized; vesica (uneverted) membranous, with large L-shaped (boot-shaped) plate flattened, heavily sclerotized, positioned in distal half of aedeagus.
Female genitalia (Fig. 3 a): Papillae anales nearly as long as wide, densely setose with short setae; both pairs of gonapophyses short (not or only slightly longer than papillae anales). Ostium bursae broad; antrum membranous, broad, funnel-like, with sclerotised ring at junction to ductus bursae; ductus bursae long, broadened towards corpus bursae, with sclerotised quadrangular plate at anterior section; appendix bursae small, subconical, membranous; corpus bursae elliptical-ovoid, with large scobinate area medially; signum sclerotised, narrow, Y-shaped.
Differential diagnosis. The two species of this group are similar externally, with subtle differences in the forewing shape and pattern. Deltote turcica (Figs 1 a–d) has, comparing with D. delicatula (Figs 1 e–h) slightly narrower and more acutely pointed forewings and the postmedial line is running more obliquely to inner margin. The more recently collected specimens are remarkably darker and greyer than the older (50–100 years old) moths. In the male genitalia, the valvae of D. turcica (Figs 2 c–d) are somewhat shorter, more slender and tapered distally than those of D. delicatula (Figs 2 a–b), and the apical thorn of the cucullus is shorter and finer in D. turcica than in D. delicatula. In the female genitalia, the ductus bursae of D. turcica (Fig. 3 a) is broader than in D. delicatula (Fig. 3 b), having a more sclerotised posterior ring and anterior plate. In addition, the signum of the corpus bursae of D. turcica is thicker and continuous, not separated into two parts as in D. delicatula.
Distribution. Deltote turcica is known from two rather remote areas in central Turkey (Ankara-Kayseri region; the records of D. delicatula published by Baisch et al. [1998] from the Göreme valley and Ürgüp, and by, Koçak and Kemal (2018) from Nevşehir and Kırıkkale probably refer to this species as well) and from the Kopet- Dagh area in Turkmenistan.
Biology and Habitat. The populations of D. turcica occurring in the Kopet-Dagh Mts. inhabit dry rocky slopes with open steppe vegetation and trees limited to small shrubby patches. The Turkish populations live in similarly xerothermic rocky sites. Specimens were collected in June and July.
Etymology. The epitheton name turcica refers to Turkey and Turkmenistan, the states, where the new species is discovered.
description: Published as part of Seven, Erdem, Ronkay, László & Ronkay, Gábor, 2019, Description of a new species of Deltote Reichenbach, Leipzig, 1817 (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Eustrotiinae) from Turkey and Turkmenistan, pp. 171-178 in Zootaxa 4576 (1) on pages 173-177, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4576.1.10, http://zenodo.org/record/2624600