Gnopharmia irakensis Wehrli

Sh, Hossein Rajaei, Stüning, Dieter & Trusch, Robert, 2012, Taxonomic revision and zoogeographical patterns of the species of Gnopharmia Staudinger, 1892 (Geometridae, Ennominae), Zootaxa 3360, pp. 1-52 : 20-22

Gnopharmia irakensis Wehrli

( Figs 14 & 39 ; Map 3)

Gnopharmia irakensis Wehrli, 1938: 433 . Syntypes 1 3, 2 Ƥ, BMNH (photo of male examined). Type locality: Rowanduz [Rawanduz], Kurdistan, Iraq.

Gnopharmia irakensis: Wehrli, 1953: 566 , pl. 47e; Ebert, 1965: 21, pl. 4, figs 2 & 3; Parsons et al., 1999: 406.

Type material examined. Syntype 3, ‘ Iraq, Kurdistan, Rowanduz [prov. Arbil], 15.VII.35, [leg.] E. P. Wiltshire, Wiltshire Coll. B.M. 1979-433’, ‘ Gnopharmia irakensis Wehrli , 3 Holo Type’ [red label, partly hand-written by Wehrli]; ‘7217 3’ [Wehrli genitalia preparation no.], in BMNH. Additional material studied: 137 3, 42 Ƥ, see appendix.

Description. Wings and body ( Fig. 14 ). Frons moderately extended, rounded, distally without a separate central process. Genae with a weak antero-ventral process. Free apical flagellomeres in male antennae 18. Forelegs without tibial spine (fig. 2-b). Wingspan 3 21.5– 30 mm. Ground colour of wings light yellowish brown; transverse lines indicated by a few rather indistinct dark brown spots, those on costa rather large, postmedial row consisting of more numerous but small spots which are often connected by a reddish-brown line. Broad, dark grey submarginal bands present, bordered distally by a light, dentate line; marginal area sometimes light as ground colour, but often also suffused dark grey (then the yellowish apical patch clearly visible). Discal dots blackish brown. Hindwings with colour and pattern elements similar, submarginal band broad, with almost straight internal border. Under side with basal two thirds almost white, slightly suffused with a few greyish-brown scales, discal dots blackish-brown, clearly marked. Submarginal bands very distinct, blackish-brown, a white apical patch present in forewings. Male genitalia and pre-genital abdomen ( Fig. 39 ). Dorsal arm of valva narrow, sacculus wide, squarish, with two projections, the distal one strongly reduced and pointed (much shorter than the proximal one). Aedeagus very long and narrow, ventral fin absent; proximal subapical spines stout, 5–6 (may be also less or more) spines of variable size arranged in a cluster, arising latero-ventrally from aedeagus shaft. Distal subapical spines and cornuti absent. Octavals are long and narrow, with a small, rounded tip.

Diagnosis. Clearly distinguishable from the other Gnopharmia species by a number of external characters: frons in both sexes rather rounded than conically extended, male antennae with 18 unpectinated apical segments (12 or 10 in other Gnopharmia species), tibial spines absent in irakensis (present in all other species). In male genitalia, the absence of the ventral fin of the aedeagus is distinctive (present in all other Gnopharmia ). Other characters of the male genitalia distinguishing G. irakensis : long and narrow dorsal arm of valva, strongly extended and almost quadrate sacculus with tooth-like projections of distinctly different size. Octavals are longer and narrower than in the other species (see fig. 39-d). Also the barcoding results (see fig. 54) have proved that irakensis is a species widely separated from all other taxa, with more than 5% genetic distance to each of them.

Taxonomic note. Wehrli (1938: 433) based his description on one male and two females from ‘Rowanduz, Irak’ which he called ‘types’ [„ Typen “] (but without designating a holotype), and two additional females from ‘Rayat’ which he obviously did not include in the type series. Later Wehrli (1953: 566) also recorded irakensis from different Iranian regions and figured (l.c., pl. 47e) a male from ‘Alvand’ (West Iran). We received photos of the male syntype (upperside, under side, labels, see fig. 14)—which Wehrli had labelled subsequently as ‘holotype’—from BMNH. The genitalia slide (Wehrli no. 7217) examined and figured here (fig. 39) was found among the other genitalia preparations of the Wehrli collection in coll. ZFMK. It has been returned to BMNH just recently. To our opinion, there is no need to designate a lectotype for G. irakensis .

Life history and habitat. Flight period—according to the ample material studied here—from 2nd of May until 9th of September, the majority of specimens are dated from June and July. The species seems to be bivoltine. All specimens were attracted to light at night. Preimaginal stages are unknown. Host plant probably is a species of Amygdalus (Rosaceae) , as observed for other species. G. irakensis occurs sympatrically with other Gnopharmia species.

Distribution (Map 3). Type locality of this species is Rawanduz in Eastern Iraq. In Iran this species is recorded from the Zagros Mts. (except its southern parts), western parts of the Alborz Mts. and from Kopet-Dagh in the north of Khorasan. Ebert (1965) published records of this species from East Afghanistan. Here we report irakensis from the East and South of Turkey and from North Pakistan (Kashmir) for the first time. Records are from altitudes between 400 and 3100 m a.s.l.

MAP 3. Distribution patterns of G. irakensis , G. r u b r a r i a and G. s a ro b i a n a

1. Rawanduz, Iraq (type locality of G. i r a k e n s i s); 2. Marasch, E. Turkey (syntype locality of G. rubraria ); 3. Jerusalem (lectotype locality of G. r u b r a r i a); 4. Köprüköy, Kizilirmak, N. Turkey; 5. Mardin; 6. Sarobi, E. Afghanistan (type locality of G. sarobiana ).

Figures

FIGURE 10 – 14. G. cocandaria. 10: female from Kuldja, cited and figured by Wehrli (1953) in Seitz 4 (suppl.); 11: G. maculifera maculifera, lectotype, male from Samarkand [Uzbekistan]; 12: G. maculifera afghanistana, holotype, male; 13: G. erema, lectotype; 14: G. irakensis, syntype, male. a, upperside; b, under side; c, original label. Scale bar: 1 cm.

FIGURE 39 – 40. Male genitalia and abdominal sternites. 39: G. irakensis, syntype, gen. prep: 7217, by Wehrli, SEM prep. 6 / 2009 H. R.; 40: G. sarobiana, holotype, gen. prep: 91, G. Ebert. a: genital capsule; b: aedeagus; c: distal part of aedeagus (SEM; with scale); d. sternite A 8. Scale bar: 1 mm.