Phragmacossia bozanoi, Saldaitis & Prozorov & Müller & Yakovlev, 2023

Saldaitis, Aidas, Prozorov, Alexey M., Müller, Günter C. & Yakovlev, Roman V., 2023, Phragmacossia bozanoi-a new species from southern Greece with some notes on Phragmataecia and Phragmacossia (Lepidoptera, Cossidae, Zeuzerinae), Zootaxa 5374 (2), pp. 211-228 : 222-226

Phragmacossia bozanoi sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D52E1BCF-DEC8-428A-8BD6-99126D6CD173

( Figs 13−15 , 21−29 )

Material. Holotype, ♂, Greece, Peloponessos , Near Leonidio, h− 180 m, 37°1608462’ N, 22°7954122’E, 13−19. vii.2022, leg. Saldaitis & Floriani (slide Prozorov 2022 0468, WIGJ).

Paratypes: 4♂, same locality and data (slide Prozorov 2022 0469, ASV, GMM) ; 1♂ & 1♀, GR [ Greece], Peloponesso , 30063, Arkadia, Notla Kynouria, H- 590m, 37.142°N, 22.754°E, Kosmas verso Leonidio a 1 km da Melohian Panaglas, Lux Att, 31/7/2020, leg. L. Sattin Luca (slide Prozorov 2023 0538, AMM & GTV) ; 1♂ Griechenland [ Greece], Kitarion geb. [evn.], Villa, 10 km. E., H- 1200m, 10.8.13 [10.viii.2013], leg. Viehmann (slide Prozorov 2022 0536, TMF) .

Description. Male. Forewing length of holotype is 16 mm, paratypes 11–18 mm. Antenna pale-yellow, about one third the length of forewing, basal two thirds bipectinate (rami in the middle third of antenna 2–2.5 times longer than diameter of flagellum), distal third with small denticles. Thorax and abdomen densely covered with creamcoloured scales. Fore wing light cream with slightly expressed dusting of light brown scales, in submarginal area a row of slightly expressed small brown strokes, in cell CuP-1A+2A (in discal area) a small brown smear, border very thin brown, fringe light cream. Hind wing light cream with very slight dusting of light brown scales in medial area, border very thin brown, fringe light cream. Female. Similar to male. Forewing length— 16.5 mm.

Variability. Forewing pattern may be almost unnoticeable ( Fig. 15 ) or well visible ( Fig. 13 ).

Male genitalia. Unscus long, with broad base, slender, with spear-shaped pointed apex; arms of gnathos thin, long, ribbon-shaped; gnathos reduced; valva semilanceolate, with slightly curved costal and abdominal margins, apex rounded; juxta somewhat rhomboid or oval with with a pair of long dorsolateral extensions; saccus semioval; phallus large, half as long as valva, slightly c-shaped, distal half wrinkled; vesica has big, half as long as phallus, claw like cornutus, opposite to cornutus surface of phallus protrude forward and equal by length to cornutus. Female genitalia. Papillae anales very long, sparsely covered with setae. Posterior apophyses about twice longer than anterior ones. Antevaginal plate absent, postvaginal plate somewhat oval. Ostium wide. Ductus bursae very short. Corpus bursae egg-shaped.

Diagnosis. Insular Ph. minos is the nearest neighbour to new species, but it has better pronounced dark pattern, straighter costal and ventral margin of valva, better pronounced wrinkles on ventral side of phallus and longer ventral extension of phallus.

Habitat. Imagoes collected at night in lowland maquis shrublands.

Etymology. The new species is named after our colleague, a prominent Italian expert on Palaearctic Rhopalocera, Gian Cristoforo Bozano (Milan, Italy) for his merits to entomology.

Discussion. Endemicity in Crete varies in different families of Lepidoptera , for example, endemic Papilionoidea are 8.8% ( Bormpoudaki 2021 –2023), Geometridae —around 6.5% ( Ruckdeschel 2007), and Gelechiidae less than 1% ( Karsholt & Huemer 2017). Cossidae are on the highest level of endemicity ( Table 1 )—three species (42.8%) out of seven knowns do not occur outside the island. Find of a new species in continental Greece with allopatric species in Crete stands for very long isolation of Peloponnes and Crete in time ( Troníček 1949).

Figures

FIGURES 8–13. Phragmacossia spp.: adults, dorsal view. Depositories of the specimens: 8 in MHUB; 9 in NHMUK; 10–13 in MWM/ZSM. Scale bar—1 cm.

FIGURES 14–18. Phragmacossia bozanoi sp. n.: adults, dorsal view. Depositories of the specimens: 14 in WIGJ; 15 in MWM/ ZSM; 16 in GMM; 17 in TMF; 18 in AMM. Scale bar—1 cm.

FIGURES 19–24. Phragmataecia castanea, Ph. albida and Phragmacossia spp.: male genitalia. Depository of the dissected specimens in MWM/ZSM.

FIGURES 25–28. Genitalia of Phragmacossia bozanoi sp. n., Greece, Peloponnes. Depositories of the dissected specimens: 25 in WIGJ, 26 in TMF, 27 in ASV, 28 in AMM. Scale bars for genitalia and surface ultrastructure of corpus bursae—1 mm.

FIGURES 29–33. Map with collecting localities of Phragmacossia minos (29, green) and Ph. bozanoi sp. n. (29, red), habitat (30–31) and adults of Ph. bozanoi sp. n. in nature (32–33, pictures of L. Sattin Luca).