Asclerobia tchahabarella ( Amsel, 1950 ) Yepishin, 2021

Yepishin, Viktor, 2021, Notes on the taxonomy of Palaearctic Asclerobia Roesler, 1969 (Lepidoptera Pyralidae: Phycitinae) with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4963 (1), pp. 149-162 : 153-161

Asclerobia tchahabarella ( Amsel, 1950) comb. nov.

( Figs 5–6 , 33a–b )

Salebria tchahabarella Amsel, 1950: 232–233 . TL: Iran, Bender Tchahbahar [Chabahar]

Oligochroa [Salebria] tchahabarella (Ams.) ; Amsel 1970: 68, transferred to Oligochroa

Pempelia tchabaharella Amsel, 1950 ; Asselbergs 2007: 494, lapsus calami

Diagnosis. Asclerobia tchahabarella is characterized by the yellowish-brown forewing, the yellow-brown antemedial line with bright brown raised scales, and the distinct grey irroration in distal 2/3 along costal margin to about 1/4–1/3 width of the forewing. For the differences from A. alexandrae sp. nov. and A. sinensis see the differential diagnosis above presented under those species. In male genitalia, valva without editum (the related species have the editum), the rounded and widened apically saccus (not widened in A. sinensis ) is characteristic. The saccus in A. alexandrae sp. nov. is truncate. Female genitalia are unknown.

Note. In the original description, Amsel (1950) did not mention the valval editums and did not draw them, but in the subsequent paper ( Amsel 1970) he claimed their presence in a specimen from Afghanistan. From the photographs of the slide of the male genitalia of this specimen (GU ♂ 4218 by Amsel 1970: fig. 34) it follows that the presence of valval editums is confirmed. This confirmation justifies the assignment of this specimen (and other records from E Afghanistan) to A. sinensis , but not to A. tchahabarella . Also, Asselbergs (2007) published a drawing of the male genitalia of A. tchahabarella without editums, which confirms the absence of these structures in A. tchahabarella .

Remark. Salebria tchahabarella was described based on two males and one female from “Bender Tchahbahar” [Chabahar], with illustration of the male genitalia ( Amsel 1950: 254, fig. 18). The specimen labelled: “ Iran Baloutchistan | Bender Tchahbahar | 22 Dezember 1937 | Coll. Brandt” || “GU. | 795a” || “ Salebria tchah- | baharella Ams. | det. H. Amsel” || “Typus ♂ | leg.H.Amsel” || “2:76 | R.M. prep. | 3113” || “NHRS-TOBI | 000004936” ( Fig. 5 ) is designated here as the lectotype of S. tchahabarella , and another two specimens should be considered as paralectotypes. The lectotype and the paralectotype labeled as female, without abdomen, ( Fig. 6 ) are kept in NHRS. One more paralectotype is kept in SMNK.

Amsel (1970) transferred tchahabarella to Oligochroa Ragonot, 1888 , which was synonymized with Faveria Walker, 1859 ( Shaffer et al. 1996: 176). Male genitalia clearly indicate the assignment of Salebria tchahabarella to the genus Asclerobia rather than to Pempelia Hübner, 1825 as it was proposed by Asselbergs (2007) without any argumentation. Hence, the following combination is established: Asclerobia tchahabarella ( Amsel, 1950) comb. nov.

Note. An Iranian city—the type locality of Asclerobia tchahabarella , is often transliterated into English as Chabahar, and into German as Tschahbahar. But since the chapter Etymology is absent in the original description, and there is no explicit explanation for the formation of the species-group name in the text of the original description, we cannot be sure whether the name “ tchahabarella ”, was a spelling mistake or not. It might be the transliteration into the Latinized form of a word originating from the city name in Persian made by Amsel (1950). Therefore, following article 32.5.1 of the ICZN which sounds as follows: “Incorrect transliteration or Latinization, or use of an inappropriate connecting vowel, are not to be considered inadvertent errors”, we consider that there is no necessity to correct the spelling of this species-group name in the present revision and in future treatments.

Biology. The host plant is unknown. Type specimens were collected in late December and early February, additional specimens were observed in late March in the UAE .

Distribution. SE Iran; United Arab Emirates ( Asselbergs 2007).

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Adults of Asclerobia spp. 1–2. Asclerobia alexandrae sp. nov. 3–4. Asclerobia sinensis. 5–6. Asclerobia tchahabarella. 1. ♂, Paratype, Mugur-Aksy, genitalia slide 391.20. 2. ♀, Holotype, Mugur-Aksy, genitalia slide 390.20. 3. ♂, Majia Houzhuang, genitalia slide 387.20. 4. ♀, Erdao Lake, genitalia slide 457.20. 5. ♂, Lectotype, Bender Tchahbahar (NHRS-TOBI000004936, courtesy photographed by Tobias Malm, NHRS). 6. ♀ Paralectotype, Bender Tchahbahar (NHRS- TOBI000004937, courtesy photographed by Tobias Malm, NHRS).

FIGURES 33–34. Male genitalia of Asclerobia spp. 33. Holotype of Asclerobia tchahabarella (Courtesy photographed by Tobias Malm, NHRS). 34. Asclerobia sinensis, E Afghanistan, Bashgultal, genitalia slide: H. Amsel no. 4218 (Courtesy photographed by Michael Falkenberg, SMNK). a. Male genitalia, ventral view, aedeagus is separated. b. Aedeagus.