Polyhymno chionarcha Meyrick, 1913

Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Karsholt, Ole, Kravchenko, Vasiliy & Šumpich, Jan, 2019, An annotated checklist of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) of Israel with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4677 (1), pp. 1-68 : 32

Polyhymno chionarcha Meyrick, 1913

Fig. 24

Polyhymno chionarcha Meyrick, 1913 —Ann. Transv. Mus. 3 (4): 282.

Polyhymno abaiella Amsel, 1974 —Beitr. naturk. Forsch. SüdwDtl. 33: 201. Syn. nov.

Material examined. 1 ♂, Wingeit, 26.viii.1968 ( TAU) .

Additional material. 1 ♂, 1 ♀, SW Arabien, Wadi Tihama , 850 m, 23.iv.1979, Asirgrbirge (Amsel) (gen. slide 85/ 19♂; 86/ 19 ♀, O. Bidzilya) ( SMNK). Polyhymno abaiella 2♂, 1 ♀, S Iran, Strasse Bandar-Abbas-Sirjan, km 24, 250 m, 2.iv.1972 (Amsel) (gen. slide 87/ 19♂; 88/ 19♀, O. Bidzilya) ( SMNK) .

Host plant. Host plant in Israel unknown. In Kenya larvae feed on Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) Heyne and Vachellia xanthophloea (Benth.) Hurter ( Agassiz & Bidzilya 2016).

Distribution. South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya ( Agassiz & Bidzilya 2016: 128), Israel (new record), S Iran, Saudia Arabia (new record).

Remarks. Polyhymno abaiella was described based on a series of specimens collected in South Iran. The species is similar externally to P. chionarcha except for brown pattern along costal margin which are reduced in most specimens from the type series. The specimens with fully or partially reduced brown irroration along the costa occur both among type specimens of P. abaiella and P. chionarcha from Africa, thus this character is rather variable. The genitalia of both sexes of P. abailella fully agree with those of P. chionarca studied by us from South Africa, Kenya and Saudia Arabia. Hence, we consider Polyhymno abaiella Amsel, 1974 syn. nov. of P. chionarcha Meyrick, 1913 .

Figures

FIGS 24–26. Polyhymno spp. 24. P. chionarcha Meyr., ♂. 25. P. dumonti Hartig, adult, ♂ (gen. slide 123/18, O. Bidzilya). 26. P. dumonti Hartig, male genitalia (gen. slide 123/18, O. Bidzilya).