Pljushtchia prima Viidalepp & Kostjuk, 2005

Viidalepp, Jaan, Lindt, Aare & Kurina, Olavi, 2022, Pljushtchia argoi sp. n., a new geometrid moth from the Western Tien Shan Mountains (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Larentiinae), Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 82353-82353 : 82353

Pljushtchia prima Viidalepp & Kostjuk, 2005

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence : catalogNumber: IZBE0085519 ; recordedBy: Igor Plyushch ; individualCount: 1; sex: male; preparations: pinned/gen. prep. #2942; Taxon : scientificName: Pljushtchia prima Viidalepp & Kostjuk, 2005; genus: Pljushtchia ; specificEpithet: prima; scientificNameAuthorship: Viidalepp & Kostjuk, 2005; Location : continent: Eurasia ; country: Tajikistan; locality: Gissarskiy khr., ushch. Kondara ; decimalLatitude: 38.8166; decimalLongitude: 68.8333; Identification: identifiedBy: Viidalepp & Kostjuk; Event: samplingProtocol: Light trap; year: 1979; month: October; day: 3; Record Level: type: Physical Object; institutionCode: EMY; collectionCode: IZBE; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence : catalogNumber: IZBE0085520 ; recordedBy: Igor Plyushch ; individualCount: 1; sex: female; preparations: pinned/gen. prep. #3915; Taxon : scientificName: Pljushtchia prima Viidalepp & Kostjuk, 2005; genus: Pljushtchia ; specificEpithet: prima; scientificNameAuthorship: Viidalepp & Kostjuk, 2005; Location : continent: Eurasia ; country: Tajikistan; locality: Gissarskiy khr., ushch. Kondara ; decimalLatitude: 38.8166; decimalLongitude: 68.8333; Identification: identifiedBy: Viidalepp & Kostjuk; Event: samplingProtocol: Light trap; year: 1979; month: September; day: 30; Record Level: type: Physical Object; institutionCode: EMY; collectionCode: IZBE; basisOfRecord: Preserved Specimen

Diagnosis

Pljushtchia prima was described by Viidalepp and Kostjuk (2005) as medium-sized (wingspan 21-26 mm, females on average smaller than males), brownish light grey with forewing postmediane, antemediane and basale fasciae blackish and edged by whitish scales. Discal spots small, black on a pale blotch each. Hind-wing brownish grey, lighter than forewing, postmediane fascia grey, inconspicuous, cell-spot minute. Male genitalia, as illustrated by Viidalepp and Kostjuk (2005), Fig. 3, with tegumen longer than vinculum, the latter compressed laterally and projecting medially. Valva without medial or costal ornamentation, distal-ventral part characteristically emarginated. Juxta broad and short, plate shaped, with short labides on its lateral lobes. Aedeagus shorter than valva, with two sets of needle-shaped cornuti on vesica. Female genitalia small, membranous.

Biology

The species is autumnal, monovoltine, confined to remnants of wild fruit tree forests and orchards. Degtjareva (1973) and Degtjareva (1981) have studied the lepidopterous fauna of these fruit tree and broad-leaved forests on the southern slope of Hissar Mountains and in Karategin Mts.