Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) - a new noctuid moth species from Armenia (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) - una nueva especie para Armenia (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Introduction

The Ponto-Turkestanian genus Desertoplusia Klyuchko, 1984 was separated from the genus Plusia Ochseinheimer, 1861 for a group of species occurring from eastern Turkey through Iran and Turkmenistan to north-eastern Afghanistan (KLYUCHKO, 1984). Later, a new genus - Platoplusia Ronkay, Ronkay & Behounek, 2008 - was created out of Desertoplusia Klyuchko for the species Platoplusiatancrei (Staudinger, 1895) (RONKAY et al., 2008). Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) is a sibling species of the recently described D. colornata Varga & Ronkay, 1991. Both are quite readily distinguished on the basis of both wing colour and pattern, and evident differences in the structures of the male and female genitalia (RONKAY et al., 2008). Knowledge of the distribution of D. bella is incomplete. It had been reported from Iran and Turkmenistan as endemic to the Kopet Dagh Mts (RONKAY et al., 2008; ZAHIRI & FIBIGER, 2008), but it was subsequently found in Van Province in eastern Turkey (no details of the time and place of the record provided) (KOÇAK & KEMAL, 2012).

Material and method

During an entomological expedition to Armenia in 2014, we came across D. bella in Vayots Dzor Province - this was the first record of this species for this country. The place where we trapped it is part of the Gnisheek Prime Butterfly Area and the Noravank Important Bird Area. These Areas lie on the north-eastern flanks of the Hayots Dzor mountain range, varying in altitude from 1200 to 2320 m. a.s.l., through which the deep Zangezur Canyon has cut. The slopes of the canyon from bottom to top support a great diversity of habitats out of which many different ecosystems have evolved: alluvial forests, deciduous woodlands, semi-desert scrub, tragacanth hedgehog-heaths, mountain steppes, patches of rock sward, subalpine meadows (Figs 1-2).

Figs 1-6.
1. The slope of the Hayots Dzor mountain range where Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) was trapped. 2. The trapping site of Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) - Armenia, Noravank Monastery. 3-5. Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) - Armenia, Noravank Monastery, 1-VI-2014, leg. R. Wa˛sala and R. Zamorski: 3. imago; 4. male genitalia; 5. aedeagus. 6. An outline of the distribution of Desertoplusia bella (Christoph, 1887) (hatched area) in the Caspian Sea region. The black dots show the localities of D. bella in Armenia and Turkey.

Locality: Armenia, Prov. Vayots Dzor, Noravank Monastery - 6 km SE ad Areni, (39º41’05’’ N; 45º14’02’’ E), 1510 m a.s.l., 1 ♂, 1-VI-2014, leg. R. Wa˛sala & R. Zamorski (Figs 3-5). The material deposited in the author’s collection (Poznan University of Life Sciences).

The specimen was attracted, along with many other moths, to a white screen illuminated with a 250 W mercury vapour lamp.

Discussion

Not much is known about the biology and environmental preferences of D. bella. Its caterpillar and host plant(s) are as yet unknown. In the Kopet Dagh Mts, a known biodiversity hotspot (GILLESPIE et al., 2012), the species was found at altitudes from 1070 to 2950 m a.s.l.; the flight season lasts from mid-May until early August (ZAHIRI & FIBIGER, 2008). Our finding of the species in Armenia in early June at 1510 m a.s.l. corroborates that information.

Previous findings of D. bellaare from localities in Turkmenistan and Iran, and also in Van Province, Turkey, disjunctive regions that are ca 1000-1400 km apart latitudinally. The site in Armenia where we found the species lies in between these extremes: 1000-1300 km to the west of the Kopet Dagh Mts in Iran-Turkmenistan and ca 200 km north-east of the site in eastern Turkey (Fig. 6). D. bella is probably more widely distributed, occurring in suitable biotopes in eastern Turkey, southern Armenia and northern Iran.

Agradecimientos

We are very grateful to Grzegorz Bistula-Prószynski, Roman Zamorski and Dariusz Wasiluk for accompanying us during the trip and helping with the field research.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GILLESPIE, T. W., LIPKIN, B., SULLIVAN, L., BENOWITZ, D. R., PAU, S. & KEPPEL, G., 2012.– The rarest and least protected forests in biodiversity hotspots.– Biodiversity Conservation, 21: 3597-3611.

KLYUCHKO, Z. F., 1984.– Two new Noctuid moth genera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).– Vestnik Zoologii, 1984 (3): 73-74. (in Russian).

KOÇAK, A. Ö. & KEMAL, M., 2012.– List of two thousand species of pterygot insects in Van Province (East Turkey) (Results of the entomofauna project of Turkey - 7).– Cesa News, 81: 2-86.

RONKAY, L., RONKAY, G. & BEHOUNEK, G., 2008.– Plusiinae 1. A Taxonomic Atlas of the Euroasian and North African Noctuoidea, 1: 342 pp. Heterocera Press, Budapest.

ZAHIRI, R. & FIBIGER, M., 2008.– The Plusiinae of Iran (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).– SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología, 36 (143): 301-339.

Author notes

*Autor para correspondencia / Corresponding author roman.wasala@up.poznan.pl