Acta Zoologica Lituanica, 2008, Volumen 18, Numerus 2
DOI: 10.2478/v10043-008-0017-9
ISSN 1648-6919
A new species of Catocala from Israel (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) Vasiliy D. KRAVCHENKO¹, Wolfgang SPEIDEL², Thomas J. WITT³, Josef MOOSER4, Valeria N. SEPLYARSKY5, Aidas SALDAITIS6, Amy JUNNILA7, Günter C. MÜLLER8 ¹ Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. E-mail:
[email protected] ² Museum Witt, Tengstr. 33, D-80796 Munich, Germany. E-mail:
[email protected] ³ Museum Witt, Tengstr. 33, D-80796 Munich, Germany. E-mail:
[email protected] 4 Seilerbruecklstr. 23, D-85354 Freising, Germany. E-mail:
[email protected] 5 Plant Protection and Inspection Service, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Israel. E-mail:
[email protected] 6 Institute of Ecology of Vilnius University, Akademijos 2, LT-08412 Vilnius-21, Lithuania. E-mail:
[email protected] 7 Department of Parasitology, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec H9X 3V9, Canada. E-mail:
[email protected] 8 Department of Parasitology, Kuvin Centre for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Hebrew University-HadassahMedical School, Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract. Catocala amnonfreidbergi sp. n. from Israel, Upper Galilee (Nahal Bezet), is described and distinguished from the closely related Catocala nupta (Linnaeus, 1767). In addition, the habitat of the species is characterised and figured. Key words: Catocala amnonfreidbergi sp. n. Noctuidae, Lepidoptera, Israel
Introduction Catocala nupta (Linnaeus, 1767) can be associated with the North-American Catocala junctura Walker, 1858 group. It shows the same single tibial spine of the hindleg as Catocala arizonae Grote, 1873, a member of the junctura-group figured by Barnes and McDunnough 1918. This low number of spurs is probably characteristic of the whole group of species related to Catocala nupta. The junctura group, like the present species, belongs to the more extensive ‘group X’ of Barnes and McDunnough (1918) of which they say: ‘The similarity of the male genitalia and their tendency of slight variation within the species renders these useless as a means of specific identification’. Moreover, the valvae and their appendages have a quite different appearance according to their situation in the microscopic slides, so that they have to be analysed with care. All members of the group X have strongly asymmetric, differently-shaped left and right valvae. The highest degree of asymmetry of all species worldwide is characteristic of the present new species, which is described herein as new to science. Catocala amnonfreidbergi sp. n. (Fig. 1). Material: Holotype ♂: Israel: Upper Galilee, Nahal Bezet, 20. vii. 1982. A. Freidberg. TAU. Description. Wingspan 73 mm. Thorax covered with grey scale-hairs; abdomen pale brownish grey. Forewing pale grey, hardly irrorated darker grey, with yellowish
tint; antemedian line oblique, undulated; postmedian line with V-shaped projection beyond cell, with a smaller one immediately dorsal to it, bending sharply basad along CuA2, then in a vertical S-curve to dorsum; orbicular stigma absent; reniform stigma oval, dark outlined, with a pale patch basad. Hindwing scarlet, black median band hardly angled, evenly curved, not reaching dorsum; fringe yellowish white. Underside of forewing similar to that of other species of the group, dark grey, with the usual two pale crossbands. Underside of hindwing with pattern similar to that of upperside, but red area is paler. Male genitalia (Fig. 2): Asymmetrical. Uncus narrow, evenly curved, with small apiculus; scaphium a weakly
Figure 1. Catocala amnonfreidbergi sp. n. Holotype ♂. Israel: Upper Galilee, Nahal Bezet, 20. vii. 1982. A. Freidberg. TAU. Wingspan 73 mm.
128
Kravchenko V. D., Speidel W., Witt Th. J., Mooser J., Seplyarsky V. N., Saldaitis A., Junnila A., Müller G. C.
sclerotised ridge, somewhat mandibulate with uncus; valvae strongly asymmetrical, the left longer, with much more heavily sclerotised costa widely extending beyond the membranous part; left ampulla wider at base. Aedeagus straight in middle third, weakly angled towards base and curved distally. Diagnosis: Finger of left valva much longer than in Catocala nupta; black band of hindwing less angled, more curved. General distribution pattern: Endemic to the Levant. Distribution in Israel: The species is very rare and localised in the temperate region of Israel and so far has been found only in the type locality in the Upper Galilee (Nahal Bezet). Habitat (Fig. 3): Probably, a sylvicolous species, collected so far only once in a canyon in a shady deciduous
forest dominated by oaks with some poplar trees and willows. In Europe, the sister species Catocala nupta L. is found in a variety of broad-leaved woodlands including mixed forests, forest-steppes and bush lands, most common in riverine forests. Phenology: so far collected in July, probably univoltine like the sister species C. nupta, which in Europe flies from June to October. C. nupta clara Osthelder, 1933, the southernmost known population of C. nupta was observed in a small series of fresh specimens in midAugust in Marash, Turkey (Osthelder 1933). Host plants: unknown; the sister species C. nupta in Europe feeds on Salix sp. and Populus sp. Remark: the present new species has already been mentioned by Kravchenko et al. (2007). The species was intentionally not marked as new in this publication. Thus, the present paper constitutes the first valid description of the species (ICZN, fourth edition, art. 16.1).
Discussion
Figure 2. Male genitalia of holotype.
Figure 3. Habitat in the Upper Galilee: Nahal Bezet, forest, February aspect.
Catocala nupta has markedly differently-shaped left and right valvae. This asymmetry is not congruent in eastern and western palearctic specimens (Mell 1936). In western specimens, the costa of the left valva is sclerotised, whereas that of the right valva is not contrasting in its sclerotisation with the rest of the valva. In eastern specimens, the costal margins of both valvae are more sclerotised (Mell 1936). The membranous lower part of the valva is more or less advanced backwards and does not reach the apex of the valva, which is most characteristic of C. nupta and related species. This retraction is responsible for the finger-like projection of the costal margin of the valva. The length and shape of this costal finger seems to vary slightly in different subspecies as figured by Mell (1936). The Japanese taxon (nozawae Matsumura, 1911 = japonica Mell, 1936) is very unusual as the left valva is without a sclerotised costa and finger, whereas the right valva has a sclerotised costa with a short finger, so that the male genitalia are mirror-inverted to those of European specimens (Mell 1936), therefore nozawae may require the status of a separate species. The other East Asian populations of C. nupta, which show sclerotised costal margins of both valvae, seem also to be doubtfully conspecific and thus they have less tendency toward asymmetry as compared to European ones (Mell 1936). The male genitalia in transitional areas were not studied, so it is not clear whether the distribution is continuous or discontinuous. A good figure of the characteristic male genitalia of a European specimen can be found in Goa ter et al. (2003). Two Turkish specimens were dissected and were found to be principally identical so we have no
129
A new species of Catocala from Israel
doubt that they belong to the biospecies nupta. A cotype of Catocala nupta clara Osthelder, 1933 from Marash is very similar to the specimen figured by Goater et al. (2003) from Denmark; the left valva of that specimen was provided with a costal finger of about the same length as in the latter specimen from Denmark. In a Tunceli specimen (Turkey, Prov. Tunceli, Munzur Dağlari, 11 km NE of Tunceli, Munzur Vadisi Milli Park, 1,050 m, 29. vii. 2005, leg. Tibor Csövári), the finger was much shorter and broader indicating a considerable amount of variability in the populations from Asia Minor. However, habitual features in Turkish specimens do not differ much from those of European ones, except the larger size. There are no records of C. nupta in Lebanon (cf. Talhouk 1997; Wiltshire, in Ellison & Wiltshire 1939) and Iraq (cf. Wiltshire 1957), probably because the locality of C. amnonfreidbergi in Israel is isolated with a distribution gap in Lebanon where no nupta-like species has been found so far. The geographically closest population of C. nupta was found in Marash, in southeastern Turkey, from where the subspecies, C. nupta clara Osthelder, 1933, was described. The specimens of that subspecies are characterised as being much larger than central European specimens (80–82 mm wing span), with pale grey forewings and a narrower black band of the hindwing. In our opinion, the black band of the hindwing seems to be indistinguishable from that of European specimens and also the colouration seems not to be constantly different. Osthelder’s specimens were only slightly faded. All the specimens we saw from Asia Minor were larger than European specimens. The material studied is very limited and we expect that clinal transitions will be found in northern Asia Minor and southeastern Europe. At this time, we cannot justify a separate subspecies in the southern regions of Asia Minor. Etymology: The species is dedicated to one of the lead ing Israeli entomologists, the world-known dipterist, Dr Amnon Freidberg, the chief curator of the National Collection of Insects, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. He collected the type specimen in Nahal Bezet, close to the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Acknowledgements We heartily thank Dr Laszlo Ronkay and Gabor Ronkay (both of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest) for their kind and friendly help in many respects, Dr Olga Orlova (Micropaleontological Collection, Zoological Museum, Tel Aviv University) for her help with the plate, Dr Amnon Freidberg and Mr. Leonid Friedman (Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University) for their
valid contribution in ecology. For help in the field, we are grateful to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (NPA), who supplied the collecting permits, especially to Dr Rueven Ortal (Science and Conservation Division) and the staff of the NPA regional rangers.
References Barnes, W. and McDunnough, J. 1918. Illustrations of the North American species of the genus Catocala. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History (n. s.) 3 (1): 3–47. Ellison, R. E. and Wiltshire, E. P. 1939. The Lepidoptera of Lebanon. Proceedings of the Royal entomological Society of London (B) 9 (5): 1–56. Goater, B., Ronkay, L. and Fibiger, M. 2003. Catocalinae & Plusiinae. Noctuidae Europaeae. 10: 452. Denmark: Entomological Press, Sorø. International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1999: International code of zoological nomenclature. Fourth edition. London, xxix + 306 pp. Kravchenko, V. D., Fibiger, M., Hausmann, A. and Müller, G. C. 2007. The Lepidoptera of Israel. Erebidae 1: 167. Sofia – Moscow: Pensoft. Mell, R. 1936. Beiträge zur Fauna sinica. XI. Zur Biologie und Systematik der chinesischen Catocala (Lep. Heter.). Deutsche entomologische Zeitung Iris 50: 49–90. Osthelder, L. 1933. Noctuidae. In: L. Osthelder and E. Pfeiffer (eds) Lepidopteren-Fauna von Marasch in türkisch Nordsyrien. Mitteilungen München entomologische Gesuscht 23: 45–102. Talhouk, A. M. 1997. Insects’ Role in the Environment. Diversity of Moths in Lebanon. Beirut: the Fares Foundation (Lebanon). Wiltshire, E. P. 1957. The Lepidoptera of Iraq. London: Kaye.
Nauja Catocala (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) rūšis iš Izraelio V. D. Kravchenko, W. Speidel, T. J. Witt, J. Mooser, V. N. Seplyarsky, A. Saldaitis, A. Junnila, G. C. Müller Santrauka Straipsnyje pateikiamas naujos mokslui Catocala amnonfreidbergi sp. n. iš Aukštutinės Galilėjos (Izraelis, Nahal Bezet) aprašas. Ši rūšis yra artima Catocala nupta (L.) rūšiai, tačiau nuo jos skiriasi sparnų piešiniu ir genitalijomis. Received: 16 January 2008 Accepted: 25 April 2008
