Tegostoma burtoni Šumpich, Karsholt, Savenkov & Roweck, 2022 DOI: 10.3897/nl.45.87795 |
Abstract
A small but beautifully coloured species of Tegostoma Zeller, 1847, which was collected by the authors in Armenia, has turned out to be unnamed and is here described as Tegostoma burtoni sp. nov. The description is supported by morphology and DNA barcodes . Photographs of the adults and genitalia of both sexes are provided. Tegostoma lepidalis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851) and Pyrausta gulpembe Kemal & Koçak, 2018 are recorded as new species for Armenia.
Tegostoma burtoni sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Tegostoma burtoni sp. nov. is similar to some other Tegostoma species, mainly T. lepidalis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851), and to Pyrausta gulpembe Kemal & Koçak, 2018 in external appereance, but it differs by its smaller wingspan. It differs from all Tegostoma species of comparable size by the distinctive purple colour of the forewings.
Etymology: The species name is derived from the name of John Andrew Burton, a worldwide active conservationist, in honour of his strong support of establishing nature reserves in Armenia. It is to his merit to have established the Artsakh Nature fund and that more than 30,000 hectares of unique habitats are now protected within the borders of the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge.
Note: The nature reserve is named after the old name of the village Gorovan, which has later become Goravan. But the official name of this protected area remained in its original spelling. Therefore, the names of the municipality and the protected area differ.
Jan Šumpich, Ole Karsholt, Nikolay Savenkov and Hartmut Roweck. 2022. The Genus Tegostoma in Armenia, with Description of A New Species (Crambidae, Odontiinae). Nota Lepidopterologica. 45: 269-278. DOI: 10.3897/nl.45.87795