Gnorimoschema herbichii

Gnorimoschema herbichii (Nowicki, 1864)

Figs 1–6, 25–30, 49–53

Gelechia herbichii Nowicki, 1864: 17, pl. 1, fig. 6. Type locality: Ukraine: L’viv.

Lita pusillella Rebel, 1893: 47. Type locality: Spain: Albarracin.

Gelechia (Lita) tengstroemiella Joannis, 1910: 296. Type locality: France: Hardelot (departament Pas-de-Calais).

Lita pazsiczkyi Rebel, 1913: 173. Type locality: Slovakia: Trenčin.

Lita parentesella Toll, 1936: 407, pl. 49, fig.18. Type locality: Poland: Bydgoszsz; Ukraine: vicinity of Zalishchyky (Ternopil’ region).

Phthorimaea tengstroemi Hackman, 1946: 61, figs. 2, 5. Type locality: Russia: Petrozavodsk (Karelia Republic).

Gnorimoschema herbichi [sic] mongoliae Povolný, 1973: 19, figs. 4, 14, 22. Subspecies. Syn. nov. Type locality: Mongolia: Central aimak, 25 km E Somon Lun.

Gnorimoschema herbichi [sic] kamchaticum Povolný, 1977: 218, fig. 14. Subspecies. Syn. nov. Type locality: Russia: Kamchatka peninsula.

Material examined. CHINA: 1 ♂, Erdaoqiao, Ejin Qi (41°58' N, 101°04' E), Inner Mongolia, 927 m, 17.vii.2006 (Xinpu Wang & Xiangfeng Shi) (gen. slide no. L06142); 1 ♂, Minhe County, Qinghai, 14.vi.1994 (gen. slide no. L07020); 1 ♂, Xilin County, Inner Mongolia, 820 m, 4.viii.1997 (Houhun Li) (gen. slide no. L06099); 1 ♀, 960 m, Fuxing, Wuyuan County, Inner Mongolia, 16.vii.2002 (Zhiqiang & Dandan Zhang) (gen. slide no. L06089); 1 ♂, State forest farm, Luannan County, Hebei, 29 m, 4.vii.2001 (Yanli Du & Shulian Hao) (gen. slide no. L06070); 1 ♂, 680 m, 17.v.1995 (gen. slide no. L06083); 1 ♀, Yangling, Shaanxi, 450 m, 1.vii.1986 (Houhun Li) (gen. slide no. L07048); 2 ♂, Habahu, Yanchi County, Ningxia, 1461 m, 14.vi.2014 (Houhun Li, Wei Guan & Meiqing Yang) (gen. slide no. L14001); 1 ♀, Ningxia, Huangjiquan, Yanchi County, Ningxia, 17.vi.2014, (Houhun Li, Wei Guan & Meiqing Yang) (gen. slide no. L13099); 2 ♀, Burqin County, Xinjiang, 504 m, 21.vii.2007 (Xinpu Wang et al.) (gen. slide no. LLJ15204) (all kept in NKU).

Additional material studied. G. herbichii: TURKMENISTAN: 1 ♂, Turk. SSR, Badkhyz, Morgunovka, 25.iv.1980, na svet (Pechen); 1♀, Ispas, 70 km NW Tchardzhou, 30.v.1965 (Falkovitsh) (gen. slide no. 2/09, O. Bidzilya) (ZMKU); Uzbekistan: 1 ♂, 60 km SO Uchkuduk, Kyzylkum desert, 7.v.1966 (Pastuhov) (gen. slide no. 01/09, O. Bidzilya); 1 ♂, Zhamansai, Kyzylkum, Uzbek., 19.iv.1970 (Falkovitsh) (gen. slide no. 29/07, O. Bidzilya); 1 ♂, Zhamansai, 140 km NW Shafrikan, 8.vi.1967 (Falkovitsh); 1 ♀, Bukhara, Thargush, 27.v.1928 (Gerasimov) (all kept in ZIN); RUSSIA: 2 ♂, Bunbui, Kansk u., Enis. Gub., 7.vii.1916 (Valdaev) (ZIN); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Resp. Burjatia, 30 km E Ulan-Ude, Onkhoi, light, 16.vi.2000 (Ustjuzhanin) (gen. slide no. 83/ 15♂; 84/ 14♀, O. Bidzilya); 1 ♀, Burjatia, Severobaikalskyi distr., Kitchera vil., 19.vii.1990 (Ivonin); 2 ♂, Dauria, Onon river valley near Nizhnego Tsasutcheja, svet, 25.vi.1988 (Kostjuk); 1 ♂, Dauria, SE Zabaikalie, NE bank of Zun-Torey lake, Kuku-Khadan loc., 4.vii.1988 (Kostjuk); 1 ♀, Zabaikalie, Chitinskaya obl., okr. s. Kyra, 14.vii. 1997, 900 m, na svet (Bidzilya, Kostjuk & Kostjuk); 2 ♂, 2 ♀, Zabaikalie, Chita, 28.vi.1993 (Kostjuk, Kostjuk, Golovushkin & Salata) (all kept in ZMKU); 1 ♀, USSR, 65 0 1 N, 171 E, Chukchi aut. okrug, Middle Anadyr, 20 m, Equisetum shore with sand, 26-27.vii.1989 (Mikkola) (gen. slide no. 145/15, O. Bidzilya); 1 ♂, same data but meadow, 29.vii.1989 (gen. slide no. 144/15, O. Bidzilya (all kept in FMNH).

G. herbichii mongoliae: 1 ♂, paratype, MONGOLIA, Central Aimak, 25 km O. v. Somon Lun, 1200 m, 25.vii.1968 (Kaszab) (gen. slide no. Gz. 3969, D. Povolný) (HMNH).

G. herbichii kamchaticum: [RUSSIA] 1 ♂, paratype, Kamtschatka, Malaise, 402, Riksmusem Stokholm (gen. slide no. Kj. 4542, D. Povolný); 1 ♂, Paratype, same data but 404 (gen. slide no. 158/15, O. Bidzilya) (all kept in RMS).

G. soffneri montanum: AFGHANISTAN: Lectotype, ♂, N. - Afghanistan, Polichomri, 700 m, 5.vi.1956 (Amsel) (gen. slide no. Am. 1685) (SMNK); 3 ♂, Bamian Province, Bande-Amir, 2850 m, 20.vii.2013 (Pljushch & Skrylnik) (gen. slide no. 79/15, O. Bidzilya) (ZMKU); 4 ♂, 1 ♀, UZBEKISTAN: Bukhara, Tchargush, 1928 (Gerasimov) (gen. slide nos. 3/09 ♂; 5/09 ♀, O. Bidzilya) (ZIN).

Diagnosis. Externally G. herbichii is a very variable species (Huemer & Karsholt, 2010). It is characterized by blackish grey forewing with highlighted veins, black spots in cell and fold mottled with light brown, and the dirty white subapical fascia on ¾ that usually presents. The comparatively broad phallus that is 2–2.5times broader than its caecum, the posterior margin of vinculum strongly projected posteriolaterally, in combination with narrow sacculus are characteristic features of the male genitalia. The female genitalia are characterized by the welldeveloped antrum in combination with short apophysis anteriores that are slender throughout.

G. soffneri is very similar to G. herbichii but has the reddish brown pattern more strongly expressed. The genitalia of both species are very similar (see for the differences Huemer & Karsholt, 2010 and below under “Remarks”).

Description. See Huemer & Karsholt 2010.

Biology. The larva feeds on Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) and on Salix repens L. (Salicaceae) in Europe (Huemer & Karsholt 2010). However, the feeding on Equisetum may suggest a different species so deviant is this host plant from what is known of other Gnorimoschema (J.-F. Landry, pers. comm.).

Adults were observed from May to August in steppe habitats from sea level up to an elevation of 1260 m.

Distribution. China (Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Xinjiang), Mongolia, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (Falkovitsh & Bidzilya 2009), Russia: Murmansk region, Karelia Republic, Kirov region, Udmurtia Republic, Irkutsk region (new record) Buryatia Republic, Zabaikalskiy krai, Kamchatka (Ponomarenko, 2008; Bolshakov et al. 2014), Chukchi AR (new record), Europe, Canada.

Remarks. Most specimens from China externally resemble more G. soffneri (see Huemer & Karsholt 2010: fig. 1) than G. herbichii (Figs 5, 6) in having well developed reddish-brown markings on the forewing and a comparatively small size. Two specimens (gen. slide nos. L06142 ♂; L06089 ♀) are dark, ochreous brown instead of reddish brown (Figs 3, 4). The male genitalia match to those of G. herbichii from other regions (Figs 29, 30) except for the sacculus which is broader, longer and weakly curved. The same broad, but less elongated and more strongly curved sacculus is characteristic for G. soffneri (see Huemer & Karsholt 2010: fig. 1). The externally different male (gen. slide no. L06142) (Fig. 4) also slightly differs from the rest of specimens in the more elongated posteriolaterally posterior margin of the vinculum in the male genitalia (Fig. 28). The female genitalia of all Chinese specimens match well those of G. herbichii (Figs 52, 53), except for one specimen (gen. slide no. L06048) which differs in the narrower antrum (Fig. 51). So the specimens from China slightly differ in the male genitalia from both G. herbichii and G. soffneri in the shape of sacculus, but the female genitalia match better those of G. herbichii. Taking in account these suggestions we consider the Chinese specimens to be G. herbichii, although their status should be confirmed by DNA studies.

We also compared our material with G. soffneri montanum (Povolný, 1966), which was described from the mountains of Afghanistan. This subspecies is diagnosed by its uniformly coloured yellowish to ochreous brown forewing with grey irroration along the veins and costal margin. We were able to study the holotype of of G. s. montanum, as well as four males and one female from Bukhara district (Uzbekistan) and three males from Afghanistan (Fig. 7). The male genitalia differ both from G. soffneri and G. herbichii (including the series from China) in the present of distinct medial subtriangular hump on the posterior margin of the vinculum and stronger broadened distal portion of the valva (Figs 31, 32). The narrow vinculum of this subspecies seems more similar to G. herbichii, but the female genitalia (Fig. 54) match better those of the nominotypical G. s. soffneri. One female from this series fits G. herbichii both externally and in genitalia, thus we conclude that G. herbichii and G. s. montanum may occur sympatrically. The external and genitalia differences suggest that ssp. montanum may be a separate species, but the intermediate forms (Povolný 1992: 227; Huemer & Karsholt 2010: 40) need to be examined to confirm this suggestion.

Gnorimoschema h. mongoliae was described from three males and one female collected in northern Mongolia. Gnorimoschema h. kamchaticum was described from four males and two females collected in “ Kamtschatka ”, East Russia. We examined one male paratype of the first and two male paratypes of the latter taxa. We also studied several additional specimens of G. herbichii from the Southern Siberia and Chukotka (see material examined). These specimens are comparatively small and characterized by dark, blackish-grey forewing with poorly expressed orange markings. Similar dark, but usually larger specimens of G. herbichii are common in the northern Europe (Huemer & Karsholt 2010: 41). However, intermediate larger forms sometimes with ochreous markings occasionally occur among Siberian specimens. In general, the specimens from Kamchatka, Mongolia and Siberia fall within the range of the variation of nominotypical G. h. herbichii. This fact along with similarity in the genitalia does not warrant the recognition of subspecies and justify the synonymy of these taxa under G. herbichii (Nowicki, 1864).