Idaea medianocturna walaila Khudhur & Hausmann, ssp. nov.

Figs 4, 5

Type locality and repository: Iraq, Kurdistan, Sulaymaniyah, Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM).

Type material: Holotype: Male, Iraq, Kurdistan Region, Sulaymaniyah, Dukan, Gechina, 13.IV.2022, leg. Farhad A. Khudhur, (gen.prp. ZSM G 22562; DNA barcode: BC _ ZSM _Lep_115622). Paratypes: All Iraq, Kurdistan Region, Sulaymaniyah, leg. Farhad A. Khudhur, coll. ZSM: 2 males, Sharbazher, Gmo Mt, Hazarkanian, #6e, 35°54’44” N, 45°33’42” E, 3.VI.2023 (DNA barcode: BC_ZSM_Lep_118573). 1 female, Qara Dagh, Sagma Mt, 3.25km NW Jafaran vill., #3f, 35°18’37” N, 45°17’37” E, 19.V.2023. 2 females, Dukan, Zewe vill., Piramagroon Mt. #5a, 35°45‘36“ N, 45°14‘24“ E, 25.V.2023. - 1 female, Dukan, Zewe vill., Piramagroon Mt. #5a, 35°45‘36“ N, 45°14‘24“ E, 25.V.2023 (gen.prp. ZSM G 22563; DNA barcode: BC_ZSM_Lep_118574). - 1 female, id., #5b (DNA barcode: BC_ZSM_Lep_118575). 3 females, Gapilon, Maloma vill., 1.V.2022 (DNA barcode: BC _ ZSM _ Lep _118724). 1 female, Dukan, Zarzi vill., 13.IV.2022 (DNA barcode: BC_ZSM_Lep_115621).

Description. Adult, male (Fig. 4): Wingspan 14.5–16.5 mm. Ground colour of the wings is blackish brown. Wing pattern almost invisible, fringe blackish. Frons black brown, vertex paler grey brown. Palpi bushy, length 0.4–0.6 mm, i.e. 0.9–1.1 times diameter of eye. Antennae with dentate flagellum, shortly bipectinate with paired, ciliate, sub-triangular branches on each antennomere, length of branches 1.0–1.5 times width of flagellum. Hindtibia slender, length 1.0- 1.2 mm, hindtarsus fused, length 0.5–0.6 mm, i.e. tarsus half length of tibia.

Female (Fig. 5): Wingspan 15.5–18.5 mm. Sexual dimorphic, females much paler than males, grey with a beige tinge. Transverse lines better marked than in male, but vague. Terminal line of all wings is fine, blackish, fringe pale beige, with small blackish fringe dots. Length of palpi 1.2 times diameter of eye.

Male genitalia (Fig. 8): Uncus truncate at tip. Saccus short, broad. Valva long, narrowing to tip, at tip narrowly and shortly bilobous. Length of aedeagus 1.2 mm, of cornutus 1.0 mm (0.8 times length of aedeagus), cornutus narrow.

Female genitalia (Fig. 11): Antrum truncate. Ductus bursae longitudinally furrowed, length 1.2 mm, ductus seminalis arising from junction with corpus bursae. Minute spinules in the lateral part of corpus bursae, covering 3/4 of length.

Differential diagnosis: Slightly smaller than nominotypical Idaea medianocturna, wing coloration of males darker, pectination of male antennae slightly longer. Male genitalia of nominotypical Idaea medianocturna with tip of valva shortly bifurcate with dorsal projection longer than the ventral one. Female genitalia of nominotypical Idaea medianocturna with much less spinules, covering approx. 1/3 of corpus bursae.

Genetic data (Fig. 1): BIN: BOLD:AEU7115. Diverging from nominotypcal Idaea medianocturna by 1.68– 2.15%.

Distribution: Only known from Iraq, not listed for the fauna of Iraq (Wiltshire 1957), nor for the adjacent provinces of Iran (Rajaei et al. 2023).

Etymology: The name alludes to the names of the closely allied taxa (Idaea nocturna, I. medianocturna, I. millesima), their Latin names meaning „nightly “, „mid-nightly “and „the 1000th“, thus all three in a certain way referring to the Middle Eastern tales of 1001 nights (“Alf Laila Wa-Laila“ in Arabic language), wa-laila meaning “and one night” or “one more night”.