Deserticossus kamelini Yakovlev & Witt, sp. nov.

Deserticossus kamelini Yakovlev & Witt, sp. nov.

(Figs 3 ¯4, 55, 57)

Material. Holotype: ♂, Kyrgyzstan, Fergana-Tal, Osch, 1200 m, 16.vii.1996 (GenPr MWMW: 25.259; MWM); paratypes: 3 ♂, 1 ♀, same data as holotype (MWM).

Description. Length of fore wing 19 mm. Thorax and tegula pale brown. Tegula and patagium pale brown. Antenna simple, not pectinate. Fore wing rather wide, apex rounded, pale brown with sparsely scattered brown scales, small black strokes on costal edge, very thin and barely visible longitudinal strokes in postdiscal area between radial and medial veins, two blurred longitudinal brown strokes in discal area between veins CuA2, CuP and A1+2. Hind wing fuscous, without pattern, with thin pale bordering on outer edge. Fringe on both wings dark at veins, pale between veins.

Male genitalia. Uncus triangular and elongate; gnathos arms long, thin; gnathos ribbon-like, covered with fine spikes; valva gradually narrowing to apex, lanceolate, costal edge with small trapezoidal crest with even edges, weakly expressed rib (from costal edge to middle of valva width) on inner surface of valva; transtilla process with thick base, gradually narrowing to distal third, distal third drawn, uncinately curved, apex pointed; juxta tiny, with small lateral processes; saccus medium sized, semicircular; phallus a little shorter than valva, strongly curved in proximal and distal third; apex spoon-like, vesica aperture in dorso-apical position, length ¼ of phallus, vesica without cornuti vesica without cornuti.

Female. Length of fore wing 24 mm, wing pattern is similar to that of male.

Female genitalia. Papillae anales conical, with transverse ribs. Posterior apophyses one quarter longer than anterior ones. Ostium cup-like, poorly submerged. Ductus lomg, narrow. Bursa without signa, membranous, sacklike. Ductus seminalis falls into proximal part of bursa.

Diagnosis. In general habitus, the new species is the most similar to D. campicola (Eversmann, 1854) and D. murinus (Rothschild, 1912), but differs from both as follows:

- from D. campicola and D. murinus by the trapezoidal process on the costal edge of the valva; in D. campicola, the process on the costal edge of the valva is semicircular, the elongated distal edge of the transtilla process.In D. campicola, the transtilla process is gradually narrowing from base to apex), the phallus is strongly curved in proximal and distal thirds; in D. campicola, the phallus is slightly curved in median third.

- from D. murinus, in addition to the genitalic characters, D. kamelini differs by the pale brown fore wing; in D. murinus, the fore wing is grey.

Etymology. The new species is named after Prof. Rudolph W. Kamelin (1938¯2016), a prominent Russian botanist and biogeographer, a noted expert on the flora of Central Asia, who had a great influence on the development of the first author’s knowledge on biogeography.