Eupithecia djakonovi Stshetkin 1956

Eupithecia djakonovi Stshetkin, 1956

(Fig. 2)

Eupithecia djakonovi Stshetkin, 1956, Izvestia otdelenija estestvennyh nauk Akademii nauk Tajikskoj SSR 14: 143, figs 19–25, 30, 31. Holotype ♀ (designated by Mironov; ZISP, examined), [Tajikistan]: southern of Dzhilikul, Old Landing-stage.

The first description of this species in Russian (Stshetkin, 1956), with drawings of the female genitalia and pattern of the wings, gave no indication of the whereabouts of the type-series. We found one female with an original label of Stshetkin in the collection of ZISP, and here designate it as lectotype to stabilize the nomenclature. This littleknown species from the “ ultimaria ” group was described from the “tugai” or riparian forest in the arid region of southern Tajikistan. E. djakonovi was recorded for Mongolia in Mironov (1990) on the basis of a series of specimens, including 4 males and 6 females, collected by A. Lvovsky (ZISP). It was subsequently recorded for the Kyrgyz Alatau Mts. in southern Kazakhstan (Kaila & al., 1996). The male genitalia are described for the first time. The female genitalia are illustrated in figs 28a and b.

Male genitalia (Fig. 21). Uncus short and narrow, biapical with broad elongate ventral tip. Valve relatively small and narrow with broad sclerotized dorsal margin, and almost parallel dorsal and ventral margins, sharply tapered to a narrow, truncate apex; sacculus lightly sclerotized. Vinculum elongate and very broad, rectangular with rounded corners and shallow medial hollow. Papillae on the anterior arms of the labides long and narrow, clavate, and covered with short setae. Aedeagus rather elongate and narrow, equal to or slightly shorter than length of valve. Vesica armed with a short and pointed horn-like cornutus, a patch of minute spinules at its base and a narrow, lightly sclerotized and longitudinally striate plate-like cornutus near ductus ejaculatorius base. Ductus ejaculatorius attached to aedeagus at the middle. Sternite A8 lyre-shaped, with two broad arms connected only by a membranous medial area, diverging basally and slightly curved inward medially, and with heavily sclerotized, twisted, obtusely rounded hook-like apices.

Remarks. The male genitalia are similar to those of another Central Asian species E. dominaria Stshetkin, but are distinguished by the broader valve with broader, obtuse apex, the clavate papillae on the anterior arms of the labides, the presence of one horn-like cornutus on the aedeagus vesica (two horn-like cornuti in E. dominaria), and especially by the shape of the eighth sternite. Mongolia: Bayan-Khongor aimag.