Zootaxa 4341 (1): 089–096 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Correspondence ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2017 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4341.1.7 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0B72C957-6D77-43A3-BC11-277629C00C6E A new species of Charissa Curtis, 1826 from Europe (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)
SVEN ERLACHER1,2,3 & JOSEPHA ERLACHER2 1 Museum für Naturkunde, Moritzstraße 20, D-09111 Chemnitz, Germany; [email protected] 2 Further Straße 18, D-09113 Chemnitz 3Corresponding author
Charissa is a species-rich genus within the geometrid subfamily Ennominae, and is widely distributed in the Palaearctic and the Oriental regions; one species also occurs in the Nearctic. Their perfect adaptation to rocks on which they rest during daytime makes them sometimes difficult to tell apart on habitus. For that it is often necessary to analyze their genitalia. Since Sauter (1990), about 30 species, almost all European ones, have been newly combined from Gnophos Treitschke, 1825 to Charissa (Parsons et al. 1999). Currently, the genus is under revision by the authors of the present paper, and the genus name is under protection according to § 23.9.3. ICZN (Erlacher & Erlacher 2017). The taxon Cnestrognophos Wehrli, 1951 was originally proposed as a subgenus of Gnophos by Wehrli (1951), the type species being Gnophos praeacutaria Wehrli, 1922 from Central Asia. The subgenus currently comprises about 20 species in the Palearctic region. It is characterized, among other features, by the presence of a harpe (sensu Wehrli 1951), a special sclerotized structure in the male genitalia (see Fig. 1). Within the subgenus Cnestrognophos different morphological groups can be distinguished. In one of them, the mutilata-group, the harpe is shaped as a strongly sclerotized comb-like strip. It includes two species: Charissa (Cnestrognophos) mutilata (Staudinger, 1879) and Charissa (Cnestrognophos) pentheri (Rebel, 1901). Surprisingly, during our studies on European Charissa we found that specimens from southern Greece differ in the male and female genitalia from those of C. mutilata from Turkey, obviously representing a new species, which is described and illustrated below. Additionally, DNA barcoding was used to support the results. Terminology of male and female genitalia is explained in Fig. 1. All specimens were processed at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB, Guelph) to obtain DNA barcodes of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene which includes the standard 648 bp barcode region for the animal kingdom (Hebert et al. 2003). DNA extracts are stored at the CCDB. Complete specimen data can be accessed in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD) in the public data set DS-CNESPEL (https://doi.org/10.5883/DS-CNESPEL). A neighbor joining tree (Saitou & Nei 1987) with all barcoded species treated in this article has been made using the analytical tools of BOLD, analyzing the nucleotide sequences with a pairwise distances model and including fragment lengths of >400 bp. Genetic distances between species were obtained from a barcode gap analysis of full-length barcode fragments using the analytical tools of BOLD and are reported as minimum pairwise distances, Kimura 2 parameter (Kimura 1980). The examined material is deposited in the following institutional and private collections: MNC—Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz (coll. S. Erlacher), Germany; ZMUC—Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; ZSM—Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich, Germany; FEJ—E. Friedrich, Jena, Germany; GJK—J. Gelbrecht, Königs Wusterhausen, Germany; SGA—G. Sircoulomb, Anquetierville, France.
Charissa (Cnestrognophos) peloponnesiaria spec. nov. (adults Pl. 1, Figs 2a, 2b; male gen. Pl. 2, Fig. 2c; female gen. Pl. 2, Fig. 2d) Locus typicus: Greece, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains, NE Kosmas, 850 m. Deposition of holotype: MNC. Material examined. Type material. Holotype ♂ (Pl. 1, Fig. 2a; Pl. 2, Fig. 2c): ‘Greece – Peloponnes | Parnon- Gebirge | n/e Kosmas [37°07’58.56’’N / 22°45’41.54’’E], 850 [m] üNN | 11.09.2004 a[m]. L[icht]. | E[gbert]. Friedrich’, ‘SE–721 ♂ | gen. prep. | Erlacher, 2004’, ‘SE–MNC–Lep–00627’ [BIN BOLD:ADF5648],
Accepted by A. Saldaitis: 2 Aug. 2017; published: 30 Oct. 2017 89 Friedrich, gen. prep. SE–740, FEJ. 1♂, Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, above Kalavrita, 2200 m, 04.ix.1983, leg. M. Fibiger & A. Moberg, gen. prep. Sircoulomb–3066, SGA. 1♂, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains, Paleochori, 800 m, 21.–24.iv.1981, leg. F. Schepler, gen. prep. Viidalepp–73/99, barcode sample ID SE–MNC–Lep–00898, BIN BOLD:ADF5648; 1♀ (Pl. 1, Fig. 2b; Pl. 2, Fig. 2d), Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, Aroania Ori, 1500 m, 20.ix.1991, leg. F. Schepler, gen. prep. Viidalepp–54, barcode sample ID SE–MNC–Lep–00899, BIN BOLD:ADF5648, ZMUC. 1♂, Cephalonia, Mount Aenos, 1100 m, 26.viii.1996, leg. A. Segerer, gen. prep. SE–723, barcode sample ID SE–MNC–Lep–00897, BIN BOLD:AAD5324, ZSM.—Further material (a single specimen with deformed genitalia): Greece: 1♂, Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, SE Kalavrita, Plateau of Xerokambos, 38°01’04.89’’N / 22°12’11.23’’E, 1600 m, 15.ix.2004, lux, leg. E. Friedrich, gen. prep. SE–722, barcode sample ID SE–MNC–Lep– 00626, BIN BOLD:ADF5648, FEJ. Description. Adults (Pl. 1, Figs 2a, 2b). Wings. Wingspan: 21–30 mm (♂), 27 mm (♀); ground coloration ranging from whitish to ocher, scattered with darker scales; wing pattern with medial lines and discal spot sometimes distinct and shaded in orange; underside pale and dull. Male genitalia (Pl. 2, Fig. 2c). Uncus beak-shaped, abruptly narrowing towards distal end, blunt; gnathos slender, distally rounded; juxta deeply divided up to the base, juxta arms slender and pointed, skewer-shaped; costa well sclerotized and curved, distal third covered with long setae, medially with short and stout thumb-shaped process bearing a single strong thorn; valva with well sclerotized ventral margin and a short and strong thorn-shaped valva process; harpe shaped as a sclerotized prickly crest with rounded proximal and cusp-shaped distal protrusion; saccus short and small, bent backwards. Aedeagus tubular, without cornutus. Female genitalia (Pl. 2, Fig. 2d). Antrum inconspicuous, small; corpus bursae with a posterior longitudinal folded sclerotization of 0.77 mm in length and a hyaline anterior part with a half-rounded brain-like appendix bursae.
FIGURE 1. Structures of the genitalia in the Charissa mutilata-group. a)—male of C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov., b)—female of C. pentheri. ab: appendix bursae; ae: aedeagus; an: antrum; ap: apex; cb: corpus bursae; co: costa; co.th: costal thorn; ds: ductus seminalis; gn: gnathos; ha: harpe; ju: juxta; lf: longitudinal folding; lf.l: length of longitudinal folding; lvp: lateral vaginal plate; sa: saccus; un: uncus; va.p: valva process.
Diagnosis. Adults of C. peloponnesiaria closely resemble those of C. mutilata, but are slightly paler and less deeply colored. Adults of C. pentheri are larger (wingspan: 31 mm) and their wings always lack the occasionally occurring orange shading of the two other species. In the male genitalia, the new species is particularly recognizable by the shape of the harpe: unlike in the two other species of the mutilata-group, the harpe of C. peloponnesiaria is formed as a prickly crest with a rounded proximal and a short cuspidate distal protrusion, while in C. mutilata both protrusions of the harpe are longer and cuspidate (see Fig. 2). In C. pentheri the harpe is more evenly shaped without any protrusions, but this species is prima facie also distinguishable from C. peloponnesiaria by the thin costal thorns. In the female genitalia, the
90 · Zootaxa 4341 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press ERLACHER & ERLACHER FIGURE 2. Details of valva with arrows pointing at diagnostic characters. A, B—C. mutilata; C, D—C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov.
FIGURE 3. Distribution of Charissa peloponnesiaria spec. nov. in Greece.
A NEW SPECIES OF CHARISSA FROM EUROPE Zootaxa 4341 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press · 91 FIGURE 4. Habitat of Charissa peloponnesiaria spec. nov. A—Greece, Peloponnesus, Parnon Mountains, NE Kosmas, 850 m; B— Greece, Peloponnesus, Chelmos Mountains, SE Kalavrita, Plateau of Xerokambos, 1600 m.
92 · Zootaxa 4341 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press ERLACHER & ERLACHER FIGURE 5. Neighbor joining tree for all species of the Charissa mutilata-group on the basis of DNA barcoding (pairwise distances model for COI-5P marker) with Gnophos furvata ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) as outgroup. Terminal branches provided with species name, barcode sample ID, barcode length (bp), origin, and BIN number from BOLD.
A NEW SPECIES OF CHARISSA FROM EUROPE Zootaxa 4341 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press · 93 PLATE 1. Adults of the Charissa mutilata-group. 1—C. mutilata: 1a—♂ (NE Turkey, Prov. Trabzon, Dogu Karadeniz Mts., 7 km SE Ovitdagi Gecidi, 2000 m, ♀: 30.v.2000, e.o., leg. J. Gelbrecht, gen. prep. DNATAX–2322/Erlacher, GJK), 1b—♀ (NE Turkey, Prov. Ispir, Dogu Karadeniz Mts., Mount Korga, Köprüköy, 28.vii.2001, leg. J. Gelbrecht, gen. prep. DNATAX–2320/Erlacher, barcode sample ID SE–MNC–Lep–00152, GJK); 2—C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov.: 2a—holotype ♂ (see examined material), 2b—paratype ♀ (see examined material); 3—C. pentheri: 3a—♂ (Macedonia, Ochrid–Petrina, 07.–16.vi.1939, leg. B. Wolfschläger, ZSM), 3b—♀ (Macedonia, Ochrid–Petrina, 06.vi.1935, leg. B. Wolfschläger, ZSM). Undersides of specimens are denoted by ‘*’. Scale bar: 10 mm. discrimination between C. pentheri and C. peloponnesiaria is also more obvious than between C. mutilata and C. peloponnesiaria: C. pentheri has clasp-like sclerotized lateral vaginal plates in contrast to C. mutilata and C. peloponnesiaria where the lateral vaginal plates are flatter, the antrum is larger and rounded and furthermore the appendix bursae is situated at the left side of the corpus bursae (Pl. 2, Fig. 3d). The female genitalia of C. mutilata and C. peloponnesiaria are much more similar: in both species the antrum is very small and the appendix bursae is situated at the right side of the corpus bursae. However, in C. peloponnesiaria the folded longitudinal sclerotization of the corpus bursae is distinctly shorter (length of the folded longitudinal sclerotization in C. peloponnesiaria: 0.77 mm; length of the folded longitudinal sclerotization in C. mutilata: 0.83–1.16 mm). Distribution (Fig. 3). Until now C. peloponnesiaria is known from the North and South-East of the Peloponnesus and from the western Greek Island of Cephalonia. The species occurs at an altitude range from 800 up to 2200 m. Biology. On the basis of the present data the new species occurs in two generations at the end of April and from the end of August to the end of September. The adults have been found in open dry hills and calcareous rock habitats (Fig. 4). DNA Barcoding. Based on available molecular data the nearest species to C. peloponnesiaria are both, C. mutilata and C. pentheri, each with a COI distance to C. peloponnesiaria of 4.6% (see also Tab. 1 and Fig. 5). However, the morphology of male and female genitalia indicates a close relationship between C. peloponnesiaria and C. mutilata. While the distance between C. peloponnesiaria and either C. mutilata or C. pentheri is quite large, the distance between C. mutilata and C. pentheri is much smaller (3 percent). This suggests that C. peloponnesiaria may have diverged further from C. mutilata and C. pentheri than either has from each other, and thus supports the description of the new species. Etymology. The new species is named after the Peloponnesus, the peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece where most of the specimens of the new species have been found.
94 · Zootaxa 4341 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press ERLACHER & ERLACHER PLATE 2. Genitalia of the Charissa mutilata-group. 1—C. mutilata: 1c—♂ (same data as 1a), 1d—♀ (same data as 1b); 2—C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov.: 2c—holotype ♂ (same data as 2a), 2d—paratype ♀ (same data as 2b); 3—C. pentheri: 3c—♂ (same data as 3a), 3d—♀ (same data as 3b). Scale bar: 1 mm.
A NEW SPECIES OF CHARISSA FROM EUROPE Zootaxa 4341 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press · 95 TABLE 1. Genetic distances (minimum pairwise distances, Kimura 2 parameter) to the nearest neighbor of three species of the Charissa mutilata-group resulting from a barcode gap analysis of full-length barcode fragments using the analytical tools of BOLD (COI 5’, 658 bp). C. pentheri C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov. C. mutilata 3.0% 4.6% C. peloponnesiaria spec. nov. 4.6%
Acknowledgments We are grateful to Axel Hausmann and Andreas Segerer, both Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich, Germany; Ole Karsholt, Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Egbert Friedrich, Jena, Germany; Jörg Gelbrecht, Königs Wusterhausen, Germany, and Guy Sircoulomb, Anquetierville, France, for their generosity in loan of material. We are also grateful to Paul D.N. Hebert, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Canada, and his competent teams at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB, University of Guelph), for sequencing and for access to the BOLD informatics platform; DNA analyses were supported by Genome Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in the framework of the International Barcode of Life (iBOL) program. We would like to thank Hossein Rajaei, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Germany; Stoyan Beshkov, National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Axel Hausmann for giving advice and support, as well as Axel Hausmann for his useful comments on the manuscript. Special thanks to Sir Anthony Galsworthy, London, United Kingdom, who assisted in checking the English.
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