New data on the little-known snout moth species Pyrausta pionalis Toll, 1948 (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Abstract

New data on the distribution, ecology, and COI sequence of the little-known species Pyrausta pionalis Toll, 1948 are presented. The distribution range of this species extends from Southern Transcaucasia in the west to Southern-East Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the east. Moths were collected in dry mountain steppes with sagebrush at the altitudes between 1000 and 3200 m. It differs from the closely related P. armeniaca Slamka, 2013 and P. zeitunalis Caradja, 1916 by the wing pattern and colouration (it is much lighter than P. armeniaca and with well-developed wing pattern elements instead of poorly developed wing pattern in P. zeitunalis) as far as by the male genitalia (in P. pionalis apical branch of the aedeagus is smooth, in P. armeniaca it is covered by small spikes; in P. zetinalis this branch is well separated as far as in P. pionalis it is an extension of the distal fold of the aedeagus)

Keywords

• lepidoptera
• crambidae
• pyrausta pionalis
• distribution
• ecology
• coi