A New Species and New Records of the Genus Meharia Chretien, 1915 (Lepidoptera, Cossidae) from the Middle East and Central Asia

Abstract

A new species, Meharia rolandi Yakovlev, sp. n., is described from the United Arab Emirates. The new species is most closely related to M. acuta Wiltshire, 1982, and M. hackeri Saldatis, Ivinskis, and Yakovlev, 2011, but differs from both in a number of characters: the fore wing of the new species is white, without any pattern (in M. acuta and M. hackeri, the fore wing has a pattern of pale longitudinal bands against a grey or brownish background); the valva in the new species has parallel margins (in M. acuta, the valva has a more strongly curved abdominal margin), the uncus is longer (in M. acuta, the uncus is 2/3 as long as the valva); the apex of the uncus is uncinately sharpened (in M. acuta, the apex is rounded); the harpe is slightly arched (in M. acuta, the harpe is straight). The species of Meharia Chretien 1915 are recorded in the fauna of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan for the first time.