Leucania (Leucania) herrichii Herrich-Schäffer, 1849

Ravan, Behnaz, Esfandiari, Mehdi & Mossadegh, Mohammad Saeed, 2024, First record of Leucania herrichii Herrich-Schäffer from Iran with new distribution data of Leucaniini (Lep., Noctuidae), Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 10 (4), pp. 797-804 : 799-801

Leucania (Leucania) herrichii Herrich-Schäffer, 1849 ( Figs 1, 2)

Material examined. FARS: 10♀ / ♂, Tang- e abolhayat, 29°44'02"N, 51°46'58"E, 1310m, 29.ix.2011, leg. M. Esfandiari; 3♀♀ 3♂♂, Qir- o-Karzin, 28°26'36"N, 53°10'11"E, 860m, 22.ix.2011, leg. M. Esfandiari; 4♀♀ 1♂, Kamfiruz , 30°20'28"N, 52°13'13"E, 1720m, 25.viii.2011, leg. M. Esfandiari. ILAM: 1♂, Manesht and Ghelarang , 33°34'47"N, 46°33'52"E, 1719m, 10.ix.2018, leg. M. Ahmadi. KERMAN: 1♀, Baft, Khabr , 28º39'43"N, 56º26'50"E, 1920m, 14.ix.2015 , leg. S. Shahreyari- Nejad; 1♀, Baft, Dehsard , 28º40'39"N, 56º33'02"E, 1811m, 15.x.2015, leg. S. Shahreyari-Nejad ; 1♀, Jiroft, Hishin , 28º38'23"N, 57º56'43"E, 1341m, 23.ix.2015, leg. S. Shahreyari-Nejad. KHUZESTAN: 4♀♀ 1♂, Baghmalek, Malaqa , 31°23'03"N, 50°09'13"E, 1100m, 16.x.2011, leg. M. Esfandiari ; 2♀♀ 1♂, Shelal , 32°16'19"N, 49°33'07"E, 954m, 19.ix.2018; leg. M. Ahmadi ; 2♂♂, Imamzadeh Abdollah , 31°22'24"N, 50°07'51"E, 1407m, 23.ix.2018, leg. M. Ahmadi.

Morphological characters. The head, thorax and forewings are dark brown, whole the abdomen is lighter. The antennae are filiform. The terminal area and center of the median area are darker. Crosslines are darker, somewhat wide, and undulating, with a prominent black basal dash; the reniform stigma narrows to a small white spot at outer part of the cell, orbicular and claviform stigmata are absent. Terminal spots are indistinct. The hindwings creamy white with slender brown margin in male, whereas in female, the marginal field and veins are distinctly darker with a slight greyish brown suffusion toward the outer margin. Transverse lines are indistinct on the underside of the forewings, and the underside of the hindwings is whiter with no pattern ( Fig. 1A–B).

Male genitalia. The valve has an arciform outer margin, with the cucullus having an ovate outer margin and being pressed at the neck, and lacking corona. The harpe is long and slender, crossing the costal edge of the valva. The ampulla is elongated and pointed toward the outer valval edge ( Fig. 2A). The vinculum is V-shaped and attached to a long tegumen and ends in a long and tapered uncus. The juxta is short and wide. The sacculus is short, and slightly convex, with a small clavus. The aedeagus is wider and rounded at caecum side and curved in the middle. The vesica is tubular and very long, medially curved, with somewhat broad and long cornuti area. The terminal part is narrow ( Fig. 2B).

Female genitalia. The ovipositor is robust with long and narrow gonapophyses. The ostium bursae is somewhat broad, tapering, and evenly sclerotized. The ductus bursae is elongated and tube-shaped, decorated by longitudinal ribs. The appendix bursae broad and short with longitudinal ribs on the proximal part, compared to the ductus bursae ( Fig. 2C).

Diagnosis. According to Hacker et al. (2002), L. herrichii is closely related and similar to L. punctosa (Treitschke) and L. putrescens (Hübner) (both occurring in Iran) in its habitus but differs by having wider and larger forewings with more pronounced crosslines and a generally darker colouration. In the male genitalia, L. herrichii differs from L. punctosa by having a larger cucullus and a shorter vesica with a shorter field of cornuti. The female genitalia of L. herrichii has shorter ductus and appendix bursae than those of L. punctosa . The male genitalia of L. herrichii differ from those of L. putrescens in having a longer ampulla, a less rounded cucullus, a slightly shorter and wider field of the cornute, and a shorter terminal cornutus on the vesica.

Bionomics. This univoltine species is active from August to mid-autumn. It inhabits xerophilic and thermophilic biotopes, preferring medium altitudes. The early stages and bionomics are unknown. The larval host plants are probably Poaceae species ( Hacker, 2001; Hacker et al., 2002).

Distribution. Leucania herrichii ranges from Bulgaria and Greece to Turkmenistan ( Hacker et al., 2002), and is also present in Iran (New record).