O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 67. (Budapest, 2006)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK Volume 67 2006 pp. 115-136. New taxa of Autophila Hübner, 1823 from Central Asia. Studies on the genus Autophila Hübner, 1823, part VI (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Catocalinae) L. RONKAY Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum H1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary. E-mail: ronkay@zoo.zoo.nhmus.hu Abstract - Autophila turcomana sp. n. (Turkmenistan), Autophila gabrieli sp. n. (Pakistan) and Autophila asiatica megasiatica ssp. n. (Pakistan) arc described. With 34 figures. Key words - Autophila, new species, taxonomy, Central Asia. INTRODUCTION The basic knowledge about the species richness of the genus Autophila HÜBNER, [1823] was established principally by the fundamental works of BOURSIN (1940, 1947, 1955a, b, 1963, 1967), WILTSHIRE (1952, 1975) and by the descriptions of the author of the present paper and his co-authors (RONKAY 1986, 1989, BENEDEK & RONKAY 2001, FIBIGER & RONKAY 1991, HACKER & RONKAY 1990, RONKAY & TARMANN 1988). The taxonomic placement and the phylogenetic relationships of the genus was discussed by BOURSIN (1955), DUFAY (1976) and RONKAY (1986); the modern view on the phylogenetic connections of the Autophila-Apopestes-Lygephila generic complex is provided in detail by GOATER et al. (2003). This last monographic work summarised the taxonomic and biogeographical information known about the European species of the genus and published an account of the described taxa. The studies on the new Autophila material produced by the intensive collecting of the last fifteen years in the arid regions of the Palaearctic resulted in a considerable increase of our knowledge on the real distribution of several poorly known species (e.g. A. hirsutula (ALPHÉRAKY, 1893), A. himalayica (HAMPSON,