Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 94. (Budapest 2002)

Ronkay, L.: A new species of Aedophron Lederer, 1857 from Iran (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Heliothinae)

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATION ALIS HUNG ARI Cl Volume 94 Budapest, 2002 pp. 181-191. A new species of Aedophron Lederer, 1857 from Iran (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Heliothinae) L. RONKAY Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum H-Í088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary. E-mail: ronkay@zoo.zoo.nhmus.hu Abstract - A new Aedophron species, A. sumorita sp. n. is described from Iran. The genitalia of the four western Palaearctic species of the genus are characterised and illustrated. Aedophron monotonia AMSEL, 1935 is synonymised with A. phlebophora LEDERER, 1858. With 43 figures. Key words - Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Aedophron, Iran, new species, new synonymy. INTRODUCTION As a result of the series of Hungarian entomological expeditions to various parts of Iran in the years 1999-2001, a large material of Noctuidae was collected. The first novelties found in this material have been published by BENEDEK & RONKAY (200\a, b). The present paper contains the description of a new Aedophron LEDERER, 1857 species found in the Zagros Mts, SW Iran. The eremic heliothine genus Aedophron LEDERER, 1857 contains altogether six species: rhodites (EVERSMANN, 1851), sumorita sp. n., venosa CHRISTOPH, 1887, eos VARGA et RONKAY, 1991, sueli THÖNY, 1993 and phlebophora LEDERER, 1858, respectively (see Figs 1-14). The taxon monotonia AMSEL, 1935, described from Palestine, is not a distinct taxon as mentioned by the recent catalogues (POOLE 1989, HACKER 1990) but a mere synonym of A. phlebophora (syn. n.) representing a patternless pale form of the nominate species. Such patternless pale yellow forms may appear in different populations of A. phlebophora, although they are rather rare; a similarly patternless, ochreous-yellowish form of A. venosa is also recorded (see Fig. 8). The species of the genus inhabit desert and semi-desert habitats of the Near East, Asia Minor, Iran and the western part of Central Asia, only one species, A. eos, is recorded from Inner Asia, while two of them are known from the eastern edges of Europe (A. rhodites from the Black Sea Coast, SE Ukraine, S Russia and the European part of Kazakhstan; A. phlebophora is reported from European Tur-