A new species of Dyspessa Hübner, (Lepidoptera, Cossidae) from Western China, with catalogue of Chinese species of the genus.

Abstract

The genus Dyspessa is the largest genus of carpenter moths including 60 valid species, widely distributed in Western Palearctic, especially in Sahara desert, Minor Asia, Iran and Central Asia (Yakovlev 2011; 2015). Most of the species have a small distribution range, limited by mountain ranges or deserts (Yakovlev & Dubatolov 2013). The only known trophic preferences of Dyspessa are their specialization to different species of the plant genus Allium (Alliaceae) (Yakovlev 2015). There are only three species known from China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Dyspessa saissanica Yakovlev, 2014 (erroneously listed for Hami (Xinjiang) as Dyspessa salicicola (Eversmann, 1848) (Yakovlev 2005), Dyspessa tristis A. Bang-Haas, 1912 (known by a single male from Chinese part of Mongolian Altai mountains collected by Grigory Grumm-Grzhimaylo (probably in June 2003, Kurtu river of Kran river basin) and Dyspessa rueckbeili Yakovlev, 2007, described from Central Asia, Altyn Tagh [Altun Shan] (Altun Shan is a mountain range in northwestern China that separates the eastern Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Plateau (Yakovlev 2007). The western third is in Xinjiang while the eastern part forms the border between Qinghai to the south and Xinjiang and Gansu to the north). During a study of the new Dyspessa specimens from Western China, West South part of Xinjiang the new species, described below, was found.