Eucosma callei Girdley, Garre, Rubio, & Ortiz, 2025

Eucosma callei Girdley, Garre, Rubio, & Ortiz , sp. nov.

Barcode Index Number. BOLD: AEO5630

Type material. Holotype, male. Spain; province of Murcia, Moratalla, Fuente de los Almeces , lat: 38.150384, long: -2.226821, 1,087 m, 20 Sep 2020, g. prep. JG-412, IBLAO2392-22 , leg. J. Girdley, RCBAUM collection. GoogleMaps

Paratypes. 4 ♂♂ with same data as holotype, g. prep. 2099MG, g. prep. 2100MG, g. prep. 2101MG, g. prep. 2102MG, leg. J. Girdley, RCBAUM and MNCNM collections .

Diagnosis. Externally the new species is similar to Eucosma gonzalezalvarezi but differs in the lighter ground colour of the forewing that attenuates the contrast with the costal strigulae and the ill-defined markings ( Figs 2A, B View FIGURE 2 ). The male genitalia of E. callei differ from those of E. gonzalezalvarezi in the position of ventral edge of sacculus, the angle of sacculus, the length of neck of valve, the depth of the ventral incision of valva and the size of uncus ( Figs 3A, B View FIGURE 3 ). Finally, these two and related species are separated by DNA barcode sequences, except E. aemulana and E. tripoliana which have identical barcodes ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ).

Description. Male. Adult ( Fig 2A View FIGURE 2 ). Head: frons whitish; vertex whitish; antenna filiform with scape and pedicellus whitish; labial palpus whitish somewhat ochreous on sides, porrect. Thorax: patagium pale brown; mesonotum ochreous; tegula ochreous; metanotum grey; thorax ventrally whitish; forewing length 5-6 mm (mean 5.5 mm, n= 5), costal fold 0.3 mm length of forewing; upperside ground colour creamy with brown admixture; nine pairs of distinct white costal strigulae, the one closest to median fascia is continued in a white striae; speculum white with two inner black elongate dots and refractive lines; three punctiform black spots anterior to speculum; basal blotch pale, dark brown distally and dorsally; subtornal spot small, dark brown; median fascia extending over costal edge of speculum towards the termen; cilia grey with dark brown admixture in apical area; underside dark grey on the costal region with strigulae repeating those of upperside and ochreous on the rest. Variation: without observed variation in forewing pattern and colouration. Hindwing upperside pale ochre, whiter basally, cilia whitish; underside concolourous with hindwing upperside. Abdomen grey.

Male genitalia based on 5 preparations ( Fig. 3A View FIGURE 3 ). Uncus reduced, rounded apically, slightly hairy. Socii drooping, thick and convex on the external side. Tegumen simple, large, straight-edged and tapering distally. Gnathos and anal cone slightly sclerotized. Basal part of valva relatively narrow. Sacculus slightly convex ventrally with weakly rounded caudal angle; neck of valva slender; ventral incision of valva distinct, but rather shallow. Cucullus large, with rounded dorsal angle and distinct ventral lobe, densely setous. Phallus short, tapering terminally, which contains a clump of deciduous cornuti.

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Eucosma callei sp. nov. appears to be endemic to the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, where it is only known from one locality in northwest Murcia Region.

Biology. The adult is active in September for one short generation annually. The early stages are unknown. Specimens were collected in a mountainous area at 1,087 m altitude of the Upper Mesomediterranean bioclimatic belt. This locality is characterized by forests of oaks ( Quercus spp. ) and pines ( Pinus spp. ) with some hackberries ( Celtis spp. ) and walnut trees ( Juglans spp. ) in moist soils. A great diversity of bushes and shrubs thrive in the forest clearing. In contrast, Eucosma gonzalezalvarezi inhabits xerothermophilic habitats such as sand dunes, salt marshes, wasteland and scrubland at altitudes below 800 m. It is especially abundant in anthropogenic areas with disturbed soils, like old abandoned cropland in which there are nitrophilous plant communities dominated by Artemisia barrelieri Besser and A. campestris L. subsp. glutinosa (Besser) Batt. , both potential host plants of this species, as is Artemisia herba-alba Asso after Agenjo (1970) ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ).

Etymology. The name of the species is dedicated to Dr. José Amador de la Calle Pascual, an eminent Spanish lepidopterologist who published his doctoral thesis on the Iberian Noctuidae in the 1980s and who has been a mentor to many other lepidopterologists.

Molecular characterization. The COI sequences form a BIN BOLD:AEO4373 (n=5; Table 1 View TABLE 1 ; sequence length 658 bp), with 0.36% maximum intraspecific variation (mean 0.17%). Based on COI divergence, the new species is isolated from E. gonzalezalvarezi (n=4) by a genetic mean distance of 6.2% (BOLD:AEO5630; Mean of 0.44 and Maximum distance of 0.97%) ( Table 1 View TABLE 1 ). The new species differs from the seven other Eucosma species compared by average of 6.25% (max.: 7.9%; min.: 3.2%) ( Table 2 View TABLE 2 ) and belongs to a phylogenetically isolated lineage which is well supported by morphology and genetic data.