Lectotype (hereby designated in order to stabilize nomenclature) ♀, ”Syr. sept. [Turkey], Marasch, Achyr Dagh sept. Bertiz Jaila, 1800m, 09.-13.vi. [19]29, E. Pfeiffer leg.”, ”Cataclysme riguata Hb. var. subtilisparsata Wrli.”, ”Type”, ”Prep. Nr. G 81, ♀, G. Ebert”, ”BC ZFMK Lep 00781”; 1 ♀, S-Ost [S-East] Turkey, Hakkari Uludere, Tanin Tanin, 2200 m, 05.vi.1985, leg. P. Kuhna; 1 ♀, Ost [East] Turkey, Van, 2600 m, Güzeldere Paß, 06.vii.1979, leg. P.Kuhna, g. prep. 1491/2011 H. Rajaei; 1 ♂, same data, 18.vi.1985; in ZFMK. 5 ♂, 5 ♀, Turkey centr. Provinz Adiyaman, Nemrut Dag, 38°02’07’’ N / 38°45’48’’ E, 1700-2000 m ü.NN, 23.-25.v.2009, LF, leg. Fiebig & Rothe, g. preps: ♂ 1805, ♀ 1806/2012 H. Rajaei; in coll. Stadie. 1 ♂, “Syria s., [Turkey], Taurus, Marasch, Einh.Slg. [local collectors] leg., 20.vi.34: in ZSM. 1 ♂, same data, viii.29; 2 ♂, same data, x.29, one with g. prep. ZSM G 8945; 1 ♂, O-Turkey, Hakkari, östl. Bagisli, 1600 m, 09.vii.1979, leg. Gross, in coll. EMEM/ZSM. 1 ♀, [northern] Iran, Pr. Mazandaran, Al Borz Mts. [Resteh-Ye-Elborz], 2998 m, Mazandaran Pass, 36.231° N / 51.438° E, leg. and coll. G. Petrany, DNA Barcode BC PG Lep 0100.

Wingspan 25–29 mm, forewing length 13.2–15.0 mm; n=11. Apex pointed. Termen slightly rounded. Ground colour of forewing light ochre-brown to light grey-brown; basal and medial area darkened in half of all individuals, the others rather uniform; transverse lines well developed, distinct and dentate; postmedial line bordered distally with white scales; subterminal line narrow, whitish, more or less complete; terminal line fine dark brown, streak-like, interrupted at the veins; costa often suffused with whitish scales. Cell spots round, always present but often weak and hardly visible. Fringes slightly lighter than ground colour, chequered. Hindwing colour slightly lighter than forewing. Transverse lines usually indistinct except the postmedial and terminal lines. Cell spots usually absent. If present then very weak, developed as an elongate streak. Underside of both wings lighter than upper side, suffused with light ochre-brown scales. Transverse lines absent or strongly reduced except the postmedial and terminal lines. Cell spots on both wings weak, but always present. Head and frons unicolorously ochre-brown. Palpi reduced in size. Antennae of male slightly dentate in lateral view, those of female filiform. Tibia of forelegs without spurs, of mid-legs with one pair, of hindlegs with two pairs of spurs. Chaetosemata present.

Figures 1–4. 

Wing pattern. 1 and 2, Cataclysme subtilisparsata: 1. Lectotype, ♀, Achyr Dagh (Marasch, Turkey); 2. ♂ from Nemrut Dag (Adiyaman prov. Turkey). 3 and 4, Cataclysme riguata: 3. ♀ from N Aksar (NE Turkey); 4. ♂ from West Ügrüp (Turkey); a. upperside; b. underside. Scale bar: 1 cm.

Uncus flat, bifid, projections distally rounded. Valva broadly sclerotized at costa, with a rounded lobe and a deep, sub-apical incision. Apical projection thin, with small rounded tip. Juxta narrow and largely reduced, situated between the oval basal parts of the valvae and behind the pseudojuxta (only partly visible in Figs 5a, 7a), saccus well developed, broad. Phallus straight, long and slender with termino-lateral spinulose crests; vesica biforked with numerous cornuti (Figs 5a, b).

Figures 5–8. 

Male and female genitalia. 5 and 6, Cataclysme subtilisparsata: 5. male (gen prep. 1805/2012 H.R.); 6. Lectotype (gen prep. G 81); 7 and 8, Cataclysme riguata: 7. male (gen prep. 1807/2012 H.R.), 8. female (gen prep. 1492/2011 H.R.); a. male genitalia aparat; b. phallus. Abbreviations. pj, pseudojuxta; tl.c, termino-lateral crests; v, vesica. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Ductus bursae furrowed, slightly curved, near ostium remarkably widened, more sclerotized. Corpus bursae membranous (Fig. 6).

C. subtilisparsata differs from the closely related C. riguata by its slightly larger size. Wingspan in the latter 20–25 mm (n>100) in the former 23–27 mm (n=16), in one specimen from Hakkari, however, only 21 mm. The ground colour is notably lighter, on average. Specimens with darkened basal and medium field never occur in C. riguata. Despite a wide range of variation the transverse lines, especially basal and antemedial lines, are often more zigzagging and thus more reminiscent of C. uniformata (Bellier 1862) than of C. riguata. Furthermore, the forewing cell spots are usually absent in the latter. In male genitalia, pseudojuxta of C. riguata (Fig. 7a) round, in C. subtilisparsata elongate sub-rectangular (Fig. 5a). In female genitalia, ductus bursae of C. riguata (Fig. 8) larger, more robust and more strongly sclerotised than in C. subtilisparsata (Fig. 6)

Genetic similarity and interspecific distances are shown in the neighbour-joining tree (Fig. 9). Exact distance values are listed in Table 1. Based on these data Calaclysme subtilisparsata is more than 7% divergent from all other examined Calaclysme and Paraplaneta species, confirming our hypothesis of species rank for C. subtilisparsata. However, sequencing of more specimens from northern Iran and all regions of Turkey is highly recommended. Furthermore, the identity of the taxon festivata needs to be investigated (cf. Fig. 9) and its lectotype designated. We consider here the populations from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as belonging to this taxon. The interpretation of Scoble (1999) (mentioning ‘Amur’ as locus typicus) is erroneous; Staudinger (1892) clearly states that “the Central Asian populations from Alai, Alexander Mountains, Osch, Usgent, Namangan and Prov. Samarkand” should bear this name. Preliminary data furthermore suggest that there is another taxon forming a separate genetic cluster, so far recorded from Georgia, eastern Turkey and Altai mountains. We do not exclude the possibility that this cluster refers to “Cataclysme riguata elbursica Wagner, 1937”. Cataclysme shirniensis Ebert, 1965 (described from N. Afghanistan) is not included in the present study due to the lack of material.

Figure 9. 

Un-rooted neighbour-joining tree based on individuals belonging to six species of the genera Calaclysme and Paraplaneta (calculated using the Kimura 2-parameter model with MEGA 5 (Tamura et al. 2011)).

So far Cataclysme subtilisparsata is known only from the high mountain chains of south-east Turkey from Ceyhan Valley in the west to the mountain ridge south of Van in the east and Mazandaran in north Iran (see Fig. 9).

Similar to other Cataclysme species, C. subtilisparsata is a bivoltine species. The flight period of the first generation lasts from mid-May to the first third of June. The second brood occurs in July (result of in-vitro breeding experiments by first author and in-vivo by Ralf Fiebig in Nemrut-mountain, pers. comm.). The species inhabits steep, more humid east- and north-facing escarpments and outcrops from 1500–2100 m above sea level. The slopes are mainly covered with stands of thorny cushion plants dominated by xero-montane Acantholimon (Plumbaginaceae) and Astragalus (Fabaceae) mixed with herbaceous vegetation. The host plant is probably a low growing, white-flowering Asperula sp. (Rubiaceae). In captivity the caterpillars accepted other Rubiaceae like Galium mollugo L. and G. verum L. The development lasts three weeks under laboratory conditions. The species shares its habitat with Ennominae species: Charissa pfeifferi (Wehrli, 1951), Charissa mutilata (Staudinger, 1879) and Gnophos libanotica (Wehrli, 1931).

Full-grown larva (L5) moderately slender, length 3 cm. Ground colour dorsally light green. Head beige. Epistigmatal line fine, whitish. Stigmatal line broad, ivory coloured, with a yellow tinge, indistinct. Stigmata bright yellow, bordered by a fine black margin. The whole body is covered scarcely with fine blackish setae, with small blackish patches at their bases. Ventrum uniform whitish-green (Fig. 11).

Figures 10, 11. 

Cataclysme subtilisparsata in Turkey, Dogu Anadolu, Province Malatya, north of Nemrut Dag. 10. Imago (female), 11. larva.