The genus Tegostoma in Armenia, with description of a new species (Crambidae, Odontiinae)

. A small but beautifully coloured species of Tegostoma Zeller, 1847, which was collected by the authors in Armenia, has turned out to be unnamed and is here described as Tegostoma burtoni sp. nov. The description is supported by morphology and DNA barcodes . Photographs of the adults and genitalia of both sexes are provided. Tegostoma lepidalis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851) and Pyrausta gulpembe Kemal & Koçak, 2018 are recorded as new species for Armenia. distance


Introduction
The genus Tegostoma Zeller, 1847 comprises 31 species (Nuss et al. 2003(Nuss et al. -2022. The authors' concept accepts the synonymization of some genera with the genus Tegostoma, namely Anthophilodes Guenée, 1854 and Anthophilopsis Ragonot, 1891 as proposed by Amsel (1949Amsel ( : 305, 1970, and this taxonomic status is also followed in Lepiforum (2008Lepiforum ( -2021. However, some current works consider these genera to be valid, including the genus Aeschremon Lederer, 1863 for T. disparalis (Herrich-Schäffer, [1855]), e.g., Slamka (2006) and Anikin et al. (2017). We follow the systematic arrangement proposed by Nuss et al. (2003Nuss et al. ( -2022, however, we are aware that generic combinations of some taxa may not be final. Phylogenetic studies including the type species of all generic names are needed to shed more light on this issue.
The aim of this contribution is to present the description of a new species, which is very conspicuous by its external appearance. Apart from consulting relevant literature, we have continuously searched for this species in various museum collections, including the museums in Vienna, Berlin and St Petersburg, wrich in Lepidoptera from Armenia, and where it would be easily recognizable due to its striking colouration. As a result, we came to the conclusion that this is a hitherto undescribed species, the description of which we present here.

Specimens
The study material collected was attracted at ultraviolet light (8W/12V tubes and 80W mercury vapour bulbs) installed in portable light traps.

DNA Barcoding
Tissue samples (dry legs) from specimens of Tegostoma and Pyrausta gulpembe were successfully processed at the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCBG, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph) (deWaard et al. 2008), resulting in 576-658 base-pair DNA barcode segments of the mitochondrial COI gene (cytochrome c oxidase 1). The sequences together with details of the sequenced voucher specimens were uploaded to the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD; Ratnasingham and Hebert 2007). Degrees of intra-and interspecific variation of DNA barcode fragments were calculated under the Kimura 2-parameter model of nucleotide substitution using the analytical tools of BOLD. A neighbour-joining tree of DNA barcode data of selected taxa ( Fig. 13) was constructed using MEGA 6 (Tamura et al. 2013) under the Kimura 2 parameter model for nucleotide substitutions.

Photographic documentation
The pinned specimens were photographed with a Canon 750D camera and a Canon MP-E-65 mm lens. Genitalia preparations were photographed with a Canon EOS 200D camera mounted on an Olympus CX31 stereomicroscope.

Terminology
The descriptions of the genitalia and the descriptions of the wing patterns are based on the terminology in Slamka (2006Slamka ( , 2013. Diagnosis. Tegostoma burtoni sp. nov. is similar to some other Tegostoma species, mainly T. lepidalis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851), and to Pyrausta gulpembe Kemal & Koçak, 2018 in external appereance, but it differs by its smaller wingspan. It differs from all Tegostoma species of comparable size by the distinctive purple colour of the forewings.
Variation. Sexual dimorphism not observed, it seems females differ in smaller size and less pronounced light fascia. The ground colour of most specimens is pinkish to purple, however, this is less pronounced in some specimens. Both fasciae are always paler compared with the ground colour but in some specimens they can be yellowish-buff, not pinkish. Specimens with a pinkish streak usually do not have a pale marginal line.
Distribution. Armenia. Biology. The new species was collected in sandy habitats with sparse vegetation at an altitude of about 1000 m (Fig. 16). The type locality, Gorovan Sands is one of the steppe habitats in Armenia, areas which have not been intensively cultivated until recently. For more details see following Section.
Etymology. The species name is derived from the name of John Andrew Burton, a worldwide active conservationist, in honour of his strong support of establishing nature reserves in Armenia. It is to his merit to have established the Artsakh Nature fund and that more than 30,000 hectares of unique habitats are now protected within the borders of the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge.
Note. The nature reserve is named after the old name of the village Gorovan, which has later become Goravan. But the official name of this protected area remained in its original spelling. Therefore, the names of the municipality and the protected area differ.

Brief characterization of Gorovan Sands -the type locality of the new species
The National Sanctuary Gorovan Sands was established in 1959 in order to protect the habitats for endangered animals, as well as the site conditions with their unique vegetation. One of the most typical ecosystems of the arid zone are sandy Artemisia semi-deserts with a fauna and flora well adapted to extreme drought and temperature variation. Gorovan Sands Sanctuary, with roughly 175 (originally ca 200) ha, represents the largest of this type in the whole of Armenia. Like other deserts of this type it is dominated by cold winters, dry and hot summer months and an annual precipitaion of just 200-300 mm. The vegetation is dominated by tussocks of Artemisia fragans, Achillea tenuifolia, saltresistant plants such as Salsola ssp., Kochia prostrata, Ziziphora tenuior, Calligonum polygonoides) and other, mainly psammophytic plant species, which show a huge variety of adaptation to sandy site conditions with a poor supply of nutrients and extreme dry periods, mixed with a wider spread of generalist species of cultivation (such as the locally dominant Lepidium vesicarium). About 160 species of vascular plants have been recorded (Tadevosyan 2001), among them at least 12 species listed in the Armenian Red List. It is the only known site in Armenia for Calligonum polygonoides, the foodplant of the local endemic species Pharaonus caucasicus (Reitter, 1888) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), which is currently only known to occur in Gorovan Sands (Keith et al. 2015). Unfortunately branches and roots of this plant are intensively collected by local people for burning. An additional stressor for this plant is the rather uncontrolled grazing by domestic animals (mainly goats and sheep).
Besides overgrazing and a rather intensive collecting of edible plants by local people, even more important for the future of this sanctuary is to keep reclamation, sand and travertine mining, dumping, and offroad driving within boundaries and thus allow processes of regeneration on the remainder of the site.