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Short Communication
First records of two genera Phragmacossia Schawerda, 1924 and Stygia Latreille, [1802] in the South Caucasus (Lepidoptera, Cossidae)
expand article infoLasha-Giorgi Japaridze‡, Risto Haverinen§|#, Jari Junnilainen¤, Mark Kalashian«, Aleksander Pototskin|»
‡ Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
§ Estonian Lepidopterist's Society, Tallinn, Estonia
| SHILAP, Madrid, Spain
¶ SEL Societas Europaea Lepidopterologica, Stuttgart, Germany
# Finnish Lepidopterist's Society, Helsinki, Finland
¤ Unaffiliated, Vantaa, Finland
« Institute of Zoology of Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
» Lasnamäe Gymnasium, Tallinn, Estonia

Corresponding author: Lasha-Giorgi Japaridze ( lgjaparidze@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Levan Mumladze
© 2025 Lasha-Giorgi Japaridze, Risto Haverinen, Jari Junnilainen, Mark Kalashian, Aleksander Pototskin.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Japaridze L-G, Haverinen R, Junnilainen J, Kalashian M, Pototskin A (2025) First records of two genera Phragmacossia Schawerda, 1924 and Stygia Latreille, [1802] in the South Caucasus (Lepidoptera, Cossidae). Caucasiana 4: 59-64. https://doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.4.e158970
ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7D33A3EE-3935-418E-BD46-D2DCA004C261
Open Access

Abstract

The study provides an update on the Lepidoptera diversity of Armenia, with the first record of two genera Phragmacossia Schawerda, 1924 and Stygia Latreille, [1802] based on 10 male specimens of Phragmacossia territa (Staudinger, 1879) and a single female specimen of Stygia mosulensis Daniel, 1965 collected in Alvank, Syuik Province, Armenia. These are also the first record of this genera in the South Caucasus.

Key words:

Armenia, Cossoidea, Heterocera, Heteroneura, new records

Introduction

Recent research and collecting activities in the South Caucasus and adjacent regions have led to the description of several new species of Cossidae, including: Holcocerus didmanidzae Yakovlev 2006 (Georgia), Stygiodies nupponenorum Yakovlev and Saldaitis 2011 (Türkiye), Isoceras shevnini Yakovlev 2015 (Armenia), Phragmataecia effendii Yakovlev and Snegovaya 2020 (Azerbaijan), Dieida versicolor Japaridze and Hulsbosch 2023 (Türkiye), and Dyspessa gayane Yakovlev, Dûda, Kalashian, Prozorov, Japaridze, Hulsbosch, Müller, Saldaitis 2025 (Armenia). As some of these species are known only from type specimens, and others have been described from a single sex, further investigation into their biology and life cycles would be highly valuable.

Despite these recent advancements, the Cossidae fauna of the South Caucasus remain poorly studied (Yakovlev et al. 2025). To date, only general overviews have been published for Georgia (Didmanidze and Yakovlev 2007) and Azerbaijan (Snegovaya and Yakovlev 2017). However, recent collecting efforts have led to the discovery of new genera for Georgia (Japaridze 2024) and the description of new species from both Azerbaijan (Yakovlev and Snegovaya 2020) and Armenia (Yakovlev 2015; Yakovlev et al. 2024). Here, we present the first records of Phragmacossia territa (Staudinger, 1879) and Stygia mosulensis Daniel, 1965 from the South Caucasus.

The specimens were collected using a light trap. The altitude and geographical coordinates (given in WGS84) were determined using a Garmin GPS MAP 64s. The examined material is distributed between the personal collections of Jari Junnilainen (hereafter as JJHF) and Lasha–Giorgi Japaridze (hereafter as and JLGT). Specimens were examined on the basis of both external and internal morphological characters. The genital dissection was performed with the technique published by Robinson (1976), with modifications suggested by Fibiger and Goater 1997. Potassium hydroxide (15% KOH solution) was used to macerate the full abdomen. The photographs of S. mosulensis were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera with 60 mm macro-objective and later stacked with Helicon Focus 8.3. The photographs of P. territa were taken with a Canon EOS 90D camera equipped with a Canon EF 60 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens. Digital images were then prepared using Zerene Stacker image stacking software and Adobe Photoshop CS6 (version 13.0).

Results

Family Cossidae Leach, 1815

Phragmacossia Schawerda, 1924

Comments.

The genus Phragmacossia Schawerda, 1924 consists of sixteen known nocturnal species with a mainly Palaearctic distribution (Yakovlev 2011b, 2014; Saldaitis et al. 2023). Hitherto, neither of the species reported here had been recorded from the South Caucasus but P. territa (Staudinger 1879) has been reported from adjacent areas in Türkiye and Iran (Kemal and Koçak 2017; Alipanah et al. 2021).

Phragmacossia territa (Staudinger, 1879)

Fig. 1

Phragmacossia territa: Yakovlev et al. 2015: 63, fig. 60 (♂)

Phragmacossia territa: Kemal and Koçak 2017: 39, fig. 49 (♂)

Phragmacossia territa: Alipanah et al. 2021: 75, fig. 21B (♂)

Phragmacossia territa: Saldaitis et al. 2023: 221, figs 8-10 (♂); 223, fig. 22 (♂)

Material examined

Material examined. ARMENIA • 7♂♂; Alvank, Syunik Province; 38.918750°N, 46.339806°E; 484 m a.s.l.; leg: Risto Haverinen; 16 July 2022; JLGT • 3♂♂; Alvank, Syunik Province; 38.918750°N, 46.339806°E; 484 m a.s.l.; leg: Risto Haverinen; 16 July 2022; JJHF.

Remarks.

Remarks. The species is known to occur in Middle East and North Africa, Central and Southwest Asia (Saldaitis et al. 2023).

Figures 1–2. 

General habitus of Phragmacossia territa male, dorsal view (1). Stygia mosulensis female, dorsal view (2). Scale bars: 5 mm.

Stygia Latreille, [1802]

Comments

Comments. The genus Stygia Latreille, [1802] consists of only four known diurnal species, distributed in Southern Europe, Canary Islands, Morocco, Iran, Türkiye, and Iraq (Yakovlev and Ströhle 2016; Alipanah et al. 2021). Hitherto neither of the species reported here had been recorded from the South Caucasus, although S. mosulensis was previously recorded in adjacent Türkiye and Iran (Kemal and Koçak 2016; Alipanah et al. 2021).

Stygia mosulensis Daniel, 1965

Fig. 2

Stygia mosulensis: Yakovlev and Ströhle 2016: 11, fig. 1 (♂)

Stygia mosulensis: Kemal and Koçak 2016: 2, fig. 1 (♀)

Stygia mosulensis: Alipanah et al. 2021: 11, fig. 2C (♂)

Material examined.

ARMENIA • 1♀; Alvank, Syunik Province; 38.918750°N, 46.339806°E; 484 m a.s.l.; leg: Risto Haverinen; 16 July 2022; JJHF.

Remarks.

The species is known to occur in Iraq, Iran, Greece, Southern Bulgaria, Southern Türkiye, probably Morocco (Witt 1983; de Freina and Witt 1990; de Freina 1996; Yakovlev and Ströhle 2016; Kermal and Kocak 2016; Alipanah et al. 2021). It is the first record of Stygia in the South Caucasus. Host plant and immature stages are unknown. Yakovlev (2011a) reported that members of the subfamily Stygiinae Rafinesque, 1815 are diurnal. Schoorl (1990), citing Daniel (1955), also described Stygia australis Latreille, [1803] and Stygia hades Le Cerf, 1924 as diurnal species but notes that S. mosulensis was collected at night. Since our specimen was also collected at night, it is possible that S. mosulensis may be a nocturnal or crepuscular species; this hypothesis requires further investigation into the species’ biology. Given the limited study of the Cossidae in the South Caucasus, it is likely that additional representatives of the genus Stygia may still await discovery in remote regions of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Acknowledgements

Our gratitude to Leo Vahatalo (Helsinki, Finland) for photographing the S. mosulensis preserved specimen. Thanks to Armen Seropian (Tbilisi, Georgia) who kindly agreed to photographing of P. territa preserved specimen and provided valuable suggestions to the manuscript. Special thanks to the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Armenia for the collection and export permits, permit number: 0001–23. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for their critical comments and suggestions.

Additional information

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Ethical statement

No ethical statement was reported.

Funding

No funding was reported.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: L–GJ, JJ, RH. Fieldwork: RH, AP, L–GJ. Material examination: L–GJ, JJ. Writing original draft: L–GJ. Review of final manuscript: LGJ, JJ, RH, MK, AP.

Author ORCIDs

Lasha-Giorgi Japaridze https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7171-5589

Risto Haverinen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8072-847X

Jari Junnilainen https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5000-4170

Mark Kalashian https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2448-9547

Aleksander Pototski https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1843-3627

Data availability

All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text or Supplementary Information.

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