Meharia

Meharia is a genus of moths belonging to the family Cossidae.

Meharia
Meharia hackeri female
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Cossidae
Genus:	Meharia Chrétien, 1915
Species
See text
Synonyms
Blalia Rungs, 1943

Diagnosis

Meharia is distinguished from all other Cossidae genus by a number of apomorphous characters: the specific “tineoid appearance”, the reduction of the lateral processes of the juxta, the specific dorsolateral sclerotization of the asymmetric aedeagus and the specific ribbon – like epiphysis.

Description

These are small to medium-sized moths, females larger; eyes naked; male and female antennae bipectinate along their length; proboscis reduced; legs long, slender; foretibia bearing a ribbon-like epiphysis; forewing elongate, rounded on the outer margin; forewing pattern has alternate dark and pale spots and bands transversely; hindwing uniform.

Distribution

Eleven species have been reported so far, primarily from the deserts and arid mountains of the Western Palearctic and Africa.

Species

• Meharia acuta Wiltshire, 1982
• Meharia avicenna Yakovlev, 2011
• Meharia baluchestana Alipanah & Yakovlev, 2021
• Meharia fischeri Yakovlev & Saldaitis, 2008
• Meharia hackeri Saldaitis, Ivinskis & Yakovlev, 2011
• Meharia incurvariella Chrétien, 1915
  • Meharia incurvariella incurvariella Chrétien, 1915
  • Meharia incurvariella persica (Wiltshire, 1946)
• Meharia murphyi Yakovlev, 2013
• Meharia philbyi Bradley, 1952
• Meharia scythica D. Komarov et Zolotuhin, 2005
• Meharia semilactea (Warren et Rothschild, 1905)
• Meharia tancredii Sutton, 1963
• Meharia tanganyikae Bradley, 1952
• Meharia yakovlevi Saldaitis & Ivinskis, 2010

References

• Cossidae of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)
• Yakovlev & Murphy, 2013. The Cossidae (Lepidoptera) of Malawi with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa 3709 (4): 371–393