Hadula vassilinini (Bang Haas, 1927) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) new to the fauna of Iran with description of its female

In spite of many taxonomic and faunistic publications on the Noctuidae of Iran, still many regions in this country are not well studied and need further intensive faunistic surveys. The number of recorded noctuid species from Iran exceeds 1200 at the moment (Esfandiari et al. 2010 & 2011). The genus Hadula Staudinger, 1889 contains seven subgenera Hadula Staudinger, 1889, Cardiestra Boursin, 1963, Ptochicestra Hacker, 1998, Aglossestra Hampson, 1905, Calocestra Beck, 1991, Pulchrohadula Hacker, 1998 and Discestra Hampson, 1905 (Hacker, 1998). Hacker (1998) listed six species and one ssp. including H. (Cardiestra) vassilinini in the subgenus Cardiestra Boursin, 1963 withan identification key. Three new taxa were added by Gyulai (2002, 2008) to the subgenus Cardiestra. Type locality of the ssp. Hadula vassilinini deserta Gyulai, 2002 in Iraq is about 450 km westward form where we collected our material in south-west Iran. In the framework of faunistic studies of noctuid fauna in south-west Iran (Esfandiari et al. 2010 & 2011), the present study providing the report of Hadula vassilinini (Bang Haas, 1927) as a new species to the fauna of Iran. Furthermore here we describe the unknown female of this species for the first time. This is a third locality record for this species as it was previously only recorded from Azerbaijan (type locality: Elisabethpol [Ganja]) and Turkey (Hacker, 1998). Sampling was done during 2007-2009, using a generator-driven mercury vapour lamp (150 W) which was placed inside a white tent, about 1.8 m in height. Genitalia of the collected specimens were prepared for the study according to the method cited in Fibiger (1997) with minor modifications. Specimens were compared to the necessary types with help of Dr. László Ronkay and Dr. Péter Gyulai. Materials were deposited in the Insect and Mite Collection of Ahvaz (IMCA), Department of Plant Protection, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran, except a male which was deposited to P. Gyulai’s private collection (Hungary).