Eupithecia zekiyae

Eupithecia zekiyae is a species of moth in the family Geometridae first described by McDunnough (1946), although the authorship of the currently valid species name is Koçak, 1986 (see taxonomy).

Eupithecia zekiyae
"Eupithecia deserticola" from California, photo by Robb Hannawacker
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Geometridae
Genus:	Eupithecia
Species:	E. zekiyae
Binomial name
Eupithecia zekiyae Koçak, 1986
Synonyms
Eupithecia deserticola McDunnough, 1946 (preocc. Turati, 1934) Eupithecia jamesi Ferris & Mironov, 2007 (Superfluous replacement name)

Description

The wingspan is about 22–23 mm. Adults have been recorded on wing from January to March.

Range

Moths of this family are found in the desert regions of the south-western United States,^[1] including Arizona, Nevada and California. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The species was initially described in Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Eupitheciini as Eupithecia deserticola McDunnough 1946.^[1] The name entered into some electronic databases in this combination.^[3] However, due to earlier use by Eupithecia deserticola Turati (1934)^[4] as a different species from Libya, the name combination was then considered preoccupied for nomenclature. This led Clifford D. Ferris and Vladimir G. Mironov (2007)^[5] establish Eupithecia jamesi Ferris & Mironov, 2007 as a replacement name making E. deserticola McDunnough a junior secondary homonym. However, Kemel & Koçak (2016)^[6] clarify that a replacement name had already been previously published as Eupithecia zekiyae Koçak, 1986.^[7] They treated Eupithecia jamesi Ferris & Mironov, 2007 as junior objective synonym of E. zekiyae Koçak, 1986, but can be more simply viewed as a superfluous replacement name. However, as of Aug. 2023, some websites continue to report the species under E. jamesi.^[8]