Description of a new Middle Eastern Lemonia species, comments on the Lemonia philopalus complex and Lemonia syriensis (Lepidoptera: Brahmaeidae: Lemoniinae)

The Algerian-Tunisian Lemonia philopalus (Donzel, 1842) is reviewed and redescribed. The status of the Moroccan population named Lemonia philopalus rungsi Rougeot 1971 (type locality: Morocco, Merchouch) is revised, it is taken from the synonymy to the Iberian population and left as a subspecies of L. philopalus until the genetic relationship between the Moroccan and the Algerian-Tunisien populations is studied. The Iberian population is raised to a specific level as Lemonia vazquezi Oberthür, 1916 bona sp. (type locality: Spain, Madrid, Rivas-Vaciamadrid), it has a 2.13% genetic distance from the Moroccan L. philopalus rungsi. A lectotype for L. vazquezi is designated from the Natural History Museum (London, UK). The new Middle Eastern Lemonia levantina sp. n. is described (type locality: Jordan, Rift Valley, 40 km N of Aqaba, sands NW Rahma). The new species is externally similar to L. philopalus, L. philopalus rungsi, and L. vazquezi but has a 4.86% genetic distance from the Moroccan population and 5.55% from the Iberian one. The Levantine species is compared with Lemonia syriensis Daniel, 1953 because the two are sympatric and show external similarities. The ecology, phenology, and distribution of the species are discussed.