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.