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).

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, including Arizona, Nevada and California.

Taxonomy
The species was initially described in Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Eupitheciini as Eupithecia deserticola McDunnough 1946. The name entered into some electronic databases in this combination. However, due to earlier use by Eupithecia deserticola Turati (1934) 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) establish Eupithecia jamesi Ferris & Mironov, 2007 as a replacement name making E. deserticola McDunnough a junior secondary homonym. However, Kemel & Koçak (2016) clarify that a replacement name had already been previously published as Eupithecia zekiyae Koçak, 1986. 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