The Ectoedemia suberis group

In southwestern Europe a group of species forms a complex around Ectoedemia suberis . Only E. caradjai and E. aegilopidella do not belong to this complex. Apart from E. suberis and E. andalusiae, we recognise three more new species in this complex.

These species have very similar external features and can be best separated on the male hairpencil colour and that of associated special scales and the hairiness of the female abdominal tip. The male and female genitalia show only some subtle differences, and also the leafmines are inseparable.

The decision to name these forms as full species was supported by molecular analyses both of the genes CO1 and Elongation Factor, which range from 5.07% to 8.23 % in CO1 and 2.5–2.9% in Elongation Factor, comparable to the differences found in the populella group and larger than between species in the albifasciella complex. Th ese data will be published elsewhere (Van Nieukerken & Doorenweerd, personal communication). Table 1 summarizes the differences in this complex and the rather similar E. caradjai .