Merulempista Roesler, 1967

Ren, Yingdang, Liu, Shurong & Li, Houhun, 2011, Review of the genus Merulempista Roesler, 1967 (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) from China, with description of two new species, ZooKeys 77, pp. 65-75 : 66-67

Merulempista Roesler, 1967

Merulempista Roesler 1967: 274. Type species: Pempelia cingillella Zeller, 1846, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Merulempista is similar to Meroptera Grote, 1882 by the forewing with M1 and M2 separated (Fig. 1), the third segment of the labial palpus rounded apically; the short robust gnathos hooked distally, the sclerotized costa of valva often with a distal process, and the narrow sacculus without spine. In Meroptera , M1 and M2 are shortly stalked on the forewing, the third segment of the labial palpus tapered distally, the gnathos is long and slender, the costa of valva lacks the distal process, and the sacculus has a spine (according to Roesler 1967).

Hostplants.

Tamaricaceae : Myricaria spp., Tamarix spp. ( Huertas-Dionisio 2010).

Distribution.

China (Fig. 2: Gansu, Guangxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tianjin, Xinjiang), Europe, North Africa and Australia.

Key to Merulempista species in China based on male genitalia

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