Blastotere Ratzeburg, 1840

Liu, Tengteng, Wang, Shuxia & Li, Houhun, 2017, Review of the genus Argyresthia Hübner, [1825] (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutoidea: Argyresthiidae) from China, with descriptions of forty-three new species, Zootaxa 4292 (1), pp. 1-135 : 14

Subgenus Blastotere Ratzeburg, 1840

Blastotere Ratzeburg, 1840: 246 . Type species: Tinea Blastotere bergiella Retzeburg, 1840 .

Subgeneric characters. Forewing ratio 4.0, rarely 4.5; R1 usually originating from or beyond middle of upper margin of cell, R4 and R5 stalked or separate. In male genitalia, socius usually bearing a single seta posteriorly, rarely two; gnathos not inflated distally, without long, thick setae apically; valva with sparse setae along margin, with neither a clump nor row of long, thick setae in disc; saccus usually not extended; phallus sometimes with several micro-denticles distally on outer surface, cornutus with strong denticles or many heavily sclerotized spines on distal part of long spine. In female genitalia, signum with a radialized basal plate bearing two horns, sometimes a single horn (e.g., A. (B.) laevigatella and A. (B.) sevenssoni ), or without horns ( A. (B.) japonica (Moriuti, 1969)) .

Notes. According to the subgeneric characters defined here, the following species examined in the present study are placed in the subgenus Blastotere : A. (B.) chamaecypariae Moriuti, 1969 , A. (B.) anthocephala , A. (B.) mirabiella Toll, 1947 , A. (B.) chalcocausta Meyrick, 1935 , A. (B.) psamminopa Meyrick, 1932 , A. (B.) ornatipennella Moriuti, 1974 , and A. (B.) nemorivaga Moriuti, 1969 . The holotype of A. (B.) idiograpta Meyrick, 1935 resembles species of the subgenus Blastotere in having forewing R4 and R5 stalked ( Caradja & Meyrick 1935), and it is thus tentatively placed in this subgenus. Argyresthia (B.) japonica ( Moriuti, 1969) is distinctive in the genitalia, and is tentatively placed in the subgenus Blastotere considering the characters of the socius and the valva, and particularly of the phallus with strong denticles in the male genitalia.