Micropterix Hübner, 1825

Tarasova, Anastasiia A. & Ponomarenko, Margarita G., 2025, New data on Microlepidoptera (Lepidoptera: Micropterigidae, Adelidae, Glyphipterigidae, and Yponomeutidae) from the Far East of Russia, Zootaxa 5715 (1), pp. 456-475 : 462

Genus Micropterix Hübner

Type species. Tinea podevinella Hübner, [1813] , by subsequent designation by Meyrick (1912).

Distribution. Palaearctic region: Europe; Russia (European part, south of West and East Siberia, Far East); North Africa; West ( Lebanon, Syria, Israel) and Central ( Turkmenistan) Asia, Japan ( Hokkaido, Honshu); Indomalayan region: Northeast and East India ( Heath 1986, 1996; Ponomarenko & Beljaev 2000; Corley 2007; Zeller-Lukashort et al. 2007; Zeller-Lukashort et al. 2009; Lees et al. 2010; Hashimoto 2013; Zeller et al. 2016; Das & Singh 2022; Sinev & Kozlov 2024; Lepiforum 2025).

Remarks. World fauna of the genus Micropterix Hübner includes 80 extant and 2 extinct species, and the greatest biodiversity the genus reaches in South Europe ( Staudinger 1879 –1880; Kuznetsov 1960; Zaguljaev 1983, 1987, 1993; Heath 1986; Kurz et al. 1997; Ponomarenko & Beljaev 2000; Hashimoto 2006; Corley 2007; Zeller-Lukashort et al. 2007; Zeller-Lukashort et al. 2009; Kurz & Kurz 2010; Lees et al. 2010; Zeller & Huemer 2015; Zeller et al. 2016; Das & Singh 2022; Sinev & Kozlov 2024). To date 11 species of the genus are known in the fauna of Russia, the European part and North Caucasus. Of these, only M. aureatella (Scopoli) has a large range, extending from Europe through Western and Eastern Siberia with disjunctions to East Asia, including the south of the Russian Far East. The second species, M. sikhotealinensis Ponomarenko & Beljaev , is known so far only from the south of the Far East. It was described on the base of three specimens, all males, collected in mountain coniferous forest in the southern part of the Sikhote-Alin Range (Primorskii Krai). Until now, the morphology of female was unknown. Processing of dry specimens in the collection of FSCB allowed to find female of this species, the morphology of which is described below.