Nemophora augites ( Meyrick, 1938 )

Liao, Cheng-Qing, Hirowatari, Toshiya, Yagi, Sadahisa, Wang, Min, Wang, Xing & Huang, Guo-Hua, 2023, The fauna of the family Adelidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Adeloidea) from China, Zootaxa 5348 (1), pp. 1-152 : 59-60

(62) Nemophora augites ( Meyrick, 1938)

Nemotois augites Meyrick, 1938: 29 (TL: China, Yuennan [Yunnan], Li-kiang [Lijiang]; BMNH); Clarke 1955: 59; Popescu-Gorj 1992: 137; Hua 2005: 2 (list of China).

Nemophora augites: Kozlov 1997b: 43 ; Kozlov 2023b: 95, figs. 1, 7, 13 (Lectotype designated, redescription).

Nemophora amatella: Sun et al. 2022: 304 , figs. 1, 2, 27, 48 (misidentification).

Diagnosis. This species is very similar to N. amatella , but can be distinguished by the following characters: 1) narrower forewing with narrowly rounded (nearly pointed) apex; 2) less expressed longitudinal stripes in the apical part of forewing; 3) longer vinculum, longer anterior processes of transtilla and absence of carinae in apical part of phallus ( Kozlov 2023b).

Specimens examined. Not available in this study.

Distribution. China (Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan).

Remarks. Due to a ‘nested’ structure of the respective publication, this species was attributed to different original authors ( Clarke 1955; Popescu-Gorj 1992; Kozlov 1997b; Sun et al. 2022). Kozlov (2023b) solved this problem and determined that the correct author of the name ‘ Nemotois augites ’ is Meyrick alone. In addition, Kozlov (2023b) considered that a series of specimens named ‘ Nemophora amatella (Studinger, 1892) ’ in Sun et al. (2022) practical belong to N. augites . Thus, N. augites has become one of the most common and widespread species of the degeerella species group ( Kozlov 2023b).