Nemophora bispina, Liao & Hirowatari & Yagi & Wang & Wang & Huang, 2023

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 : 18

(8) Nemophora albiantennella Issiki, 1930

(Plates I-4, XII-4, XXI-2)

Nemophora albiantennella Issiki, 1930: 431 (TL: Japan, Katayama, Gifuken; USNM); Moriuti 1982: (color photo); Hirowatari & Yamanaka 1996: 619, figs. 1–6 (biology); Kozlov 1997d (Russian Far East, synonym); Kobayashi 1998: 157, figs. 1–5 (embryogenesis); Asano 2012: 117 (list of Nagoya University); Hirowatari 2013: 104, fig. 3-07-15,16 ( Japan); Ji et al. 2018: 898, figs. 1c, 2c, 3b ( Korea).

Adela mitakeana Matsumura, 1931: 1110 , fig. 2323 (TL: Honshu, Japan; SEHU); Razowski & Kumata 1985: 17 (Type catalog).

Nemotois mitakeana: Matsumura, 1932: 127 , fig. 22 (list of Japan).

Diagnosis. This species is very similar to N. insulariella but can be distinguished by the yellow to brown hairs on vertex (dark brown to black in N. insulariella ), the copper color of the forewing (brassy green to bronze tint in N. insulariella ), the very long arrow-head about 3/4 × as long as juxta (1/2 × in N. insulariella ), and the dense microtrichia on the dorsal lobe at the apex of aedeagus (smooth in N. insulariella ).

Specimens examined. [Hunan] 38♁ 1♀, Mt. Tianpingshan, Badagongshan National Nature Reserve, Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie City, 2018.IV.26, C.Q. Liao leg.; 2♁ 1♀, Mt. Tianpingshan, Badagongshan National Nature Reserve , Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie City , 2007.V.11–13, L.S. Chen leg.; [Shaanxi] 12 ♁ 4♀, Jialingjiang source (1,400–2,100 m), Baoji City , 2010.VI.18–19, G.H. Huang leg. ( HUNAU) .

Distribution. China (new record: Hunan, Shaanxi); Russia, Japan, Korea.

Remarks. Adela mitakeana was first described by Matsumura and then transferred to the genus Nemotois , the synonym of Nemophora ( Matsumura 1931, 1932). Finally, this species was reported as Nemophora albiantennella by Kozlov (1997d). This species has been recorded for the first time in China.

Hirowatari & Yamanaka (1996) reported the adult flying and feeding activity of this species and found Poaceae ( Poa trivialis L. and Lolium multiflorum Lan. ) as the host (oviposition) plant. The flower preferences of the adults were reported as Brassiaca juncea Hemsel (Brassicaceae) , Potentilla sundaica Bl. (Rosaceae) and Ranunculus japonicus Thunb. (Ranunculaceae) . However, the active flight of males in N. albiantennella was not regarded as swarming because they did not interfere with each other ( Hirowatari & Yamanaka 1996). However, according to the first author’s observation on Mt. Tianpingshan, there are more than 80 male adults of this species flying above a clump of grasses ( Poaceae ), which seems to be swarming, and some females resting on the grasses under low light conditions in the afternoon. It is interesting to note that the mating behavior of this species differs among the regional populations.

DNA barcodes of the five N. albiantennella specimens are generated.Four of them from China show no difference (pairwise distances: 0.000), but the Japanese specimen shows pairwise distances of 0.034 with the Chinese ones. The closest sequence to N. albiantennella is N. bispina sp. nov. (pairwise distances: 0.054).